Tuesday, June 5, 2018

Open Studio Showcase Review


Open Studio Showcase Review

Fine artist Renae Barnard opened the doors to her private studio location in Los Angeles for an exclusive showcase Sunday, May 27th. Invitees were the first to preview recently completed works by the artist.


Working through a variety of mediums, Barnard's studio is thoughtfully curated with paintings, sculptures, and installations. Her latest work includes paintings and sculptures made with salt. This mineral inclusion creates natural formations and crystalline surface qualities when combined with paint.

Throughout the event, Barnard generously shares insights into her artistic process and material explorations with guests.

Her multi-media works incorporate recycled materials from the furniture manufacturing industry to create sculptural foundations for painting. The organic formations and layered textures reference natural earthen elements and minerals. A gem-like color palette of low-VOC paints was specially provided by Dunn-Edwards in support of this eco-conscious project.

The artist displays her collection of gemstones; a personal vignette of inspiration for these new works.




"Many of my sculptures are worked within inches of collapse and reflect my attraction to the imperfect and aged" says Barnard. This is a recurring theme seen throughout the artist's body of work. Her latest sculptures also experiment with paint and salt, and are displayed in crumbling volcanic formations. The fractured surfaces reveal saturated colors and tectonic layering.



Illuminated installations by Renae Barnard add ambiance to the intimate studio space. Made from recycled plastic sheeting, the artist knots and drapes the materials into cloud-like sculptures. The lightweight material floats above guests heads with a soft glow.

The event was well attended by private collectors, local journalists and close colleagues of the artist. A quick walk-through of the studio showcase featured artworks at every turn. The diversity of media and artistic process reveal Barnard's pleasure of the hand-made.

Mauveine State a paper sculpture on display by the artist was meticulously dip dyed by hand to reveal the delicacy of each layer. Barnard often pushes the limits of materials in her own works to reveal their delicacy and transience. Her intrinsic approach delights in the tactility and decadence of making in a way that viewer's are immediately drawn to.






Barnard has a Master of Fine Arts degree from Claremont Graduate University and is a recipient of the Sue Arlen Walker and Harvey M. Parker Memorial Fellowship, the Armory Center for the Arts Teaching Artist Fellowship, the Ahmanson Annual Fellowship, the Lincoln Fellowship Award and the Christopher Street West Art & Culture Grant.

Barnard has created site specific, socially engaged works and exhibited at local and international galleries/film festivals including Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Rutgers University, Towson University, Drake University, Harriet & Charles Luckman Gallery, SOMArts Gallery, Pete & Susan Barrett Gallery, LGBT Film Festival Boston, Long Beach LGBTQ Film Festival, Tampa International LGBTQ Film Festival, and the Bergamot Station Arts Center in Santa Monica among others. To learn more about Renae Barnard, please visit:

Tuesday, May 29, 2018

PRNewswire: Renae Barnard Open Studio - May 27th, 2018

Renae Barnard Open Studio - May 27th, 2018


LOS ANGELESMay 22, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Fine artist Renae Barnard opens the doors to her private studio location in Los Angeles for an exclusive showcase Sunday, May 27th from 12 - 3pm. Invitees will be the first to preview recently completed works by the artist.
Recently featured by The Woven Tale Press, Selvedge Magazine and Art Blitz Los AngelesRenae Barnard's studio practice includes sculpture, painting and textile artworks. Her latest works incorporate recycled materials from the furniture manufacturing industry to create sculptural foundations for painting. The organic formations and layered textures reference natural earthen elements and minerals. A gem-like color palette of low-VOC paints was specially provided by Dunn-Edwards in support of this eco-conscious project.
Indulging in the pleasure and tactility of making, these folded, twisted, and sewn objects are both destroyed by and reinforced with the repetitive gestures by which they are made. "Many of my sculptures are worked within inches of collapse and reflect my attraction to the imperfect and the aged," says Barnard. The time consuming and ritualistic processes of braiding, weaving, stitching and hand-dying textiles highlights the delicacy and transience of the material. 'Why are attributes like softness and delicacy deemed "feminine"? And why are such qualities considered indicators of weakness?' These are just a few of the questions surrounding Barnard's artwork.
Creating a material language to explore these nuanced precepts, Barnard combines her hand-made craft technique with elements of playful divergence and social commentary. "I allow myself the sensitivity to make work that reveals both wounds and strengths, wrangling material out of an emotional response to feelings of tension. And so, my reason for making art is so that they might speak in my place, referencing issues that are uncomfortable and difficult to express in words."
Barnard has a Master of Fine Arts degree from Claremont Graduate University and is a recipient of the Sue Arlen Walker and Harvey M. Parker Memorial Fellowship, the Armory Center for the Arts Teaching Artist Fellowship, the Ahmanson Annual Fellowship, the Lincoln Fellowship Award and the Christopher Street West Art & Culture Grant.
Barnard has created site specific, socially engaged works and exhibited at local and international galleries/film festivals including Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Rutgers UniversityTowson UniversityDrake University, Harriet & Charles Luckman Gallery, SOMArts Gallery, Pete & Susan Barrett Gallery, LGBT Film Festival Boston, Long Beach LGBTQ Film Festival, Tampa International LGBTQ Film Festival, and the Bergamot Station Arts Center in Santa Monica among others. To learn more about Renae Barnard, please visit: www.renaebarnard.com.


Media Contact:
Abigail Siniscal

195699@email4pr.com

310-823-7331

SOURCE Renae Barnard

Thursday, May 24, 2018

The Woven Tale Press Vol. VI #4

The Woven Tale Press magazine featured artwork by Renae Barnard in their recent issue.

You can view the full issue online at:  http://online.flipbuilder.com/eovs/uske/ 
Print copies are also available for purchase from: http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/1423039



The Woven Tale Press exhibits monthly the literary, artful, and innovative. The WTP mission is to grow the online presence of noteworthy writers, photographers, and artists, both emerging and established.


In our online magazine, published ten times a year, we credit our contributors with interactive urls back to their websites. By growing this Web presence, WTP also aspires to garner the interest of collectors, galleries, and literary agents who may turn to its pages seeking new talents. Our monthly magazine has featured multiple Pushcart Prize nominees, poet laureates, and internationally acclaimed artists.

While our magazine showcases talents across the Web, features on WTPCentral offer behind-­the­-scene peeks into the creative process with interviews, reviews of indie books, gallery exhibitions, and noteworthy websites, and now gallery profiles.


                                                                         https://www.thewoventalepress.net



Monday, May 14, 2018

The Woven Tale Press Art Spotlight: Renae Barnard




Art Spotlight: Renae Barnard

Cleanse

See Renae Barnard’s work in WTP Vol. VI #4


Cleanse by Renae Barnard

paper and thread
9” x 13” x 6”
Renae Barnard is interested in exploring the network of interactions between perception, time, and the inadequacy of language. Much of her work grapples with what progress means, including changes in our environment, as well as changes in equality for women, LGBTQ people, and people of color. Barnard tries to propagate her own visions of “progress” by enabling others to connect and contribute to a collective commitment of kindness and compassion.

