Renee Adams
Humanity’s imprint on nature is undeniable. Most scientists maintain we have now entered the Anthropocene, a term based on overwhelming global evidence that human activities are having a significant impact on all of the earth’s ecosystems. My work investigates the complicated relationship we have cultivated with the natural world, recognizing that our desire to control, covet, manage and exploit it has created a power struggle in which I believe nature will ultimately win. Through my work, I weave the historical relationship of human and planet with my environmental observations in an attempt to underscore our absolute reliance on the natural world while imagining new connections that might emerge.
My mixed media sculptures represent an artificial reality in which the wheels of evolution have surpassed the current day. These works, within the context of natural selection, offer an escapist fairytale or a botanist’s fantasy where plants require little more than the trash of humankind to thrive. Lauding the resiliency and adaptability of life on earth, my works imagine a world in which plants are reclaiming their rightful home, adapting, evolving, and possibly even healing the woes of humankind.
Renee Adams
EDUCATION
1999 Master of Fine Arts - sculpture emphasis, Central Washington University - Ellensburg, WA
1995 Bachelor of Fine Arts - metalsmithing emphasis, Colorado State University - Fort Collins, CO
SOLO/TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2018 Reclaim - Phylogeny Contemporary, Seattle, WA
2017 Panacea - Gallery One, Ellensburg, WA
Panacea - MAC Gallery - Wentachee Valley Community College, Wenatchee, WA
2016 Weird Science - Boswell Hall Corner Gallery - North Idaho College, Coeur d’Alene, ID (with Justin Gibbens)
Peaceable Kingdom – Oak Hollow Gallery - Yakima, WA (with Justin Gibbens)
2015 Windows Alive - Window Installation - Jem Building, Yakima, WA
2013 Are we not drawn onward to new erA - PUNCH Gallery - Seattle, WA (with Justin Gibbens)
Wonderland - The Brink - Missoula, MT (with Justin Gibbens)
2011 Peaceful Death and Pretty Flowers - PUNCH Gallery - Seattle, WA (with Justin Gibbens)
2010 Poison Pie - PUNCH Gallery - Seattle, WA
2009 Curious Species - Burien Arts Center - Burien, WA
In Between - PUNCH Gallery - Seattle, WA (with Amber Stucke)
2008 Corsage - Swarm Gallery - Oakland, CA
2007 Under Fragile Skies - Palo Alto Art Center - Palo Alto, CA & PUNCH Gallery - Seattle, WA
2004 Window Dressings - Tacoma Contemporary - Woolworth Building - Tacoma, WA
No Stone Unturned - Allied Arts Gallery - Yakima, WA
Coming Round - Gallery Blue - Missoula, MT
2003 The Human Game - Gallery One - Ellensburg, WA
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2019 Not Forgotten: Recent Art Acquisitions - Yakima Valley Museum - Yakima, WA
2018 The Woods (with PUNCH Projects) - Central Washington University Sarah Spurgeon Gallery - Ellensburg, WA
2017 Ball in Play: An Unconventional Putt Putt Experience (with PUNCH Projects) – Gallery One - Ellensburg, WA
2016 Natural Causes - CASS Contemporary - Tampa, FL
Hit and Run (with PUNCH Projects) - Punch Gallery - Seattle, WA
Aqua Art Fair, Phylogeny Contemporary Booth - Miami, FL
Context Art Fair, Phylogeny Contemporary Booth - New York, NY
2015 Metamorphosis - Larson Gallery, Yakima, WA
Seattle Art Fair, PUNCH Gallery Booth - Seattle, WA
Aqua Art Fair, C Emerson Booth - Miami, FL
Mythology – Confluence Gallery, Twisp, WA
Bellingham National - Whatcom Museum, Bellingham, WA - Juried by Scott Lawrimore
Wunderkammer – Foss Waterway Seaport, Tacoma, WA - Curated by Lisa Kinoshita
Imaginature - Kirkland Arts Center, Kirkland, WA - Curated by Grant Barber
2014 Gallery One Staff & Resident Artist Exhibition - Gallery One - Ellensburg, WA
2013 Chamber Music - The Frye Art Museum - Seattle, WA – Curated by Scott Lawrimore
Art on the Wall - Capital Theater - Yakima, WA
2012 Make Space - Steele Gallery, Gage Academy - Seattle, WA
The Art of Seduction - Rouse Gallery - Howard Community College - Columbia, MD - Curated by Gail M Brown
