Kate Renee - Painter

Kate Renee

Kate Renee
Minneapolis, MN

Email: katerenee@katerenee.com

Website: www.katerenee.com, www.thesuctioncup.com

MNartist.org profile: www.mnartists.org/artistHome.do?rid=185648

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/KateReneesArt
Twitter: @KateReneesArt

Etsy Page: www.etsy.com/shop/KateReneesArt

Bio~ 

My name is Kate Renee and I am a professional acrylic painter working out of Minneapolis, Minnesota. My work is brightly colored lowbrow character paintings on birch wood panels and covered in resin. I paint edgy works with a veneer of cute. They are most recognized by my googily eyes and satirical titles.  

I graduated from the University of Minnesota with a BA in Fine Arts, Art History, and a minor in Design. I have worked with various galleries in the Twin Cities including: Altered Esthetics, Larson Art Gallery, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, The American Swedish Institute and the Katherine E. Nash Gallery. During 2013-2014, I am a protégé in the Women’s Art Resources of Minnesota (WARM) Mentor Program and mentored by Jill Waterhouse.

Tell me about your work? What are you currently working on? How is this different from past projects?

In January 2013, I was awarded a Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant and I recently completed my Beauties Behaving Badly Series. January and February 2014, I am exhibiting these 12 new works in a solo exhibition with an accompanying catalog at Gamut Gallery. The Beauties Behaving Badly series is a parody and commentary of classic fairytale and literature characters created in a graphic lowbrow style. These paintings challenge the typical role the female character played in their historical protagonist position by challenging society’s expectations. This series uses a visual media to speak about social issues including those found in children’s entertainment, public media, and the portrayal of traditional and non-traditional women’s roles.

What is different from these pieces and my past work is pretty vast. I am using a new substrate for my paintings and have been utilizing birch wood panels for the basis of my work. I still utilize acrylic but now cover the top of the painted surface in 2-4 layers of resin. The resin flattens the image completely and also soaks into the wood to enhance the grain. Because of this absorbent quality, I have been using the wood grain like a color. For example, all of the female figures’ skin tones are wood grain. These works have more developed figure shapes and backgrounds to the pieces than earlier works.

How did you decide to become an artist?

Art has always been a part of my life. I began as an artist at a young age; refusing to eat breakfast until I had finished coloring in my coloring books. I also began to paint at a young age on the tub walls with shaving cream dyed with food coloring. During my childhood, I continued to be creative with craft sales in my front yard (much like a lemonade stand but with art), coloring fuzzy posters and making Perler bead fridge magnets. I reconnected with my desire to be an artist during high school. Some of my high school photography traveled to an exhibition in Izumi, Japan and exhibited at the Minnesota State Capital. I made the decision to pursue a professional arts career in college. After my first semester of school, I transferred colleges and ended up at the University of Minnesota to study art, art history and design. 

What was the best advice given to you as an artist? 

I try to live my creative life by a quote by Anthony Bourdain. He said that if you wanted to get ahead you need to work like you are behind. I also parallel that with insights from my mentor who said to make sure you always take care of yourself and to enjoy the process. 

And another bit of advice that I have followed, is to get a lawyer. It’s impossible for artists to navigate the art world without knowing, learning or needing some sort of legal help along the way. There are numerous creative legal firms who can assist you. Lawyers are not as expensive as you think. Springboard for the Arts offers a Legal Clinic for about $20 a couple of times a year and has additional legal services and suggestions too. Most basic phone calls to a firm will be free if you have a few questions. I have even had a free consultation with a lawyer. Check out these firms below for legal help you may need:

Kunkle Law: http://kunklelaw.com/
Davis Law: http://davismeansbusiness.com/
Friedman Iverson Law: http://www.friedmaniverson.com/

Many artists struggle to find ways to sell their art.  How do you sell your work?  How do you market yourself?

