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06/16/2021 08:30 AMA lot of ifs: If squirrels could talk and if one decided to do stand-up comedy, it is possible the performing rodent, given the general attitude towards squirrels, would use the late comic Rodney Dangerfield’s famous one liner, “I get no respect.”
True in general, but not everywhere. Certainly not in Chester, where the squirrel is the unofficial town symbol.
Among the things the squirrel has decorated is the T-shirt that competitors in Chester Rotary’s Four on the Fourth road race receive.
This year, local artist Rachel Carlson has designed the logo. It features the Chester squirrel breaking through the finishing tape.
“I’ve always loved the squirrel; it’s so cute,” she says.
In the logo’s background are a sunrise, marsh grasses, and trees.
“They represent a friendly environment. Chester is a pretty little town,” Rachel adds.
Her design also incorporates part of Rotary’s logo, a wheel and the official colors of the organization, blue and gold. She credits her boyfriend, Matt Ruoco, with making some suggestions for the final version.
Since July 4 is on Sunday, this year the race will take place on Monday, July 5. Deb Vilcheck, President of Chester Rotary and Road Race chairperson, says organizers expect 500 runners to have signed up in person by race day but there is another way to do the race: virtually, an innovation last year to cope with COVID-19 regulations.
“People from all over ran the race in places from New York to Texas and Florida,” she says.
All runners, virtual or in Chester, get one of Rachel’s T-shirts.
Chester artists Jan Cummings and Peter Good, who designed the squirrel and did the race logo for some 30 years, felt several years ago as they were downsizing and moving their office, it was time to pass on the task. Since then, one of Vilcheck’s goals has been to focus on the work of other local artists.
Rachel is as local as a local artist can be. She has lived her entire life in Deep River, graduating from Valley Regional High School in 2010. She got her art degree at the University of Massachusetts.
“I’ve always liked small towns; I am comfortable here” she says. “I’m not a big city person. I get anxious in cities. I love coming home to the quiet.”
Her first T-shirt design ventures came in high school. In her graphics art class, she was part of a crew that was going to video an awards presentation for the Shoreline Arts Alliance and she designed a T-shirt for the crew to wear. She also designed a T-shirt that was one of the gifts for seniors at the all-night party that follows graduation every year.
What Rachel likes doing now is trompe l’oeil paintings on panels rather than canvas. She also did a large trompe l’oeil featuring cats eyes on an outside wall at Two Wrasslin’ Cats coffee house in East Haddam. She has shown her work with the River Valley Artists and is on the council of the Essex Art Association.
In Chester, she is known for paintings on a much smaller scale. She does very small portraits and landscapes on MetroCards, the wallet size polyester cards (2.125 inches by 3.375 inches) used to pay subway fares in New York City. Rachel didn’t have to ride the subway to get the cards. She bought them on eBay, but after 2023 the supply will likely dry up. The city will discontinue MetroCards in favor of an electronic system.
Rachel’s tiny art is available at Lark in Chester, where she has worked for seven years.
“I love retail. I love the visual things, creating displays, setting them up,” she says. “And I love talking to people.”
She has also done scene painting at the Goodspeed, working on all three shows the theater had in its last full season in 2019, The Music Man, Because of Winn Dixie, and Billy Elliott.
According to Rachel, painting for theater sets demands learning a new set of skills.
“I’m still learning. You have to learn what scenery needs: texture, sponges layering, lots of out of the box stuff,” she says.
One of the things she liked was creating the look of weathered buildings in The Music Man, a three-step process that starts with spreading Elmer’s Glue over the area involved, covering it with latex paint, and then drying it with a hair dryer—and making sure the final product does not become patterned but rather looks random.
As Rachel looks to the future, she would like a career that combines different kinds of artistic creativity.
“I love working in creative venues. I’d like a lot of different kinds of creative jobs,” she says. “I see myself doing a bunch of things, anything creative.”
She is looking forward to people wearing the T-shirts with her logo at the Four on the Fourth race, not that she will say anything about that to the runners.
“I am happy to feel anonymous, but it will make me feel good to see people wearing them,” she says.
And there is no chance that designing the T-shirt will inspire her to run. Of that, she is certain.
“No, I don’t do races,” she says.
For more information on Four on the Fourth Road Race and to see Rachel’s design, visit www.Chesterrotary.org.