Evolutionary Insights - Worth Ryder Gallery - UC Berkeley, CA
From the Ground Up - Larson Gallery - Yakima, WA
2011 10x10x10xTieton Juried Show - Mighty Tieton Warehouse - Tieton, WA - Juror’s Award
2010 Call of the Wild - The Brink Gallery - Missoula, MT
Country Cousins: An Exploration of Contemporary Frontier Myth - Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA
2009 Art Meets Math and Science - North Seattle Community College - Seattle, WA
2008 Aqua Wynwood - Miami, FL
Nature Freak - Kirkland Art Center - Kirkland, WA
2008 Homegrown - PUNCH Gallery - Seattle, WA
Beyond Boundaries - Larson Gallery - Yakima, WA
2007 A Feminine Mystique - Simon Edwards Gallery - Yakima, W
2006 As the Crow Flies - Tacoma Contemporary Window Dressings - Woolworth Building - Tacoma, WA
Creature Comforts - Gallery One - Ellensburg, WA
Artist Trust Grant Recipients - Chase Gallery - Spokane, WA
Round One - PUNCH Gallery - Seattle, WA
Second Nature - Simon Edwards Gallery - Yakima, WA
2005 Recontextualized Vistas: Concerning Place - Shaw Room - Seattle Center
- Bumbershoot visual art exhibitions, curated by Donna Stack
2005 Point of Departure - Esvelt Gallery - Columbia Basin Community College - Pasco, WA
2003 CWU Faculty Exhibition - Sarah Spurgeon Gallery - CWU
Branch, Beetle & the Biologic - Artemis Gallery - Seattle, WA
35 Years, 35 Artists - Gallery One - Ellensburg, WA
2001 Move On - Arrowspace Gallery - Olympia, WA
AWARDS
2012 Jentel Residency Award - Sheridan, WY
2011, 08, 00 Grants for Artists’ Projects - Artist Trust - Seattle, WA
PUBLICATIONS/PRESS
2017 David Lynx, Adams Brings Nature Indoors with “Panacea” – Yakima Herald- Republic, July 26, 2017
2015 Rosemary Ponnekanti, Museum of Wonder - The News Tribune, July 21, 2015
Craig Sailor, Curiosities Fill This Cabinet - The News Tribune, July 14, 2015
2013 Claire Reiner, Artwalk April 2013: In Detail - Vanguard, April 10, 2013 – online arts blog
Jen Graves, Extracting History from Cubbyholes at the Frye - The Stranger, April 10, 2013
Eben Wragge-Keller, Super Natural - Missoula Independent, July 4-11, 2013 vol. 24 no. 27
Krysti Shallenberger, Unnatrual by Nature – Missoulan, July 5, 2013
2012 Pat Muir, Let the Earth Rejoice - Yakima Herald – On Magazine, February 9-15, 2012
The Art of Seduction exhibition catalog - published by Horowitz Center for the Visual
and Perfoming Arts, Howard Community College
2011 Mighty Tieton 10x10x10 exhibition catalog - published by Marquand Editions
2008 Andy Ritchie, A Few New Breeds - Art Slant, October 24, 2008 – online arts blog
2007 Micheal S Gant, Natural High - Metro Active, August 8, 2007 – the arts
Rachel Shimp, Under Fragile Skies - Seattle Weekly, March 7-13 2007 vol.32 no. 10
2006 Travis Hay, City Chooses New Bike Rack Design - Daily Record, September 28 2006 vol. 105 no. 233
2005 Fionn Meade, Concerning Place: A Bumper Crop of Talent in Central Washington
- Artist Trust Journal, Summer 2005 vol. XII no. 2
Joanna Horowitz, Artists Find Peace in Thorp - Daily Record, July 21, 2005 vol. 104 no. 173
Liz Bryson, Is Ellensburg for Public Art - Daily Record, May 14, 2005 vol. 104 no. 114
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2016-2020 Curator Roster Member - Washington State Arts Commission - Olympia, WA
2016-present Treasurer & Artist Member - PUNCH Projects - Ellensburg, WA
2015-present Co-Curator - Gallery One Visual Arts Center - Ellensburg, WA
2015 Instructor - Kirkland Art Center
2013-16 Instructor - Gallery One
2012 Juror - Esvelt Gallery Student Exhibition - Columbia Basin College, Pasco, WA
2009 Head Curator - Gallery One Visual Arts Center - Ellensburg, WA
2006-present Exhibition & Publicity Coordinator - Gallery One Visual Arts Center
2006-2016 Treasurer & Board Member - Punch Gallery - Seattle, WA
2004 Instructor - Beginning Drawing: Gallery One
2002-03 Adjunct Professor - Central Washington University – Ellensburg, WA
2002 Instructor - Drawing: Gallery One
1999 Graduate Instructor - 2-D Design: CWU (fall 1999)
1998 Sculpture Studio Assistant - Central Washington University
