MX. ANDERSON
As a multidisciplinary artist I, Renee Anderson, growing up on the east side of Baltimore, I was surrounded by a diverse community that celebrated Black culture through music, fashion, and queer expression. These components of my background have had a significant impact on my artistic expression and helped me develop a unique voice.
My journey as an artist began in a supportive community of artists who encouraged me to explore my creativity. From there, I took courses at MICA and Towson University where I was able to hone my skills in various mediums, such as drawing, painting, ceramics, and photography.
As an assistant teacher at 901 Arts Community Arts Center, I gained the confidence to apply for the AmeriCorps program called Community Artist Collaborative (CAC) at MICA. Through this program, I was able to develop my skills as a Teaching Artist and facilitator, which allowed me to become an Art Director and facilitator for the Young Adult Community Organizers (YACOs). During my residency, the YACOs organized outdoor movie nights and other events for the community, which helped me to improve my grant writing, communication skills, and event planning.
These experiences have been a significant part of my practice in networking, education, and expanding the breadth of what I am capable of; personally and professionally. I am excited to continue my journey as an artist and to share my passion for life-long learning, storytelling, and quality experiences with others.
The Change
Late summer 2022 into 2023 I had taken a sabbatical to focus on my art after dedicating over 7 years to my community as an art teacher, resident artist, youth program manager, and community event organizer. I felt I had lost sight of the direction for my career. I came to realize that I need a stable balance between my passions. I am very passionate about my art, learning new skills and sharing enriching experience with an audience, however I am just as passionate about serving the community. In my Community Arts Collaborative residency, I had developed an organizational style to planning curriculum and projects that I have adapted into my current art practice. I structure my projects for the year around where I feel my capabilities and skills are currently at and develop a rubric for improvement. All of my major projects are sectioned off by a quarterly timeline, leaving the fourth quarter to wrap up any unfinished projects or assignments. My art practice is always developing and evolving with me. In the beginning making art was just a mirror of what felt good but more recently its been the main catalyst for processing where I am in life, what I’ve observed in myself and in the world. Growing up undiagnosed with ADHD, Autism, and dyslexia had instilled ideas about myself, the people around me, and the world, that were detrimental to my growth and the development of my relationships as an adult. I use my art as a channel to reach those facets of living that I had distanced myself from out of fear and misinformation. My main goal with my art is to invite people to re-explore themselves as well as their relationships with people and their view of the world with me. I want to see how many similarities in thought and feeling we would share. Especially with those who’s life doesn’t have consistent interaction with art because art may open the world even further to them.
I’ve developed a style that uses a single line to illustrate a portrait of person. It has helped me understand form and anatomy. In Town is a perfect example of my affinity for color, shape, and illustrating portraits. The subject is wearing white for his connection to his spiritual practices and is looking into a new dawn. The trees in the background represent growth and being rooted in ones faith.
This piece is a matter of self indulgence and an inside joke with myself. It’s also my attempt at reconnecting with my more care free and fun loving self. For a time I would need reminders to eat when I’m working on a project or completely consumed by a book, so as a joke to myself I put Megan Thee Stallion’s song Eat It as my alarm sound. The verse I chose also matches my go to snack. The expression on the subjects face is meant to look like Megan’s iconic “Aaah” sound with her tongue hanging out. I never want myself or my art to be so focused on serious matters that I forget to have fun with it or expressing myself.
This piece, Dandelion child, was inspired by an article I read on different ways parents treat certain archetypes of children and why there are archetypes to begin with. This piece is also the beginning of a series based on the same article. The Dandelion child, according to the article, is the child that grows no matter its environment, they may even thrive, as apposed to their counter part, the Orchid Child. I resinated with the article in a complex way. I feel I had pretended and thus was treated as a Dandelion Child growing up to “not be a burden” to my parents or anyone who took charge of me. Then in reading the article I wondered, if I had been in the appropriate environment for all my undiagnosed conditions would I have felt the need to be this Dandelion Child? The subject being shirtless is meant to convey his vulnerability to the elements, with a storm brewing in the distance behind him, while in the foreground, the dandelions are thriving.
From Fall of 2020 to the Summer of 2022 I was responsible for the organizing, facilitating, marketing and management of the YACOS Movie Nights. Where every other week, weather permitting, I would host a movie night for the community in the Community Sculpture Garden with support from the Center for Creative Citizenship Grant (CCC Grant) that I applied for. The idea came after the community expressed interest in an in-person, outdoor, and safe event. I thought that the best way to keep everyone safe while also conveying an air of normalcy before the Pandemic is a Movie Night. The Movie Nights were a great success, to the point where, even though I no longer work at 901 Arts people are still asking me to put plan them.
As the Youth Program Manager at 901 Arts I was responsible for facilitating the end of season showcases for the 901 Arts students. This included both Youth and Adults. I was responsible for designing flyers, distributing the flyers to the family members of students and the community, and securing a venue for the showcase. During the showcases I was responsible for the facilitation and direction of the showcase. I managed time, food, as well as the students and tutors who were meant to perform or exhibit their growth during the semester.
As Youth Program Manager at 901 Arts I was responsible for out reach and community engagement. This meant developing marketing assets for programming and pooling resource information for the Better Waverly community. This poster is for the annual summer program of 2022 where I was also the direct supervisor of 5 Youthworkers. I developed programming for both groups; youth 7-13 years of age and the Youthworkers 14-17 years of age, where both programs ran simultaneously. This dynamic gave me ideas of delegating minor responsibilities to the Youthworkers during the summer workshops. This helped the enrichment of the Youthworkers by putting them in leadership positions and teaching them how each job, no matter how small, made both programs possible.
