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Renée Fleuranges-Valdes
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Check back here often for updated information about Quilted Artistry by Renee.
ABC News 4 Charleston: LowCountry Live Spotlight - Quilted Artistry by Renee (April 6, 2022)
Tessa Spencer of ABC News 4 Charleston visits the home studio and gallery of Quilted Artistry by Renee, owner/artist Renee Fleuranges-Valdes and discusses her art and her path from home made clothing to software exec to fine art. Click here to watch the interview.
The Charleston Compass: Meet Renee Fleuranges-Valdes (April 2023)
An interview by Okeeba Jubalo, owner of the Nobel Sol Art Group and the Okeeba Jubalo Fine Art Studio, discussing Renee's transition from a NY based artist to the Charleston, SC art scene and what drives Renee to create art.. View on CCQMtv:
Southern Voyager, Daily Inspiration: Meet Renee Fleuranges-Valdes. (February 24, 2022)
A look at Renée Fleuranges-Valdes and her path to becoming a fiber artist. For full article, click here:
Charleston Magazine Feature Artist, Renée Fleuranges-Valdes (February 2022)
The February issue of the Charleston Magazine chooses to spotlight Renée Fleuranges-Valdes as their Featured Artist. Starting on page 54 of the print magazine and page 58 of the digital version, you can read the interview, which discusses Renée's transition from corporate life to a full time fiber artist. Renée shares how she maneuvered the journey, finding her voice as a fine art artist. You can read the article here: Charleston Magazine
Spencer Museum of Art Acquires "In the Spotlight" (December 2019)
The Spencer Museum of Art, The University of Kansas, (Lawrence, Kansas) has recently acquired work by local artist, Renée Fleuranges-Valdes. The piece, In the Spotlight, is a vibrant mix of color and texture, depicting a tribal dancer in full swing. The quilt is typical of Renée’s vivid style. The colorful fabric is meant to focus the viewer on the dancer, and the movement is created using intricately stitched quilting designs. Renée hopes the piece conveys the dancers joy, his love of life and his intense passion for his art. Mrs. Fleuranges-Valdes is known for her use of bold color and high contrast in her work, in an attempt to connect with the viewer, drawing them in for a closer look, and stimulating a feeling of happiness, self confidence, and being at peace with oneself.
In the Spotlight will become a permanent part of The Spencer Museums Women Collection.
Spencer Museum of Art Acquires "Akofena: Defender of the Land" (August 2024)
The Spencer Museum of Art, The University of Kansas, (Lawrence, Kansas) has recently acquired work by artist, Renée Fleuranges-Valdes. The piece, Akofena: Defender of the Land, is a testament to the power of the female warrior, part of Mrs. Fleuranges-Valdes' Warrior Woman series. The quilt is typical of Renée’s vivid style. Rising from a cloud made with raw cotton from the McCleod Plantation in Charleston, SC, Akofena is here to defend our ancestral rights to land ownership. She symbolizes our ascension from working the land, to land ownership to our duty of land stewardship. Blazed into her shield are the principles she defends: Freedom, Equal Access, Equity, Multigenerational Wealth, Justice, Land Stewardship, and Home Ownership. Mrs. Fleuranges-Valdes is known for her use of bold color and intricate machine quilting, in an attempt to draw the viewer in for a closer look. Mrs. Fleuranges-Valdes's representational artistic style helps tell her stories about life as a woman in today's America.
Akofena will become a permanent part of The Spencer Museums Women Collection.
About The Spencer Museum of Art: With a diverse collection of more than 45,000 art objects and works of cultural significance, the Spencer is the only comprehensive art museum in the state of Kansas and serves more than 100,000 visitors annually. The Museum’s vision is to present its collection as a living archive that motivates object-centered research and teaching, creative work, and transformative public dialogue.
About the Artist: Renée Fleuranges-Valdes, is an award winning fiber artist whose work uses dance and the human body, to delve into the joys of life. Renée has been quilting for almost 20 years and has moved from traditional utilitarian quilts to almost exclusively art quilts, meant to hang on the wall. Her work can be found in private collections, and can be viewed at quilt shows, gallery exhibitions, and museums across the United States. Renée resides in North Charleston, SC with her husband, where she relocated to after retiring from a 38 year career at IBM in NY. She holds a BS in Biology from Syracuse University, Utica Campus. The couple has two adult children. They were drawn to the Charleston area for retirement because of it’s focus on art and culture.
Acres of Ancestry Initiative / Black Agrarian Fund acquires "Dream, Achieve, Inspire" (June 2021)
The Acres of Ancestry Initiative, (Washington, DC) has acquired work by artist, Renée Fleuranges-Valdes. The piece, Dream, Achieve, Inspire was created in response to the North Charleston African American Fiber Art Festival's Call to Entry: Sankofa. It reminds us to continue to look back and bring our heritage forward. As we dream, and reach our personal milestones, we must remember to reach back and inspire those around us. Our ancestors are there to guide us. We just need to remember that it is our responsibility to inspire others.
Acres of Ancestry Initiative, Black / Agrarian Defense Fund acquires "Fire Dancer" (January 2022)
The Acres of Ancestry Initiative, (Washington, DC) has acquired work by artist, Renée Fleuranges-Valdes. Fire Dancer continues in Mrs Valdes representational style where she uses color and movement to bring focus to the lives of African Americans and how they continue to celebrate their ancestors. Tribal dance as depicted here, can be seen in many African Dance studios and showcases across America. Conjuring up the ancestors for strength and guidance is part of the African American culture, where the ways of those who have passed over are celebrated in today's America.
About the Acres of Ancestry Initiative: Channeling the collective spirit of the Freedom Quilting Bee (a textilecraft cooperative founded by Black women agrarian-artisans in Alberta, Alabama in 1966), the Acres of Ancestry Initiative re-centers ecocultural traditions in collaboration with rural communities throughout the Black Belt region through storytelling, communal e-commerce, ecocultural heritage and textile arts production, and traditional knowledge retention programs to support cultural regeneration and establish a sustainable funding stream to seed the Black Agrarian Fund. The Black Agrarian Fund, a community-controlled land and financial cooperative, supports the communal aspirations of securing land for landless returning generation farmers and ecopreneurs; provides non-extractive capital and legal support to land stewards who desire to protect their family lands from partition sales, tax sales, foreclosures, and USDA public auctions; and creates a financial stream to nourish community wealth-building efforts throughout the Black Belt region.
