October is a month of transition: first cool mornings of the year, beginning of turning leaves, and the first thoughts of holiday get-togethers. Renee Rouillier explores the larger transitions of freedom and confinement, loss and joy, in her Tiny Gallery show, Messages from Nature. Learn more about her and her show, which is in its final week, below!
Renee Rouillier grew up in rural Upstate New York as one of four siblings in a time where “the world felt like a safer place to live.”
Rejecting any safety nets, however, young Rouillier embarked on a brief journey to an Airline Academy before settling in Rochester and enrolling in its Institute of Technology’s evening art program. At this time, she mainly worked with two-dimensional art and received a Certificate of Fine Arts.
A new path opened after Rouillier underwent major surgery in her early 40’s. At this time, she decided to quit her job and return to school, choosing the Arts Program at SUNY Brockport.
“This is where everything began to come together,” Rouillier recalls. “I found myself evolving into the person I was meant to be and realized what a difference it made when someone believed in your capabilities and provided unconditional support.”
Soon, this blanket of enlightenment spread wings when Rouillier became immersed in and inundated by sculpture and clay, which she felt unlocked a connection she had never been able to find in 2D art. She began exploring interests and ideas, finally settling in a pocket of inspiration around Surrealism and German Expressionism.
“I began winning awards and honors and more importantly,” Rouillier asserts, “I began to believe in myself…drawing from art with an edge, dark side, or unforeseen side of reality.”
Not long after, Rouillier graduated with a BFA and a BS in Interdisciplinary Arts for Children with Honors and was offered a fellowship at the University of South Carolina concentrating in Ceramics and Sculpture, both studying and acting as a Teaching Assistant and Instructor of Record in Ceramics and Three-Dimensional Study.
“This is also another time-period I will always treasure,” Rouillier intimates, “The total involvement and atmosphere created between undergraduates, graduate students, instructors, and professors to create a whole interactive community; I cherished teaching and my students.”
This experience culminated in an MFA, followed by an additional eight years of teaching at USC Columbia, USC Aiken, Columbia College, and South Carolina State University, before fully settling into the art community in Columbia, participating in events like The Supper Table, where she designed the place setting for Dr. Matilda Evans.
In preparation for her Tiny Gallery show, Rouillier turned to pieces sculpted before the pandemic but not completed. When the studio she sculpts at reopened, she began selecting pieces and adding surface treatments, which is “accomplished using oxides, underglazes, and glazes with multiple firings.”
Rouillier’s process for this show reflects both her baseline as an artist and her emerging feelings from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I find myself continuously observing my surroundings, interactions, and world events,” Rouillier shares, “This series focuses on the freedom and joy, or my so-called interpretation of it, that I felt animals and wildlife experienced during our confinement.”
Messages from Nature is filled with ruminating animals, not revealing their thoughts, but staring straight ahead as if beckoning you into conversation. Monkeys and hippos float as avian and amphibian friends perch on their rounded heads. Leopards and rams sit in an excess of both their own patterns and patterns not inherent to them. All the while, these ruminating animals are punctuated by the occasional face of a girl or goblin.
Rouillier’s personal favorites from the show are “Unusual Friends” and “Mystical,” the former of which reflects a challenge she faces—adding that little additional touch that completes the piece.”
“When I built the hippo, I liked it by itself, but it needed an additional element: the hummingbird,” Rouillier reflects, “When I underglazed (matte) the hummingbird and initially fired it, something still wasn't quite right—I put that little touch of gloss glaze on the beak and that did the trick.”
Renee Rouillier’s Messages from Nature will be available to peruse and to purchase from 24/7 on the Jasper virtual gallery space until October 31st: https://the-jasper-project.square.site/tiny-gallery. If you are looking for a unique holiday gift, a handcrafted sculpture is irreplaceable.
As for the future, Rouillier “can’t wait to see what evolves,” and you can follow her journey in the community as she takes on new adventures with her three-dimensional creations.
- - Christina Xan