statement | exhibits | galleries | commissions | description of work

About the Artist:

René D. Shoemaker is a long-time Athens artist who received her BFA from the University of Georgia and a MLIS at the University of South Carolina. René lives in the woods in Oconee County in a handmade octagon house.

Statement of Purpose:

...to create art that speaks to people of places and ideas they may recognize in themselves. One of my goals is to travel to a place to sketch the unique character of that place, then return to the studio to create the art of that place and then return to share my vision in a gallery in that city/country.
My favorite places? - Athens, Ga; Asheville, NC; New York City; Paris, France; Fano, Italy. I want to exhibit in each one of those places - see the list below to see how much of this goal I have accomplished! My dream is to feed my soul with my love for travel and my love for color and art.
Please contact me to let me know how we can work together to explore and discover your unique location.

www.ARTISLA.com

Commissioned site specific permanent installations:

Passages II
Ramsey Center, University of Georgia, Athens, Ga
June 2012

Passages
Ramsey Center, University of Georgia, Athens, Ga
September 2007

Succession
Heyward Allen Toyota, Athens, Ga
February 2006

Kind Words Rising
Ramsey Center, University of Georgia, Athens, Ga
September 2004

Exhibitions:

2013

38th Juried Exhibition
Lyndon House Arts Center
293 Hoyt Street
Athens Ga 30601
March 3 - May 4, 2013

A Common Thread 2013
The Textile Center
3000 University Ave SE
Minneapolis, MN
January 18 - March 2, 2013

Winter Art Show 2013
Honorable Mention Awarded for:
Kennedy Road Beaver Pond, Oconee County, Ga 2012
Monroe Art Guild
205 South Broad Street
Monroe, Ga 30655
January 15-February 22, 2013

2012

ATHICA Pin-Up
Athens Institute for Contemporary Art
160 Tracy Street
Athens, Ga
December 15, 2012

Fine Art by UGA Alumni
The Nest
Norcross Arts Alliance
17 College St
Norcross, Ga
November 2 - December 7, 2012

Community:
ATHICA @ Ford
4260 Atlanta Highway
Bogart, Ga
September 15 - January 19, 2013

Georgia Small Works
Oconee Cultural Arts Foundation
34 School Street
Watkinsville, Ga
October 5- November 9, 2012

Drawing Studio Open House
and Bug Wake
Penland School of Crafts
67 Doras Trail
Penland NC
August 5. 2012

Scholarship awarded:
Drawing: Points of Departure
Penland School of Crafts
67 Doras Trail
Penland NC
July 20 - August 7, 2012

Spirit of the Land 2012
Athens Land Trust &
Oconee River Land Trust
State Botanical Garden of Georgia
Athens, Ga
August 5 - September 9 2012

Passages II
 Site-specific permanent installation
Ramsey Student Center for Recreational Activities
University of Georgia
Athens, Ga
June 2012

Southworks: 17th Annual National Juried Art Exhibition
Oconee Cultural Arts Foundation
34 School Street
Watkinsville, Ga
April 6 - May 11, 2012

2011

Georgia Small Works
Oconee Cultural Arts Foundation
34 School Street
Watkinsville, Ga
October 7- November 12, 2011

ATHICA Mystery Triennial
Athens Institute for Contemporary Art
160 Tracy Street
Athens, Ga
August 20 - September 18, 2011

Birds!
Jittery Joe's 5 Points
230 South Milledge Avenue
Athens, GA

36th Annual Lyndon House Juried Exhibit
Lyndon House Art Center
293 Hoyt Street
Athens Ga
Honorable Mention:
"YWCA Building, Hancock & Pulaski"
layered silk painting by René Shoemaker

2010

How It Never Ends:
CED Emeriti Faculty Share Their Recent Work
Circle Gallery
G14 Caldwell Hall
College of Environment & Design
University of Georgia
Athens, GA 30602
December 6 - 21, 2010

Village Details:
A walk from the West to the East Village,
and what I saw along the way
Shade Bar
241 Sullivan St
(Sullivan & 3rd: one block south of Washington Square Park)
New York City  
Spring, 2010

Monroe to Athens
Jittery Joe's 5 Points
230 South Milledge Avenue
Athens, GA 30605
August - December, 2010
706.208.1979

Discovering Monroe
at the
Monroe Art Guild
205 S. Broad Street
Monroe, GA 30655
May 4-27, 2010

Athens Above
Ciné
234 West Hancock Ave
Athens, Ga
in conjunction with the Athens Clarke Heritage Foundation
symposium "Look at That!" and
"Threads" exhibit.
See press release
April, 2010

35th Juried Exhibition
Lyndon House Arts Center
293 Hoyt Street
Athens, Georgia
706.613.3623
February 21-May 8, 2010

A Common Thread
Textile Center
3000 University Ave SE
Minneapolis, MN 55414
January 15 - February 20, 2010

Red Eye Coffee
297 Prince Aveue
Athens, Ga 30601

2009

American Art Today
The Bascom: A Cnter for the Visual Arts
Highlands, NC
October 24 - December 18, 2009

Members Invitational
The Bascom: A Center for the Visual Arts
Highlands, NC
October 16 - November 7, 2009

The Cultural Landscape Foundation
Auction held at the ASLA conference, Chicago, Il
September 18-20, 2009
www.tclf.org/auction/index.htm

Summer Members Show
Monroe Art Guild, Monroe, Ga
Honorable Mention: YWCA Building, Athens, Ga

Solo exhibit:
Orr2: Interpreting the Legacy - an artistic interpretation of Fred J. Orr's architecture
Circle Gallery, College of Environment & Design
University of Georgia, Athens, Ga
April 1 - 30, 2009
press release