To see more of Renae Barnard's work visit: www.renaebarnard.com

WTP Central Studio Tour: Renae Barnard


Studio Tour: Renae Barnard


The Studio Tour series offers an inside peek into the work environments of WTP artists, as well as insight into their creative process within these resonate spaces.
By Jennifer Nelson, WTP Feature Writer
Renae Barnard is recognized by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) as a Leadership in Energy Accredited Professional (LEED AP) and by the International Institute for Bau-biologie® & Ecology as a Building Biologie Practitioner. She has recently completed projects in cooperation with the National Immigration Law Center and the City of Santa Monica Department of Cultural Affairs. She is a recipient of the Sue Arlen Walker and Harvey M. Parker Memorial Fellowship, the Armory Center for the Arts Teaching Artist Fellowship, The Ahmanson Annual Fellowship, Lincoln Fellowship Award, and Christopher Street West Art and Culture Grant.
For Renae Barnard, her studio is on the go. She weaves in her lap; bowls of salt mixture are evaporating on her front porch; she may rent out temporary spaces around Los Angeles as her projects require. For her most recent public work, at Bergamot Station, Santa Monica, California, she shared space with other artists in a large commercial building in Boyle Heights. “Sharing space with other artists on a short-term basis allows me the access to equipment I may need,” she says, “like a spray room, wood shop, or kiln without the financial burden of permanent overhead.”
Nevertheless, she faces challenges when sharing space, the main one in Los Angeles, not having a parking space. This meant that Barnard had to haul sculpture materials down a sidewalk to a metered parking space. “It’s not always the most convenient, but it’s manageable,” she says.
For two years, her studio was a tiny white box in Claremont, a city thirty miles east of Los Angeles, where she kept weaving and sewing materials, as well as tripods for her photography. Many of the materials were incorporated into works such as “Displaced Tinder,” a sculpture of twisted medical exam paper wound around school chairs.


With time, she has realized form through repetitive movements like weaving, sewing, and twisting motions. Now she is experimenting with other modes of accumulating form, including a series of fiber sculptures of cotton batting, upholstery foam, and polyester fiberfill scraps discarded by furniture manufacturers. These materials are supplemented with water-based paints by Dunn Edwards, salt, water-based glues, and vinegar. “I’m interested in the ways in which basic chemistry might create form beyond those achievable with my hands,” says Barnard.

To work, Barnard requires silence and solitude. She doesn’t want music, visitors, or lingering clutter. Her process is generally exploratory, allowing room for discovery along the path and at the finish. There’s an undercurrent of chaos that she’s always wrestling with. The outcome is not a literal display of the problem, nor is it offering a solution. It is a record of the thought process and the struggle: “I’m interested in examining our situations and hopefully moving beyond the place where we stand now.”



See Renae Barnard’s work in Vol. VI #4
Copyright 2018 Woven Tale Press LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Renae Barnard Open Studio - May 27, 2018






You are cordially invited to attend my upcoming open studio on Sunday May 27, 2018 from 12pm to 3pm. For address, please send your RSVP to renaebarnard@gmail.com. I look forward to sharing my recent artwork with you!

Special thank you to Dunn Edwards

Saturday, April 28, 2018

"Material World" Renae Barnard featured in Selvedge



Material World


Guest post by Abby Sin
At times language cannot adequately express the intricacies of our thoughts and desires. Artist Renae Barnard explore the poetics of materiality through handmade objects and ephemeral installations. Working with a range of fabrics and reclaimed materials such as blankets, jute and hemp rope, medical bed paper, rags, ribbon and lace scrap, Barnard’s compositions make a connection between materiality, perception, and time.
Indulging in the pleasure and tactility of making, these folded, twisted, and sewn objects are both destroyed by and reinforced with the repetitive gestures by which they are made. 'Many of my sculptures are worked within inches of collapse and reflect my attraction to the imperfect and the aged' says Barnard. The time consuming and ritualistic processes of braiding, weaving, stitching and hand-dying textiles highlights the delicacy and transience of the material. 'Why are attributes like softness and delicacy deemed “feminine”? And why are such qualities considered indicators of weakness?' These are just a few of the questions surrounding Barnard’s artwork.
Creating a material language to explore these nuanced precepts, Barnard combines her hand-made craft technique with elements of playful divergence and social commentary. 'I allow myself the sensitivity to make work that reveals both wounds and strengths, wrangling material out of an emotional response to feelings of tension. And so, my reason for making art is so that they might speak in my place, referencing issues that are uncomfortable and difficult to express in words.'


