Renee Noelle Cheesman ( Lives and works in Bellingham, WA)

Renee Noelle Cheesman (b. 1958) is a painter, installation artist, and interdisciplinary artisan living and working in Bellingham, WA. Renee Noelle Cheesman earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, graduating Magna Cum Laude, from Western Washington University, where she also completed her Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art, also with Magna Cum Laude honors. Prior to that, she graduated with Honors in Associates of Arts and Science from Whatcom Community College.

For Renee Noelle Cheesman, objects and spaces are imbued with meaning and history, and they view themselves as an object in space. Architectural features like corridors, doors, and windows" provide opportunities for contemplation in Cheesman's work.

Both the room and the objects within engage forming layers of history, memory, and relationships. The artworks showcased in this exhibition at Cordata Gallery channel her deep-seated interest in these concepts. Each element in her paintings represents an

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object within a space and reflects its original function within the room it once inhabited. Through the different, apparently unrelated elements, Cheesman explores the characteristics of contemporary American culture. Drawing inspiration from research, media, podcasts, and conversations about American life, she expresses her ideas through vivid colors and effortless lines. Rejecting traditional norms and methods, she explores new materials and allows the concept to dictate the final form. Her studio is a laboratory, a space Where questions are performed, and where experimentation with new materials leads to innovation and exploitation.

Cheesman does not confine her work to the two-dimensional surface; she also explores the sculptural realm. Cordata Gallery is especially proud to showcase one of Cheesman's rare and captivating site-specific installations, crafted from strands of yarn, string, cloth, incorporated strands of poured highly glossed black paint,and black lava salt. This installation mimics a vessel with a narrow pathway, with the receptacle representing stored knowledge and the strands of paint symbolizing ideas, thoughts, and actions within a higher collective consciousness. The two possible entrances and exits offer an experience designed to challenge the viewer's certainty. One may enter with a fixed belief and exit the same way, or, through reflection, emerge with a transformed perspective. Cheesman views the transformation of a viewer's belief through her art as her ultimate achievement.

The works in this exhibition invite the viewer into Cheesman's deeply personal realm of rooms (diagrams), objects (abstractions), and the self (portraits), uncovering the identity, history, and memories that reside in a space beyond words.

Exhibitions at the gallery:

Color and Line: An Exploration by Three NW Artists ( Group Show) Oct 5 - January 25, 2025