I have learned very quickly to become a shameless promoter. I do a ton of marketing work and create a variety of promotional products to help get my name out there. I think the marketing is just as important as the art; both need to work in tandem. I am always trying new ways to get my name and my work out there. It’s crucial to make yourself as visible and accessible as possible. People do not want to search hard to try to find you or your work; make it easy for them. It’s okay to be out there, to express your individuality and to share what you do. That’s what is going to get people interested in the artwork and essentially make a sale. A little bit of repetition is okay too; just don’t overdo it. Sometimes people need to see things a few times before it catches their eye or before they remember a detail. And make sure that you can manage and update all of your marketing strategies…no use doing 20 different things if you can’t keep up!

Here’s just a quick snapshot of what I do for marketing. 

Multiple Facebook Pages:

https://www.facebook.com/KateReneesArt
https://www.facebook.com/TheSuctionCup
https://www.facebook.com/BeautiesBehavingBadly 

Twitter: @KateReneesArt

WordPress Blog: www.thesuctioncup.com

Linked In: http://www.linkedin.com/in/katerenee
MNartists.org: http://www.mnartists.org/artistHome.do?rid=185648
Etsy: www.etsy.com/shop/KateReneesArt

Website: www.katerenee.com

Google Plus: https://plus.google.com/u/0/108522227595832574442/posts
Newsletter Sign Up: http://katerenee.com/contact.html
Special Events: RAW shows 

Local Artist Interviews:  Writing artist development articles: 

LAI interviews: http://www.local-artist-interviews.com/2011/04/kate-johnson-painter.html

Personal mailings: Custom address labels with promo content on them, custom thank you cards, custom invitations, blind mailings to friend and family with free promo products

Licensing Art Work:  Checkbook covers and checks 

Custom made freebies: buttons, pens, stickers, Water bottles with custom Kate Renee labels, business cards, Favi cards

Variety of products: T-shirts, prints, paintings, catalog books, calendars

PR: Write my own press releases and mail them out

Who are some of the Minnesota artists you enjoy? 

Kara Hendershot: http://karahendershot.com/
Amber White: https://www.facebook.com/TangledAntlers
Jill Waterhouse: http://www.jillwaterhouse.com/
DC Ice: http://dcice.com/
Michael McGraw:  Blog / Website 

I am also a part of an artist group called the Artaversaries. We exhibit a group show of work based off of the traditional themes of anniversaries. Our first show was artwork with a theme of paper. Our second show will be work related to cotton. It is comprised of: 

The Artaversaries: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Artaversaries/406438019463387
Mark Elton: http://markelton.tumblr.com/
Marnie Erpestad: http://www.mnartists.org/artistHome.do?rid=262076
Julia Helen Rice: http://juliahelenrice.blogspot.com/
Kristy Childress : http://www.ravelry.com/designers/kristy-childress
Mary Foote: http://www.local-artist-interviews.com/2012/07/mary-foote-painter.html

If I were to follow you around to see art in Minnesota, which places would we go? What would we see?

I am always taking Arts Management training classes at the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council. http://mrac.org/ I have participated in 3 RAW: Natural Born Artists events this past year and will be in another in 2014. https://www.rawartists.org/ I also did my first art fair this past fall and will be partaking in some additional art fairs in the near future. 

I try to be at my studio daily and that is in Northeast Minneapolis in the Marshall Street River Lofts. You can always find me there and my studio is always open to visitors!

My exhibiting has been a bit quieter this past year due to the focus on completing a new series but I have exhibited plenty at Gamut Gallery during 2013 and 2014. http://www.gamutgallerympls.com/

I am also participating in the Women’s Art Resources of Minnesota (WARM) Mentor Intensive Program and I am at many of the WARM events in the community. My mentor is Jill Waterhouse and I have 4 lovely sister protégés: Barbara Bridges, Anne Kleinhenz and Jennifer Palmquist. www.thewarm.org

I also attend the monthly Artist Way Meet Up at the Northeast Library with Amy Egenberger and Heather Koshiol. http://www.meetup.com/Artists-Way-Meetup/  I would recommend any artist to attend the Meet Up!

