Renee Manford

Peoria Road
©Renee Manford

We all have differing perceptions of the things we experience. You might say our own private realities. An artist creates an object of art and we look and we see and we experience sometimes we relate and other times we just don’t get it. Then there is art that is as gently comfortable in a Déjà vu kind of way. Other times everything comes together from the subject, style and substance and I just stand back on my heels.

The art of Renee Manford, and in particular, the piece pictured here did that for me. “I’ve been there” crossed my mind when I saw this image. The subject was rural America, the style Pierre Auguste Renoir and the substance was the focus on the interdependency of man and land embraced by the sky. I was relieved in reading her Artist’s Statement that I didn’t have to “get it” to some specification because I’m not sure many see what I see. Renee says, “I have no expectations regarding what others should see or feel about my art. I want my art to move others in ways that makes sense to them.”She has worked in oil, acrylic, watercolor, ink and graphite and other art forms like sculpting, weaving and pottery.

She has two upcoming exhibits one of paintings at Emerald Art Center, 500 Main in Springfield, Oregon, December 4th through December 28th. Another show of her prints will be held at Island Park Gallery 215 W. C Street, Springfield, Oregon December 5th through January 24th, 2008.

She says “By honoring the partnership between myself and the medium I am using, life is allowed to present itself.” How true that is and not just in creating art but in how we can lead honorable lives as we thrive in the medium of living.

Thank you Renee.

Renee has her own web site at:
http://www.reneemanford.com

Also visit Renee's blog at:
http://www.manfordrj.wordpress.com/

To get a better look at Renee's work and for more information visit her sites.