We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Renee Fleuranges-Valdes a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Renee, appreciate you joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

Wow, the word ‘meaningful’ can be interpreted in so many different ways. I will share a personal piece and why it touched me so. Breast cancer is such a horrible disease. Actually all cancer is. But at a young age I remember my mother loosing one of her best friends to breast cancer. I remember where we both were at the time and the scene of my mother on a ladder and me sitting on a step vividly, because that is where we were when she told me. I couldn’t have been more than 7 years old. Fast forward to my high school years, and my Mother is diagnosed with breast cancer. I was terrified, I thought she was going to die, and the memory of my Mother telling me of her best friends passing flashed through my head. Luckily for us, science had evolved and my Mother made a full recovery. Just like she did when I was in my late 20’s, and she had her 2nd bout with breast cancer. Thankful for all the advances of modern medicine, she pulled through it again, albeit a little more scarred from the radiation. Well the years passed and my Mother was in her early 80’s and suffering from Alzheimer’s. One day I take her for her yearly mammogram and low and behold the Dr tells me she has breast cancer again. This time more advanced and larger. He recommends a mastectomy. Gulp! My Mother has no idea what he is saying, let alone what a breast is. How do I make such a personal decision for her? How does one woman decide to take another woman’s breast? I go home and call my sisters over. Together we deliberate and decide to follow the oncologists suggestion. I stayed in the hospital with my Mother, sleeping in the chair next to her bed. Clueless, she had no desire to be there. The nursing staff is sympathetic, but also grateful for my presence. All goes well and we go back to our then ‘normal’ lifestyle. Still trying to deal with that just happened, I do what most artists do. I pour myself into my art, and ‘Three Times Stronger’ is born. She survived… we survived… we didn’t let cancer defeat us… yet again! But wait… almost 7 years later, what happens? I am diagnosed with breast cancer. I am finished with treatments and cancer free, but after living with my Mother’s experiences with the dreadful disease, I know I will need to pull strength from what I now call ‘4X Stronger’. It hangs over my desk in the studio as a reminder, that early detection is the key to survival!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

Raised by parents who lived through the Great Depression, money was sacred. My parents had done well for themselves, raising their four girls, plus a couple of other kids via Catholic Charities, in a middle class neighborhood, in a large house for the times. But as the youngest of the crew, that meant I wore mostly hand me downs, that were made by my Mother for my older sisters, and passed to me when I needed them. While cost effective, it left no room for individuality. There was very little made just for me, unless it was a matching holiday outfit. I was a strong, determined child and so I wasn’t too happy with the hand me down situation. Luckily, my Mother and Aunt were excellent seamstresses and they told me that if I worked and brought my own fabric and patterns they would teach me how to sew, and the rest was history. I was making most of my own clothes by the time I was in 7th grade, and since I was surrounded by women who worked with fiber, I also learned to knit, crochet, embroidery, etc… No one in the family quilted, but I was pretty handy with a needle of any sort. A friends mother was a traditional quilter and while she was willing to teach me, she passed away before that happened. Much later in life, looking for a new creative outlet, something to ease the stress of corporate America, I took a quilting class and never looked back. I learned basic traditional quilting relying on my childhood sewing skills. Bored with squares and triangles that required precision piecing (read stressful), I quickly tried my hand at what is called ‘art quilting’ and my heart started to sing. I started quilting in 2000, but really moved into the art quilt world around 2007. I love what I call painting with fabric. It is extremely freeing. Since my work is all original, no one knows what it is ‘supposed’ to look like, accept me. The small girl in me now loves playing with fabric dolls, designing their clothes and placing them into scenes that create a vivd image for my viewers.

As my life changed — retirement from 38 years in the software industry; relocating over 700 miles south, away from my home/block that I had lived on for my entire life, 60 years — I began asking myself what did I want my art to say. It was no longer good enough that it looked pretty. I wanted my art to represent me, to speak to what was important to me, to give the viewer something they could identify with….. and so my work started to evolve. Coming from a multicultural background, I wanted my work to be multicultural. I became intent in featuring a diverse set of people, even though the world looks at me as a black woman. I no longer wanted to create the perfect body. My work should look like me, like many other people, with all the rolls and extra chins and flabby arms and double bellies. I want the viewer to not only see me, but to see themselves. So my work morphed as I attempted to create art that people wanted to display in their homes… art that told their stories. I believe that our homes reflect who we are at our core… away from the masks we where at work, or around friends. Our homes are a place where we should be able to find peace, and I hope when people hang my art in their homes it gives them a sense of pause, a time to smile and say yep, I can relate. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that skin color or body shape in artwork dictates who can relate to a piece. But I do believe viewers bring art into their home that makes them smile, that reminds them of that special time, place or person…. and that is what I strive to create. Art that buyers can relate to because it feels good,

I am also an artist who believes that details matter. I think that sets me apart in some way from other art quilters. Whether it is the ankle bracelet, the swirl of the free motion quilting, the shine of the crystal that you can hardly see, curves of her hips, or the intricately cut appliqué, I believe a quilt needs something that keeps the eye moving and for me it is the totality of all of these elements that makes my art standout.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I think one of the hardest lessons any artist has to learn is to value your work. I have supported other artists over the years, adorning my home with original artwork, but for the life of me I had a hard time pricing my own work. When someone asked me for a price, I always cut the price I had in my head in half… I just couldn’t get the dollars out of my mouth. Now why is that? I had been a top corporate salesman for years, why couldn’t I put a decent price on my own work? Was I scared to put myself out there, like a professional artist? I don’t have an answer for that. That is until one day a curator at a gallery wouldn’t include my work in a group show at the price I listed. The gallerist said it was way underpriced for the quality of work and the market. So I asked her to price it for me. Surprise, surprise, it was the first piece to be sold on Opening Night! She was not the first or the last to tell me my work was underpriced. After another such incident, I decided to start listening to them. It was a great lesson. I now tell other artists to value their work, study the market and price their work accordingly.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I just love watching people react to my art. Whether they love it or not so much, they always find something that they are interested in. They lean in, point, attempt to touch (usually upset they can’t) and then stand back and look again. I enjoy it when they come with someone else, because I love to stand back without introducing myself and listen to their conversation. I have learned so much as an artist, listening in on these conversations, especially when the viewers aren’t artist themselves. Artist tend to discuss my work in artsy terms, vs talking about how they feel about the piece. It is these emotions that are important to me, as they give me another perspective. A viewer puts a smile on my face when they can see themselves, their family, etc… in my work. It makes me feel as if we have connected, and I have accomplished my goal. Of course, I love it when my art touches them so much, that they have to take it home!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.quiltedartistrybyrenee.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/quiltedartistry
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/renee.fleurangesvaldes
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reneefleurangesvaldes/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Renee_FValdes

Image Credits
Tami Photography LLC