Issue 78 Substance

Selvedge is a magazine that acknowledges the significance of textiles as a part of everyone’s story.  We are surrounded by cloth from the cradle to the grave and by exploring our universal emotional connection to fibre we share the stories and values that mean the most to us. 
Featuring exhibitions, people, adventures and opinion, the blog is a meeting point for the Selvedge community and an entry point into the world of textiles for those looking for an original and broadening perspective.
Selvedge Magazine, 14 Milton Park Highgate London N6 5QA United Kingdom

Thursday, March 8, 2018

"Renae Barnard: Promises of Progress" ArtBlitz Los Angeles





Socially conscious Los Angeles artist, Renae Barnard opens up with me for an interview regarding her most recent public installation at Bergamot station. Her installation brings us in visually with its tactile presence and keeps us intellectually with her powerful conceptual engagement with social justice and women’s rights issues.
 

Tell me a little about your background leading up to Claremont Graduate University and living and working in Los Angeles, how do you feel like these decisions helped shape your career?
I studied studio art at California State University Los Angeles and focused on mixed-media installation with elements of photography, ceramic sculpture and video. I was chosen from a select group of students to exhibit my installation, Almost Lovers Always Do during a special exhibition, Infinite Encores at the Harriet and Charles Luckman Gallery in Los Angeles, CA (2012).
 It was during my last year at CSULA that I began working on my first socially engaged project, How Do You Know? 
“What is a woman?” “What is a man?” “How do you know if you are one?” Despite how simple these questions may seem, they are often difficult and complicated to answer. It is the broad range of responses that emphasizes this. This work invites viewers to consider the social and psychological dynamics that charge the simplest of questions. Visitors have the opportunity to contribute their own responses both during the exhibition and afterwards by email or postal mail. The installation is ultimately fueled, created, and received by the community at large—not just those who attend, but also those who responded to the prompts initially, and those who provide additional responses after viewing the project.
Since its inception How Do You Know? has been installed at the San Francisco Center and the West Hollywood Public Library (as part of the Christopher Street West Pride Celebration), shown at the CSULA COMA Gallery and the LA Municipal Gallery, as well been installed inside of a U-Haul truck (as part of Install Weho) and in an East Los Angeles underground tunnel as part of This Magnificent World. The video documenting the installation was shown in 2013 as part of the Sick Exhibition in San Francisco and the Fargo-Moorhead Film Festival, and screened in 2014 at the Queens Museum, NY, the Women and Minority Film Festival, Tampa International LGBT Film Festival, Long Beach LGBTQ Film Festival, Park Circle Film Society Festival and the Boston LGBT Film Festival.
 Throughout my undergraduate studies, I had the opportunity to show my work at galleries and film festivals internationally. This gave me the opportunity to work with international curators and art professionals expanding my interest in social engagement and public practice.

Tell me about your artistic goals within your practice and how the materials you use have influenced this practice.
 I’m interested in indulging in the pleasure and tactility of making while exploring the network of interactions between perception, time and the inadequacy of language. Many of my sculptures are worked within inches of collapse and reflect my attraction to the imperfect and the aged. My work considers the ways in which identity is crafted and regulated by repetitive language and how realities are shaped through social ideologies. I am deeply invested in community-building, environmental issues, and social justice.

Tell me about this current piece at Bergamot Station and what your artistic vision was for installing it.
 Propagate Progress began as a participatory community-building event that culminated with a temporary sculptural installation. On May 21,2016 the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) trains opened to public passengers for the first time at 26th St/ Bergamot Station. Supported by a team of artists (friends) and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), I invited Bergamot Gallery visitors, train passengers and the public at large to discuss their visions for progress and to contribute their promises to the future by writing or drawing on large-scale paper rolls. What are the promises that we are willing to make to ourselves and each other? In what ways, small and large, can we contribute to a sustainable future?
By manually twisting together the shared community promises, a rope-like form was created and ultimately used as the primary building material of the sculpture. In the same way that our will to achieve progress strengthens when we come together, the frail paper became more substantive with every twist. The completed sculpture served as an ephemeral symbol of our collective commitment to progress. However, the sculpture is not intended as a permanent monument. In the same way “progress” today becomes history tomorrow, this work is about transformation and change.

