05/28/2026
Studio Visit - Renée Oberdorf
I’m delighted to share Renée’s work at an exhibition organized with Design for the PLL at their new showroom, The Great Room, opening soon in Spokane, WA. Work will be up June 5 - July 31, 2006.
Once you visit Renée’s studio, you won’t ever look at her abstract color rich tones the same again. There are so many layers happening in the creation of every inch, both structured and intuitive.
She builds richly textured surfaces with bold color fields, where gesture, erosion, and revision remain visible. The cover image is a large scale work on paper, so deeply layered, sanded (yes) and textural I swore it was wallpaper.
Renée hails from the Mojave desert of CA and after many years spent wendering her way north, has brought her talents to the Pacific Northwest. She remains inspired by both of these vastly different landscapes. Art school in San Francisco, studies in scultpure, with further education in psychology have all contributed to years of informing her art practice.
Another hidden talent is small scale organic farming. If you ever dined on some of her organic greens at one of Portland’s top restaurants, then it wasn’t so “hidden”!
Varied chapters of life, work and creativity unfold in her paintings, which explore memory, presence, and the unconscious—allowing meaning to emerge through process, material, and trust in the unknown.
Thank you, Renée, for so much time in your studio, touching, looking, moving, listening and laughing!
