Renee CAlder

A few years back I left a 20+ years of career in marketing and advertising working for and with Fortune 500 companies. While doing so, I lead a parallel career becoming a jewelry artist working nights and weekends creating one of a kind jewelry. I studied jewelry design at the Jewelry Arts Institute in NY for 10 years and became a goldsmith with a focus on Byzantine and Etruscan techniques. My work was represented and sold in select galleries across the country. Upon moving to NC, I discovered the rich and varied ceramics community with class/workshop opportunities. I began to learn the possibilities of working with clay and how I could use my jewelry background. In doing so, I became more intrigued with incorporating textures and found objects into my work bringing to life what has been discarded or overlooked in both metal and clay. Recent ceramic work reflects the fusion of texture and design similar to my one of a kind jewelry pieces. My work is a reflection of the diversity of the world around us. I strive to bring personality into each piece - to engage the viewer with the unexpected. I focus mostly on the combination of materials, where the mundane becomes something more, engaging the viewer to take a second look and see things in a different way. I wan to challenge our notions of the use of materials and prompt a new perception of ordinary things that surround us.