 
How did you become interested in public artwork versus traditional gallery settings, and how does your practice benefit from this public outdoor exposure? 
I’m especially interested in the effects of human and environmental forces as a component of the installations development. For example, Propagate Progress was installed at Bergamot Station’s “People Park” where the community originally gathered (May 2016) to discuss our hopes, fears and promises. A variety of pigments, mark making techniques and conditions were applied by the participants who created results substantially different from what might have occurred in a controlled studio environment. The personal connection to the forming of the work allowed us the opportunity to know one another, connecting our personal challenges to global and local social/ environmental/ political problems.
Exposure to wind, sun and rain accelerated the sculptures destruction, rapidly shifting our vibrant promises for a better tomorrow into faded, decomposing pulp.

What do you think about the timeliness of the work in the state of the world today?
Notions of progress can be riddled with judgment based on differing points of view. For example, developers often view gentrification as “progress” because it will improve building standards and/or introduce new services while long-time residents of a gentrifying area may view it as “regress” because it would change or eliminate the culture of their neighborhood.
 When I first engaged the community in May 2016 we were in the primary stages of the presidential election process. By the time the work was installed on December 15th, many Americans were frightened of the changes that were promised (threatened) under the guise of progress. Today, the installation is gone, but more than ever before our challenges remain.
 Much of my artwork wrestles with what progress means, including changes in our environment, as well as changes in equality for women, LGBTQs and people of color. I try to affect my own vision for progress through making and exhibiting artwork about these issues.


Renae Barnard’s work is layered with meaning and consciousness that allows everyone to engage on their own unique level. She is making political work that is powerful and strong without hitting you over the head with it, rather you get to let it sink in as you spend time with her and the work she is making. Her poetic gestures within her practice symbolize a larger community and struggle that is both singular and shared. You can find more of Renae’s work here:

By: Megan St. Clair
3/7/17

Tuesday, January 30, 2018

"Paper is Part of the Picture" at The Anderson Gallery



Paper is Part of the Picture


Join us on Friday, Feb. 2, from 5-7pm for the public reception for Paper is Part of the Picture: Contemporary Paper and Book Arts.

Curated by Drake University’s Sarah McCoy, Paper is Part of the Picture explores the different substrates, approaches, materiality and meanings revealed through artists’ interactions on and with paper.

This exhibit features artwork made of or on paper by artists from across the US.  Join us at the public reception Friday, Feb. 2, 5-7pm or visit the gallery during regular hours!  Tues – Sundaynoon-4pm.

paperpartofpicture_postcard-1
Participating artists include:

Joanna Anos (Chicago, IL)
Penelope Anstruther (Oakland, CA)
Renae Barnard (Los Angeles, CA)
Jessica Barness (Kent, OH)
Melanie Bohrer (Chicago, IL)
Ben Calvert (Villa Park, IL)
John Chang (Pasadena, CA)
Sage Dawson (St. Louis, MO)
Cristina deAlmeida (Bellingham, WA)
Andrew DeCaen (Denton, TX)
Sue Carrie Drummond (Jackson, MS)
Erin Elizabeth (Chicago, IL)
Maureen Fritchen (Racine, WI)
Tatiana Ginsberg (Brooklyn, NY)
Reni Gower (Mechanicsville, VA)
Jessie Horning (Columbus, OH)
Andrew Huot (Montrose, GA)
Peggy Johnston (Des Moines, IA)
DongKyu Kim (Fort Lee, NJ)
Lenka Konopasek (Salt Lake City, UT)
Karen Kunc (Lincoln, NE)
Jihae Kwon (Laie, HI)
Laurie LeBreton (Chicago, IL)
Amy Leners (Chicago, IL)
Erin Mickelson (Santa Fe, NM)
Lisa Miles (Cleveland, OH)
Zeinab Saab (DeKalb, IL)
Michael Scheef (Papillion, NE)
Tess Mosko Scherer (Peoria, AZ)
Christian Schmit (Lakeside Park, KY)
Maria Welch (Brandon, MS)

