Reenie Charriere

Artist Statement:

How do we move through the urban landscape? is it possible to re-imagine our movements by rethinking our territories? My practice is an expedition into everyday trails and highways. The urge to collect from my daily experiences is an ongoing activity. Gathering exemplifies the great contrast between natural and synthetic materials. It is a way of closely seeing and mapping what is around me. I am most interested in the juxtaposition of these varying things. I turn these gleanings into playful environmental sculptural installations blurring the parameters of inside and outside. I am interested in the potential of overlooked areas and what accumulates there over time. The influence of current environmental conditions and media interpretations of ecological developments are essential factors in my art making. My consideration of materials reflects the abundance of choices in our contemporary world while presenting shifting collisions of clumsiness and grace.

Reenie Charrière is an international mixed media artist currently living in Oakland, California. She received her MFA in Studio Arts in 2009 from Maine College of Art in Portland,  Maine. Her work addresses environmental issues exposing the natural beauty as well as the synthetic troubles all around us, and actively considers the consequences of our human conditions. In  2012, Reenie was awarded a residency by the La Napoule Art Foundation at the Chateau de La Napoule in Mandelieu La Napoule, France where she created Wastelines,  to be exhibited in France in August 2013.  She was also commissioned by  the San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery, Grove Street Space to create Floe.  During October 2011 Reenie was awarded a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grant to  produce Waterfall/Column 4 in Grants Pass, Oregon. In 2012, 2011, and 2010  her work was also featured in selected group shows, in the Bay Area, New York, Maine and Pennsylvania.  She has also been awarded residencies at  the Vermont Studio Center, Can Serrat, Nes Art Residency, and Kala, as well as a Roderick Dew Travel Grant in 2008 to New Orleans.