Aurum Studio Artist Sale
Athens, Ga
June-July 2009

2008

"Off My Wall..."
Jittery Joe's 5 Points, Athens, Ga
2008

33rd Juried Exhibition
Lyndon House Arts Center, Athens, Ga
February - May 2008

Spirit of the Land
Athens Land Trust &
Oconee River Land Trusts
State Botanical Garden of Georgia, Athens, Ga
June 2008

2007

32nd Annual Lyndon House Juried Exhibit
Lyndon House, Athens, Ga
February - May 2007

Spirit of the Land
Athens and Oconee Land Trusts
State Botanical Garden of Georgia, Athens, Ga
March 2007

Passages
Ramsey Center, University of Georgia, Athens, Ga
March 2007

2006

Succession
Heyward Allen Toyota, Athens, Ga

Wedding Dress
Athens, Ga
2006

Perspectives of Travel
(silk by Rene Shoemaker, landscape painting by Philip Juras)
UGA Alumni Association Atlanta Alumni Center
3333 Peachtree Road
NE South Tower, Suite 210
Atlanta, Ga 30326
Jan - Mar, 2006

2005

Places / Non-Places
(silk by Rene Shoemaker, landscape painting by Philip Juras)
Circle Gallery, College of Environment & Design
University of Georgia, Athens, Ga 30602
Sept/Oct, 2005

Exhibit #2
The Last Resort, Athens, Ga
May, 2005

Other Places
The Last Resort, Athens, Ga
706.549.0810

2004

Rediscovering the Neighborhood
Shade Bar, 241 Sullivan St, New York City
November 7, 2004
212.982.62753
press release

Maison Bleu
Watkinsville, Ga
November 2004
Dream Streets (silk by René Shoemaker, photographs by Barrie Collins)
Blue Sky Café, Athens, Ga
April 15 - June 1, 2004
Casablanca Cafe, Northampton, Mass
March - April 2004
Starbucks, Farmington, Ct
March - April 2004
The Other Side of Athens - Aurum Studios, Athens, Ga
Feb, 2004

2003

Watkinsville Scenes - Starbucks Downtown, Athens, Ga
Observations - the Architecture of Downtown Watkinsville - Wakinsville Public Library,
Watkinsville, Ga
Shine On - Mental Health Benefit Exhibit and Auction, Athens, Ga
Athens Scenes - Starbucks Downtown, Athens, Ga

2002

-From Campus to Town - Blue Sky, Athens, Ga
-From Here to There - Clayton Street Gallery, Athens, Ga
-Windows - Oconee County Arts Federation, Watkinsville, Ga
-Observations - Starbucks, Athens, Ga
-How to Relax and Sip a Cup of Coffee - Starbucks, Decatur, Ga
-Self Portrait - group exhibit, Clayton Street Gallery, Athens, Ga
-Celebration of the Arts - Classic Center, Athens, Ga
-From the Heart - Oconee County Arts Federation, Watkinsville, Ga
-Shine On - Mental Health benefit exhibit and auction, Athens, Ga
-SED Annual - SED Gallery, School of Environmental Design, Athens, Ga

2001

-Ethereal Spaces - 1st solo gallery exhibit, Clayton Street Gallery, Athens, Ga
-Radiant - Mental Health Benefit Exhibit and Auction, Athens, Ga
-A Celebration of the Arts - Invitational art exhibit, Classic Center, Athens, Ga
-Quiet Conversations - solo exhibit, Big City Bread Café, Athens, Ga
-Artists for Preservation - Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation Exhibit, Firehall #2, Athens, Ga
-Athens Artists: A Celebration of Place - Lyndon House, Athens, Ga

2000

-Mental Health Benefit - exhibit and auction, Athens, Ga
-Mothers/Fathers/Sons & Daughters - Clayton Street Gallery, Athens, Ga
-Pleasures - Jittery Joe's 5 points, Athens, Ga
-Starbucks - Athens, Ga

1999

-Mental Health Benefit - exhibit and auction, The Globe, Athens, Ga
-Clayton St. Gallery, Athens, Ga
-Lyndon House Arts Center, Athens, Ga
-Cortona Faculty Exhibition, Lamar Dodd School of Art, UGA, Athens, Ga,
-The Pleasures of Traveling, Lewis-Young, Athens, Ga, Solo Exhibition

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Medium & description of work

A sense of place is what the artist is aiming for in her work. There are images of downtown Athens, Ga, as well as representations of nearby downtown Watkinsville, and Northampton, Massachussetts, Farmington, Connecticutt, and New York City. René visits the site, the town, to experience the place - the sounds, smell and movement through the spaces, to sketch the buildings, the spaces where people are, and the sense of the people who use that place. For each new exhibit, the work would is centered around the buildings, spaces and architectural details in that new town - a tour of the city, as it were.

‘Hand-painted silk’ has dye applied directly to the silk. In this case, there are resist lines laid down on the silk to designate the drawn design, then the ‘fiber-reactive dye’ (meaning the dye becomes one with the fabric) is applied with a foam brush. The silk is oftentimes charmeuse, which is a beautiful heavy silk with a lustrous sheen to it, or china silk, which is light and moves gently in the breeze.

The silk pieces are 36x36 inch squares,or 22x22 inch and 11x11 inch squares added for detail in the designs. The sik squares are sewn to a rod for ease in hanging, and where they can float freely as the air in the gallery moves.

In past solo exhibits, the art work has been hung from the ceiling as opposed to the wall to enhance the sense of movement in space. As one critic said of the exhibit From Campus to Town: “It’s like a love letter to Athens.”

I would like to write that letter to your town.

Please contact the artist at rds@coffeecuppress.com for exhibit propoals or commissions.

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