Rachel Maughan’s “Barned and Baled” at Border & Square in Provo. Image courtesy of Gina Cavallo.

Cutting and baling hay is an indescribably difficult task. It requires every muscle and every ounce of endurance in your body. Stacking bales in a hot barn is like no other weightlifting activity. The deep exhaustion of this work is standard daily life on a ranch or farm. Often idealized, agricultural occupations  demand constant labor and unending dedication. But without people willing to do the work, there would be no food on our tables.

The physical demands of the agricultural industry are brought expressively to life in the paintings of Rachel Maughan. Her exhibition, Barned & Baled, hangs at Border & Square in Provo through October 28. A student in BYU’s BFA painting program, Maughan shares her personal experience growing up on a cattle ranch in Washington state. Her purpose, stated in the introductory panel, is “to show a society that has become separate from the realities of owning land, livestock, and being a steward to creations that have been given to us.”

Rachel Maughan, “August 9:20pm,” oil on canvas, 60×60 in.

Through 13 paintings, annotated with poetic reminiscences on the ID labels, the artist brings those realities boldly forth on both stretched and unstretched canvases. Ironically hanging in the gallery of a frame shop, the stretched canvases are unframed, while the unstretched pieces have an almost hide-like rawness to them. The presentation of both is notable, but the overall effect of the exhibition is cohesive in its palette and painterly surfaces. There is some rich impasto on most of the works, adding to the roughness of both the cows and the hay bales. That same impasto emphasizes the dirtiness Maughan references in many painting descriptions including the label for “Dirty Spring 2”:

The side field was still sopping from the heavy March rain.
The river rose, emptying all unwanted materials on it.
These items would stay grown over by the brush or swept away to be found in the dirty months of the Fall.

Rachel Maughan, “Panel Problems,” oil on canvas, 20×16 in.

Maughan’s palette is mostly browns, greens, whites and grays, but the intensity of her yellows (used primarily for straw/hay) invigorates many of the pieces in the show. In “Panel Problems,” a testament to the fact that “cows are not good listeners,” the yellow ground flares in the form of a fire below the haunches of the escaping cow. The rich texturing of this work is particularly effective.

That same yellow enlivens the left side of “October 8:45pm,” where the straw shouts in the silence of an uninhabited barnyard scene. The tilted perspective of this piece seems to reference American Scene painting, popular in the mid-20th century for its documentation of the unique American everyday landscape. Maughan paints the sparseness of the scene at dusk where lines blur and the yellow straw glows.

Rachel Maughan, “Huck & Chuck,” oil on canvas, 36×60 in.

In “Huck & Chuck,” the figures (presumably the artist in the center with her back to us) cling to the bales as they are stacked. The yellow dominates the image, but the figures feel as though they’re fighting back, pushing and lifting, building a strong and sturdy stack. What seems at odds with the power of the bales is the ungloved hands stacking them. Anyone who has handled a straw or hay bale knows the harshness of the surface. Perhaps these workers are at the end of their patience as well as their day. Also of note is the care the artist took with their hair, bits of straw included in the waves. “Huck & Chuck” is one of the unstretched canvases in the exhibit and its uneven edges and embedded grommets mix well with the physical strain of the image.

Another unstretched piece, “I Can Fix That,” sums up the reality of farm life as it references the unending need for repairs and the lack of time (or maybe just energy) to make them.

I always knew that saggin floor would give out.
I can fix that up to be just right again, January 2018.
We need to get that fixed, June 2023.

The shattered floor betrays the bales and the straw scatters from both levels.

The pains and losses of farm life are reflected in several of the paintings. “August 9:20pm” at the entrance to the exhibit, and “Little One,” at its end, depict the harshness of a life lived in contained spaces. In “August 9:20pm,” Maughan brings us immediately into the difficulty of livestock management.

The summer had a drought streak, but your pen still became flooded.
The ground became saturated and slick.
Cream and tan hair became brown and grey blending in with your permanent bed as you cleaned your young calf.
Going through the back gates so that I would not startle you in my brother’s sweater and two-size too big, borrowed boots.
I saw the light reflecting off the trough that was flowing, following the overflow to your hooves, your awkwardly positioned hip, and your final bedding.
A watery mistake was made in August at 9:20pm.

Was it the calf or the mamma cow that became the victim of a mistake? Either way, the thick impasto and the deeply thatched brushstrokes speak to the rough scene as both cows seem to swim in their pen. A figure in blue (presumably the artist in her brother’s sweater) stands to the left with her hand on the mamma cow’s back, giving what little comfort she can. The dark palette of brown, black, gray and a deep red on the pen rails almost blends together in a wash of loss.

In “Little One,” Maughan presents a complex composition of figures and cows, encircling the artist and a calf at center. It appears that all the cows have been lost as they seem to be laying on the ground, perhaps victims of illness this time.

My Dear Young One
3 Months Covered in Mud
2 Weeks of Bad Rain
1 Day of a Cough
0 Shots
My Little One

The faces of the figures reflect the pain they are feeling and, once again, the artist has incorporated a dark, muddy palette to emphasize a somber mood. The swirling of the composition adds a chaotic note as does the scale of the piece (60×72 in.) and even the unstretched canvas which, again, gives it a rawness that feels right for the subject.

Rachel Maughan, “Phil,” mixed media acrylic on canvas, cardboard, 48×38 in.

The one sculptural piece in the show had fallen from its spot on the wall when I visited. “Phil” is a mixed-media acrylic on canvas and cardboard piece that is approximately 4×3 feet. The loose design of its paper mache structure manages to still give it a realism despite missing hooves and details. Its slick, glossy surface successfully reflects the look of a newly born calf. And as it lay on the gallery’s coffee table, it seemed even more realistic. Maughan’s story for “Phil” included a bit more wry humor than others in the show.

You were rather dirty.
That’s not mud on my coat now.
Bedding in the feed barn, your great and nightly escape.
But you were content, and I was too small to be scary. I would wait till mom gets back for help.
For now, I’ll draw you in the doorway, so you do not wander, and name you Phil.
The escapee brahma weaner cow, Miss Potter would have adored you, amidst all stereotypes of brahmas you were a good pet. I’d rather have a cow than a dog because who has met a dog named Phil.

Rachel Maughan’s presentation is exceptional, especially for an active student and emerging artist. Her annotated labels expand on the imagery without being heavy-handed. As Border & Square Gallery continues its series of shows, their curatorial choices continue to impress.

Rachel Maughan: Barned and Baled, Border & Square, Provo, through October 28.

Gina Cavallo

Gina Cavallo has been a curator, registrar, and executive director in museums for over 35 years. She spent many years as an art critic for publications in Phoenix. She began her career at the Phoenix Art Museum and the Heard Museum, was a founding curator at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, spent two terms managing exhibitions at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and was the Executive Director at the Mission Inn Foundation & Museum in Riverside, California. Her current role is Director of Development for Taproot Theatre Company in Seattle where she also serves as the curator of the Kendall Center Exhibition Series. She moved to Orem in 2024 with her husband, a theatre faculty member at UVU.