I love the New Year.
I love New Beginnings.
I love the anticipation of something marvelous just around the corner, and I love setting goals for the new year.
In 2017, my goals include entering a number of juried shows, both here and abroad. I plan to contact art galleries with the intention of finding one to represent my art. I intend to make art all year long, while keeping a schedule and finding a work/life balance that allows me to do what I love and minimize stress. And I intend to become financially stable as an artist, selling enough art to keep buying supplies for my new work – and to fund travel, of course.
As much as I love looking ahead, I also love looking back: reflecting on the year that has ended and taking stock of what worked, what didn’t, and what happened in my family, my art, and my relationship to the world. Reflecting allows me to express gratitude for all that I have: my family, my friends, my health, and the ability to share my art with the world. I am grateful for my team, those who support me and help me pull together the many strands of the life and career I am trying to create. I am grateful to live in a beautiful house in a beautiful place, and to call the woods my home. And I am grateful and excited to have purchased a modest house in rural France that will become a satellite home and studio for Harvey and I. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - >
So, you may ask: What HAVE I been doing all year? This, my dear reader, is my artistic year in review:
MUSEUM PERMANENT COLLECTION
1a+b. My art is now in the permanent collection of the Columbus Museum, Columbus, GA
EXHIBITS, AUCTIONS, FUNDRAISERS, & RECEPTIONS
Clockwise L-R 2. The year-long exhibit of Discovering the Chattahoochee Valley: Silk Paintings by René Shoemaker continued through July 2017 at the Columbus Museum, Columbus, GA 3. Columbus Museum Discovering the Chattahoochee Valley closing party
4. Unveiling party at a collector’s home celebrating her acquisition of work from the Columbus Museum exhibit
5. Exhibited prints on paper in New York City at Grand Central Terminal, NYC, and Park Slope, Brooklyn, NY
6. Invited to exhibit at the 10x10 Art for Education exhibit and fundraiser at the Columbus Museum, Columbus, GA 7. Exhibited in the Portrait exhibit at KA Artist Shop Gallery, Athens, GA
8. Invited to exhibit at The Cultural Landscape Foundation annual fundraiser in New Orleans, LA
9. Invited to exhibit at the All About Art fundraiser for the Georgia Museum of Art, Athens, GA
SALES, COMMISSIONS, & SPECIAL ORDERS
Clockwise L-R
10. Large Columbus silk paintings purchased by collector and patron
11. Holiday cards commissioned by Columbus resident
12. Nano, a bird portrait commissioned by his human "grandmum"
13. A Double Bass instrument portrait created for a Professor of Double Bass and his special family
RETAIL LOCATIONS
Clockwise L-R
14. Columbus Museum gift shop, Columbus, GA
15. Aurum Studios, Athens, GA
16. Avid Bookstore, Athens, GA
17. KA Artist Shop, Athens, GA
18. Jittery Joe’s Coffeeshop in 5 Points, Athens, GA
19. Jittery Joe’s Roasters, Athens, GA
20. Treehouse Kid & Craft Handmade Artist Market, Athens, GA
and always: reneshoemaker.com/shop
PUBLICATIONS
Clockwise L-R 21. Compendium of Craft & Creativity included my artwork with an interview, Uppercase Publishers, Calgary, Canada
22a+b. Published art review of Scott Pope exhibit, Flagpole Magazine, Athens, GA; with the artist Scott Pope
23. Published blog posts all year, the most popular being about travel and adventures, i.e. Brooklyn Bound!, Bonjour de France!, Why I Love France, Part II, and A Sense of Place: The Completions of a Museum Exhibition
TEACHING, ARTIST TALKS, AND PRESENTATIONS
Clockwise L-R
24. Featured artist at Southeast Fiber Arts Alliance for High Museum members, Atlanta, GA
25. Reading at Avid Bookshop from Compendium of Craft & Creativity, Athens, GA
26a. Professor Spooner, host of my visiting artist lecture at the University of Georgia’s College of Environment & Design: “Ways of Seeing”
26b+c. Me lecturing and an image from the presentation
27. Taught Silk-Painting Workshops at the Columbus Museum, GA
28. Taught quarterly Silk-Painting Workshops at the KA Artist Shop
29. Taught private Silk-Painting classes
30 (left). Taught Silk-Painting at the University of Georgia Lamar Dodd School of Art, Athens, GA
GATHERING OPPORTUNITIES
31. Co-founded a new hand-sewing club
32. Joined a new artist studio round-robin information exchanging club
OTHER CREATIVE ENDEAVORS
33. Designed and hand-painted a silk dress, delivered to a patron in Paris
34. Created a beautiful hardcopy portfolio in French (with help from my friends)
Opportunities for Which I Applied But Was Not Selected
35. Cité Internationale des Arts Residency in Paris, France
36. Lyndon House 41st Annual Juried Exhibit, Athens, GA
37. World of Threads Festival, Toronto, Canada
TRAVEL
Clockwise L-R
38. New York City, NY
39. Asheville, NC
40. Paris, France
41. Felletin, Limousin, France
UPCOMING EXHIBITS
42. Scheduled exhibit in Felletin, France - Summer 2017 43. Scheduled exhibit at a museum in Mississippi, USA - Summer 2019
It’s been a great year, but this was only the beginning! Stay tuned for more events and news.
Wishing you a prosperous, creative, and healthy New Year,
