statement | exhibits | galleries | commissions | description of work

Artist's Bio:

René D. Shoemaker has been creating art in Athens for 30 years. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Georgia and a Masters of Library and Information Science at the University of South Carolina. By day, René is a librarian and gallery director for the Owens Library & Circle Gallery at the College of Environment & Design, University of Georgia. René & her family reside in the woods of Oconee County in northeast Georgia.

Artist's Statement of Purpose:

...to create art that speaks to people of places and ideas they may recognize in themselves. My goal is to travel to a place, sketch that place, return to the studio and creat the art of that place; and to then share my vision in a gallery in that location.
My favorite places? Athens, Ga; Asheville, NC; New York City: Paris, France; Fano, Italy. One goal is to have and exhibit in each one of those places. (See the list below, to see how much of this goal I have accomplishe!) My dream is to feed my love for travel by my love for art.
Please contact me to let me know how we can work together to discover your town.

Current exhibits:

Village Details:
A walk from the West to the East Village,
and what I saw along the way

Shade
241 Sullivan St
(Sullivan & 3rd: one block south of Washington Square Park)
New York City  

   212.982.6275

"Discovering Monroe"
at the
Monroe Art Guild
205 S. Broad Street
Monroe, GA 30655
770-207-8937

May 4-27, 2010

Commissions & permanent installations:

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

Exhibits:

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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