My art inspiration comes from many places. I love the organic but also the unobvious structure of science and nature. Our eyes recognize beauty with textures, colors, patterns and repetition of form and shape. I love my current science/art collaboration because it brings attention to the MICRO of our world. Equipment and science analysis allows us to see these little patterns, textures and repetitions close up and they are so interesting! I am excited to create some micro art, work with artists and scientists but most of all, work with the public and children and explore and be curious! See www.ScienceLovesArt.org for more information about this project funded by the National Science Foundation / Wyoming EPSCoR Micro Project.
My other passion is houses. Building them, restoring them, making a place for people in them, creating furniture or spaces within them, coloring them, finding the materials and textures for them, and on and on. When I began creating sculpture and jewelry, combining nature and concrete/building supplies and textures was how I envisioned my artwork. It is a combination of architecture images and materials with nature. I like creating something you can put in your house or on your wall that is different but also brings curiosity and familiarity and beauty all at the same time.
My husband and I enjoy buying houses that has been neglected and then he is the demo man and I go in and redesign and update everything. It’s personal pleasure for me to see a house evolve into art and function. Providing a place for others to enjoy makes it even better! We never flip our houses because they are all special and we want to keep them all, so each one has a purpose.
We have 2 projects going on now.
- 4th Street Studios is property that includes an old barn, an old greenhouse, a vintage flower shop and a beautiful house built in 1915. Once winter is gone we will be out there renovating everything and planning art/science events and workshops and creating a different place for private parties and for beer/wine making and welding a sculpture (open to the public!)
- Austin houses include a guest house and a larger house. This is a family property that we will use for get togethers and to relax. Just a mile or so from a lake, we look forward to hosting friends and family. This has been a longer project because we designed the project from scratch and I finally learned how to use SketchUp. It is amazing to see the house come together just as our designs.
My art and design goals are always swooshing around between nature and houses in some way. Sometimes they merge and sometimes they are on their own but they are always inspired by each other in my head as I create sculpture, jewelry or a house.
Some recent photos of the Austin project. Still have lots to do….. paint, limestone, landscaping and finishing touches!
rene williams art 