You would also find me in book stores! I love reading self-help books and artist development books. Here’s my new favorite.

In addition to www.Local-Artist-Interviews.com, where do you go online for good art resources, whether to find a new artist, or to see what is going on in the art world locally and otherwise? 

The typical sites: 

www.MNartists.org

www.springboardforthearts.org

www.mrac.org

www.mnstateartsboard.org

www.minnesotanonprofits.org
www.thewarm.org

Do you have any exhibits to promote in the near future?

Beauties Behaving Badly 

A solo exhibition by Kate Renee at Gamut Gallery
January 18^th – February 22^ndOpening: January 18^th from 7-11pm
Closing: February 22^nd 7-10pm
Attendees will receive a free catalog of the exhibition

Gamut Gallery is located at: 1006 Marquette Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55403
(612) 701-8272 There is a public parking lot diagonal from the gallery or directly across the street below the Hilton Hotel. 

Kate Renee is a fiscal year 2013 recipient of an Artist Initiative grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.

Kate Renee

Image List:

1. Alice In Wonderland: I’m Late Too, White Rabbit!

2. Little Bo Peep: I Thought I Lost My Sheep (I Lost My Virginity Instead)

3. The Princess And The Frog: The Princess And The Frogg

4. Tinkerbell: Supersized Thighs

5. Little Miss Muppet: Along Came A Spider

6. Little Red Riding Hood: Who’s Afraid of The Big Bad Wolf

Creating a Comprehensive Art Inventory - Part 1

Art Inventory Part 1: Start With The Basics

Inventory. Just the word tends to make people cringe; especially if your day job is in retail. I'm going to break down how I started my own art inventory to make it as painless as possible. This blog article will help you begin to build a basic inventory. A secondary blog post will give you some more ideas and tips to make your inventory more thorough and information packed! So lets just start with the basics.

The purpose of your inventory is to be an information hub, you want your inventory to provide you with all of the important and necessary information about each work of art and where it has been.

What can your inventory be used for:

1.     An accurate log of your body of work

2.     Demonstration for tax purposes that you are a professional

3.     Aid with insurance claims (cover your bases… just in case something bad were to happen)

4.     Bring to galleries and interviews to give a visual of your scope of your arts career

5.     Assist with providing artwork details when applying to opportunities, grants and shows

Your inventory should include old, new, current and sold works of art. It is a comprehensive archive so you should not exclude any works of art. I even have unfinished paintings and projects listed in my inventory. When finished, your inventory should be your go-to location for anything you need to know about a piece. So, the next time you need to apply to a grant or a show, all you need to do is reference your inventory for all the dimensions, dates and notes about your piece.

I'm So Sweet, I Could Eat Myself

Start by saving all of your exhibition documents, and bits of information that relate to your artwork and your exhibitions. The more information you gather and save the easier it is to plug it into your inventory. Save exhibition prospectus, emails to galleries, or images of art work. I save all of mine in a folder in my filing cabinet. Some missing information you need can usually be recovered by simply Googling exhibition dates, venue locations or other info that is absent in your records.

Screen shot of Kate Renee’s inventory document

The goal of this project is to eventually have a comprehensive document file that can be updated annually that tracks and manages your art. When starting small, begin on a specific medium or series of art works. While I have many works of art and years of creation to update, I began with my acrylic paintings.

Begin by gathering the basic information. The crucial parts to include are listed below:

Date: When did you create the piece?

Medium: What materials is the work made with?

Size: Height, width and depth, note if the piece is two or three dimensional

Price: What is the wholesale or retail sale value? Or how much did you sell the piece for?

Location: Where do you store the piece? Is it currently on exhibition

Image: Include an image of your artwork. Do not worry about having this image be perfect. A quick snap shot will suffice so you can quick visually reference your inventory when you flip through it. If you have good documentation images, use them instead!