See more photos from the exhibition here: Paper is Part of the Picture

Wednesday, January 11, 2017

“Propagate Progress” by Artist Renae Barnard – Final Installation of Bergamot Station’s NEA Our Town Project

  
The City of Santa Monica with support from the NEA Our Town program, will debut a temporary artwork installation by local artist Renae Barnard at Bergamot Station on December 15th, 2016. The artwork is located within People’s Park at Bergamot Station Arts Center, and will be on view daily until January 15th, 2017. People’s Park will not be accessible to the public for the duration of the installation, though the artwork remains visible and activates the park space. This project is the last of a series of six temporary projects funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and the City of Santa Monica as part of the City’s Our Town program grant received in 2013.

Propagate Progress is a participatory community-building event that culminated with this sculptural installation. Barnard states that “the project explores and memorializes our community’s diverse visions for society's future progress.” According to Barnard, much of her work grapples with what progress means, including changes in our environment, as well as changes in equality for women, LGBTQs and people of color. This paper sculpture is not intended as a permanent monument.  Rather, it is a “progressive” and, therefore, ephemeral gesture of community and will deteriorate with time and weather.  In the same way “progress” today becomes history tomorrow, this sculpture is about transformation and change.

The NEA Our Town grant, which the City received in 2013, supports temporary public art interventions in and around the Bergamot Station Arts Center in celebration of the arrival of the Expo Line – a new, multimodal transit hub. Previous activities for the program included Amir H. Fallah’s Perfect Strangers Art and Performance Festival and Kate Johnson’s Everywhere in Between, an all-encompassing installation of video and light projections with live dance and music. Both projects were curated by 18th Street Arts Center. Two additional components of the Our Town program were Ed Moses, an installation by John Cerney, P2S, a projection piece by local artist Alia Malley, and most recently Because It Has A Peel, a sculptural installation by Joy Taylor.

Renae Barnard is a multidisciplinary artist living and working in Los Angeles. Barnard’s work has been shown at Harriet & Charles Luckman Gallery, Annenberg Community Beach House Gallery, Berkeley Art Center, SOMArts Gallery, Pete & Susan Barrett Gallery, Grace Albrecht Gallery, Los Angeles Municipal Gallery, Peggy Phelps Gallery as well as screened at U.S. and international film festivals. Barnard has been the recipient of many awards including but not limited to Outstanding Experimental Film, Sue Arlen Walker and Harvey M. Parker Memorial Fellowship, Armory Center for the Arts Teaching Artist Fellowship, Ahmanson Annual Fellowship, Christopher Street West Art & Culture Grant, Lincoln Fellowship Award and the Pasadena Arts Council Fiscal Sponsorship.  Barnard has spoken about her work at the Open Engagement Conference at the Queens Museum, NY, The Long Beach LGTBQ Film Festival, Shoshana Wayne Gallery and Los Angeles Municipal Gallery.

ABOUT THE CULTURAL AFFAIRS DIVISION
The Santa Monica Cultural Affairs Division brings the City’s art scene to life for residents and visitors each year by supporting engaging and accessible cultural events for all ages throughout the year. Cultural Affairs nurtures local arts organizations, promotes artist involvement in the community, manages the landmark Santa Monica Civic Auditorium and presents and produces innovative programs citywide at the Annenberg Community Beach House, the historic Miles Playhouse, 1450 Ocean and in the city’s parks, enriching Santa Monica’s reputation as an international cultural destination. For more info visit smgov.net/arts.
Image Captions
Renae Barnard
Propagate Progress at Bergamot Station, 2016. Photo courtesy of Abby Sin.
           
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Laura Elizabeth Becker | Cultural Affairs Supervisor | Cultural Affairs Division
City of Santa Monica | 310.458.2220 x5622