Rachel Hooton was born in 1980 near Chicago, IL. Being an only child, she learned at a young age to keep herself occupied, finding art to be one of her major hobbies. She was always painting pictures and won several contests throughout her childhood. Being influenced mostly by her art teachers in her junior and senior years in high school, they gave her the passion to keep on pursuing her art long thereafter. She began painting primarily with acrylics around the age of seventeen, and part of her collection resides here today.  Presently, after a five-year “hiatus” in Seattle, WA, and Portland, OR, Rachel has returned to Chicago and is working on a degree in Art, with a focus on interior design and possibly teaching. A vegetarian of 8 years and somewhat of an activist, she involves herself in networks that promote positive changes in communities in the Chicago area and around the world.