Exhibitions: Record the shows that each individual piece has exhibited in. Include important information: Title of the show, venue, dates of the exhibition, commission and if a sale took place and any additional notes you have about the show.

Press: Did you receive any press for the exhibition? What is the source?

Additional information: Include any additional information that your current inventory fails to cover, note installation requirements, comments from viewers or ideas or thoughts for related or future works

Having one full page of information documenting each art work is a great start to an inventory! Be sure to keep it easy and work on your inventory bit by bit.

The essential part is starting an inventory. Just get the basics down and have the most important information for your works. It is a lot easier to move on from here to create a more complex inventory when you have a solid base to work from. Once you have completed the basic inventory, move on to the second article on inventory to learn how to step up your inventory.

Head on over to  www.thesuctioncup.com to read the second post about creating art inventories. 

KATE RENEE

Kate Renee lives and works in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Kate graduated from the University of Minnesota with a BA in fine arts, art history, and a minor in design, and has worked with various galleries and museums in the Twin Cities including the Katherine E. Nash Gallery, Larson Art Gallery, American Swedish Institute and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. She designed the Solo Exhibition Program at Altered Esthetics.

Kate is building a national and international reputation with exhibitions throughout the United States. In 2013, Kate began a two year mentorship through the Women’s Art Resources of Minnesota alongside artist and mentor Jill Waterhouse. She was awarded a Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative grant. Kate is a frequent blogger on her artist development site www.thesuctioncup.com and also guest blogs on sites including Local Artist Interviews. You can see Kate’s work on her website: www.katerenee.com

Goal Setting for Artists - 30 Ideas

Goal Setting

Kate Renee

January is always a great month to focus on goal setting, revisiting dreams and starting new projects! It’s important to identify what you want to do before you begin working towards that goal, so sitting down and considering your goals is the first step to begin achieving them.

As an artist myself, I am obsessed with discovering hidden dreams, setting goals and blogging about it the process. This past July, I did an intensive seven day session of goal setting which I called my Seven Days of Strategic Planning (http://thesuctioncup.com/2012/seven-days-of-strategic-planning-recapa/). During this week, I created a master list of personal dreams, wishes, hopes and career goals that I wanted to accomplish in my life time. It is an ever changing document that I allow myself to add and remove goals as my desires change.  After organizing my huge list, I came up with categories of goals artists should consider when goal setting to better plan out every aspect of their career.

This is a list of 30 goal categories that I created to begin thinking about different aspects of my life and my career that I need to set goals in. I included fun categories, like travel and arts awards; important arts categories, like grants and finances; and the boring must-haves too, like inventory and time management.

Consider goal setting throughout your entire life; your arts career and life are symbiotic so why not consider both your personal and career goals when you plan? Have you always wanted to walk on hot coals or try skydiving? Add it to your goals! Go through each category and take a personal inventory. Push yourself to think of you biggest hopes and dreams. Putting it in writing is also important. For each category there are a couple of questions to help get you on the track to setting some of your own goals. Each category then has two goal idea examples to demonstrate short and long term goals for each category.

Goal Categories:

1. Portfolio: Do you have a portfolio? What needs to be updated in your portfolio?

Goal Idea: Update artist statement, create a comprehensive career portfolio

2. Studio Space and Living: What type of work space and living space do you need? Is your studio space conducive to your work?

Goal Idea: Move studio into the dining room for more room, move into the Northern Warehouse artist studios

3.  Galleries and Exhibitions: What is your dream gallery or space to exhibit in? Do you want to curate your own show?

Goal Idea: Participate in two group exhibitions this year, plan and implement a solo exhibition

4. Social Networking and Computer: Do you have the proper software to best utilize your technology? What social networks can you add or remove to better your participation online?

