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Program Overview
Renée Stout creates art that is rich and complex, layered with meaning and informed by a deep understanding of her subject matter. Stout’s work is a vehicle for her educational, personal and spiritual growth. She is adept at working with found objects, using social and historical influences as well as formal concerns to artistically express her ideas. She is a meticulous crafts person, working expertly with two and three-dimensional forms and a variety of materials from paint to sequins. Renée creates her art from an African world-view. Her art functions as it does in traditional African cultures not only as art that feeds the soul but art that teaches, creates balance, heals and transforms. In an epic tour de force blending contemporary social concerns with the quiet strength of African spirituality, Stout uses her considerable talents to conjure spirits, tell stories, celebrate and preserve the dynamic living culture of the African Diaspora.
Renée Stout
Renée Stout lives and works in Washington, D.C. where she is strongly influenced by the city’s political, social, and religious composition. She looks to the belief systems of various African peoples and their New World descendants for direction and visual inspiration. Through her artwork, Stout hopes to empower others to improve society by healing themselves. Her artwork seems to be a personal journey, which she invites a few fortunate travelers to share. Fictional narratives with imaginary characters accompany Stout along her path.
Stout builds her ideas on a foundation of African-American religion, tradition, and history that reaches back hundreds of years. Somehow, the works assume an iconic nature shared by everyone, which provides a common starting point to bridge the problems of violence, politics, economics, religion, race, sex and gender.
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Program Date & Time
Exhibit
04/07/06 - 04/28/06
Tuesday - Saturday
Noon - 4:00 pm
Opening Night
04/07/06
6:00 pm
Related Exhibit
04/07/06 - 05/28/06
Renée Stout: Church of the Cross Roads
Additional works by Renée Stout will also be on exhibit at The Arts Center located at 719 Central Avenue, St. Petersburg.
Admission
The exhibition is open to the public at no charge. Donations are greatly appreciated. Some special events may have an admission charge.
About the John and Maxine Belger Family Foundation
The foundation began collecting contemporary American art in the early 1970s, spurred by the enthusiasm of the late John Belger, and his son, Dick.
Today the foundation focuses primarily on collecting in depth the work of contemporary artists, including William Christenberry, Jasper Johns, Robert Stackhouse, Renée Stout, Terry Allen, William Wiley, and Terry Winters. All phases of each artist’s career are represented in the collection. This deliberately narrow focus is rewarding in that it gives an unparalleled opportunity to understand an artist’s development over time, as well as giving insight into the nature of creativity.
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