Goal Idea: Have 300 fans on Facebook arts page, organize your computer and back up all of your arts documents and images

5. Events and Participation: What places and spaces have you always wanted to visit but have never been to? How do you wish to increase your participation in the arts community? Have you volunteered lately?

Goal Idea: Head to a local arts museum and draw three times in the next year, participate in Art –a-Whirl or the St. Paul Art Crawl

6. Marketing: How do your viewers remember you and your artwork? How do you reach new audiences?

                                                  

Goal Idea: Redesign business cards, create a custom set of pens with your name and website on them

7. Design and Merchandise: What can you do to make you work more marketable? What are some design changes you can make to your brand?

Goal Idea: Make prints of work, a website redesign

8. Jobs and Career Development: What can you do to push your career into the next step? How are you creative at your job?

Goal Idea: Take a workshop on artist resumes, get a full time arts job

9. Non-Profits and Boards: Do you want to participate in a non-profit? What non-profits and missions do you want to align yourself with?

Goal Idea: Volunteer with a local non-profit, become a board member

10. Documentation and Journaling: How do you document your process and ideas? Do you have good documentation images of your artwork in large and small file sizes?

Goal Idea: Journal daily, copyright artwork

11. New Projects: What is a new medium you want to try or rediscover? What is a project that has been on the side that you want to begin?

Goal Idea: Pick up pottery again, learn how to screen print

12. Press and Publications: How can you begin publishing your own content? What type of press would you like to be published in?

Goal Idea: Begin a newsletter, Write a press release and send it to your local paper

13. Community: How do you want to make an impression in the arts and the wider community? How can you make an impact or send a message with your art?

Right: American Ipod Pot Left: Minoan Octopus Pot, Kate Renee, 2008

Goal Idea: Leave your business cards around local coffee shops, apply to the Community Supported Art (CSA)

14. Education, Skills, and Teaching: What skills do you need to improve to tackle an important goal? What are some local classes and workshops that I can attend to learn more?

Goal Idea: Attend the Giant Steps 2013 conference, teach a class or a workshop to other artists

15. Life Choices: What can you do to make yourself happier? What can you try to challenge yourself?

Goal Idea: Expand my food and music tastes, work on saying no and setting boundaries

16. Appearance: What about yourself would you change and not change?

Goal Idea: Try dying my hair a new color, dress professional for arts events

17. Exercise: What do you do to stay moving and healthy?

Goal Idea: Stretch in the morning, take a weekly aerobics class

18. Reading and Writing: How often do you read arts literature? Are your writing skills strong?

Goal Idea: Read The Artist Way by Julia Cameron, start a local artists book club

19. Social and Speaking: How do you react to large crowds and social situations? What skills and tips can you learn and apply to your public speaking?

Goal Idea: Introduce yourself to one person art each opening, participate on an arts discussion panel

20. Grants and Finances: What grant foundations align with your creative work? How do you manage your career and life finances?

Goal Idea: Save all of my arts and supplies receipts, set up an accounting system

21. Studio Furniture and Materials: What tools do you use daily? What item would save time and frustration in the studio?

Goal Idea: Purchase a new cutting mat, invest in a new easel

22. Residencies: What is a residency program that interests you? Where are you interested in traveling to?

Goal Idea: Attend an artist retreat, apply to the Vermont Studio Center Residency Program

23. Travel: Are you interested in discovering your family history? What is your dream vacation? Where would you take an arts focused vacation?

Goal Idea: Take a weekend vacation up north, travel to France to see the Louvre

24. Collections: Which gallery or museum would you like to see your work in? What pieces would you like to add to your own collection?

Goal Idea: Own a fellow artist’s piece of art, have art in the Weisman Museum’s permanent collection

25. Collaborations: Who would be your dream artist to collaborate with? How can you collaborate with your viewers and patrons through your artwork?

Goal Idea: Create a work of art with my artist friends, Create a piece to be published alongside the written work of a known writer

26. Awards and Contests: What award would be great on your resume? What contest do you want to participate in?

Goal Idea: Receive honorable mention in a group exhibition, receive a cash reward for a juried art show

27. Current Body of Work: What ideas, plans, and goals do you have for your current work? What is the next step you could take to push it forward?

Goal Idea: Work on a small side project, complete my larger series of paintings

28. Time Management: Where are you loosing time? How much studio time can you commit to during the week? Are you doing too much or not enough?

Goal idea: Work on arts business activities during lunch break at work, get better rest at night so I can be ready for studio time in the morning

29. Inventory and Organization: How do you store and categorize your artwork? Where do you keep and sort your arts paperwork?

Goal Idea: Organize my file cabinet, create a master inventory of my entire body of work

30. Commissions: How many people approach your for custom creations? What would your ideal commissioner look like?

Goal Idea: Create a small jewelry piece, be commissioned to create another pair of custom painted wedding shoes

~~~

Accomplishing  Your Goals

There are many different strategies for assisting with achieving your goals. Here are a few ideas to try out!

Celebrating the Successes and the Steps: Don’t cross out your goals when you are done, celebrate them and respect your accomplishments! Write the date next to it if you keep your goals in a list. Or have a separate journal where you record your accomplishments and successes. You can burnout easily by trying to tick off goal after goal without realizing how much you have come along the way. If you are attempting to tackle a huge long term goal, separate it into smaller steps and celebrate accomplishing each step along the way. It will make the journey more enjoyable and seem more doable!

Sharing: Sharing is crucial! Sharing your goals with other people helps to keep you accountable. When I began my mentorship program with WARM this past December, I bought my list of goals with to share with the group. I love to set goals and analyze my dreams so I shocked everyone when I brought a 14 page packet of goals.

Making Goals into Art: Find ways to solidify your goals into fruition. In my personal quest towards reaching my goals, I have been creating works of art that encompass my goals. My recent project was making vision boards. Creating works of art or a way to keep your goals in front of you is a great visual reminder.

Wording: You can also make your goals more achievable by how you structure the wording of your goals. By changing your goal from: I am going to hand make a vision board out of collected and cut imagery and photographs.

…to a more specific goal: I am going to hand make three vision boards out of collected and cut imagery and photographs by the end of July 2013 so I can begin to apply my vision board to my career, makes you more likely to achieve your goal.

Learn how to make your goals more specific and strategic on my blog post on The Suction Cup: (http://thesuctioncup.com/2012/seven-days-of-strategic-planning-day-5-choosing/)

Passion, Career Vision Board, Kate Renee, 2013

Retiring Goals: If you find yourself looking at your list of goals and realizing your dreams and priorities have changed, retire your old goals. Recognize and respect that at one point they were important and full of potential. Don’t just cross off or throw out old goals. You can simply make a list of goals that you are retiring, or have a small ritual to release these old dreams like burning them, or making a piece of artwork to commemorate it.

Where do you go from here? Have fun! Set your critic aside and ask yourself what you really want to do in your career and in life. Throw in some fun goals and some easy goals to make the journey enjoyable along the way. Feel free to comment and share your own goals for 2013 below!

KATE RENEE

Kate Renee lives and works in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Kate graduated from the University of Minnesota with a BA in fine arts, art history, and a minor in design, and has worked with various galleries and museums in the Twin Cities including the Katherine E. Nash Gallery, Larson Art Gallery, American Swedish Institute and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. She designed the Solo Exhibition Program at Altered Esthetics.

Kate is building a national and international reputation with exhibitions throughout the United States. In 2013, Kate began a two year mentorship through the Women’s Art Resources of Minnesota alongside artist and mentor Jill Waterhouse. She was awarded a Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative grant. Kate is a frequent blogger on her artist development site www.thesuctioncup.com and also guest blogs on sites including Local Artist Interviews. You can see Kate’s work on her website: 

www.katerenee.com