I have recently had the honor of being recognized in Shout Out Miami!  Check it Out!
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https://shoutoutmiami.com/meet-renee-keil-visual-artist-and-retired-performance-arts-director-teacher-and-choreographer/?fbclid=IwAR1qTTXDx4PJYe7dzXxAzzTDSuBt-DR-zcLEtuIEtXmWYv7hBc4XQoi3WXE

March 9, 2022 We had the good fortune of connecting with Renee Keil and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Renee, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
I have always loved to tell stories. As a child I wrote plays, directed my friends, designed the sets and costumes and of course was the leading player! I learned to draw from my mom, I loved to paint, write plays and poetry and sing and dance. When I was at the University of Pittsburgh studying acting and directing, I remember telling my acting/directing professor that my dream was to be able to integrate my talents and love for both visual arts and performance arts. He steered me into the path of directing and working as an acting, dance teacher, director and choreographer. Through this career choice I was able to channel my inner creative muse by designing beautiful (not all beautiful) pictures on the stage.
Now my career is focused on the visual arts. Using varied mediums, I work to build a ‘theater on the flat”, (incorporating conflict, character, abstraction, and theme), which often spotlights pervasive concerns of our world today… some times pretty, sometimes not…but there’s always a story!
   
Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am an artist, actress, director and choreographer living in the Shadyside area of Pittsburgh in the summer months and in beautiful Stuart Florida for “the season”. I created an award winning high school theater and dance program and was named dance teacher of the year in both PA and the North EasternUS. in I have worked as a dance acting/theatre educator in several Pittsburgh universities, including teaching jazz dance at Carnegie Mellon University for their prestigious summer Pre-college theater program. I received BS and MA degrees from the University of Pittsburgh, and did graduate work in movement at the University of Oslo, Norway. ​
Currently, I am concentrating on my “visual arts”; painting in watercolor, acrylics, pastels and oils. I am a member of the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Society of Artists, The Pittsburgh Watercolor Society, The Pittsburgh Pastel Artist League, The Martin County Arts Council and the Martin Artisan Guild. I have won several awards for my work in various juried art shows and have shown in state museums and various gallery exhibitions.
Because I am a theater director and choreographer, I have always loved to tell a story, create a “picture”, focus on an issue, an emotion, a conflict, a universal connection that somehow dictates how we act, react, live. Due to this performance background, I find that as a visual artist I especially love to paint pictures that tell a story…that make a statement about the human condition, the universal connections that move our souls.
Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
There is just too much to do and see here in beautiful, friendly South Florida to focus on one area!. Of course in the Stuart area I would take them to any of the beautiful beaches on Martin County’s Hutchison Island. We would visit the amazing Elliott Museum and perhaps head to Kyle G’s restaurant for lunch. Not to be missed is seeing a sunset at Sailor’s Return at the Sunset Marina. Jupiter has so much to offer too!. Jupiter Lighthouse and arts area, the many fine restaurants and shopping on PGA boulevard, and of course their is Palm Beach, The Norton Museum, the bike trail around Palm Beach Island and so many more sights and scenes that “move my soul”!
   
Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My parents deserve the most recognition in my story of success. They promoted my interest in the arts and established a strong work ethic in their own lives which really was the base and model for my own life. Fellow artists in my various arts groups have also been encouraging and supportive of my career through their modeling of work and art.
Website: reneekeil Art.com
Instagram: Reneekeil
Linkedin: Renee Keil
Facebook: Renee Keil Original Art

I have been very fortunate to sell quite a bit of art this past year...I have completed four commissions...two portraits and two landscape pieces, sold three of my favorite watercolor  paintings and have had several oil paintings exhibited and sold in Maryland, Florida and Pittsburgh! I'm always looking for new commissions because I love to fulfill a "vision" of what a client would want in their home or to give as a gift. Below, I have shared some of my recent sales and commissioned pieces.  Tell me what you think!

Currently my mixed media painting, Sailing the Abacos is being shown in the 100 Artists Show at the RCK Gallery in Stuart, Florida.  The painting recently won 1st Place/Best in Show at the April Martin Artisans Guild's exhibition at the Palm Room Gallery in Stuart.

​My painting “Moons Over Miami” (watercolor on paper) has been chosen to be a part of the amazing Attack Theater Dance Company’s integrated Virtual Arts Project “Art Transports Us’ in conjunction with the SAMA Art Museums both in Ligonier  and Loreto. If you would like to view the dance piece connected with my work, connect to this link and enter the Ligonier site. The collaboration is very cool. Check out the site : http://attacktheatre.com/art-transports-us 

The Road Along the Way: Gettysburg Farm and The Laurel Valley Scenic Byway  (Loretto)      Moons Over Miami (Ligonier)

I have been awarded a great opportunity to showcase my work at the Gilt Complex in Stuart for the February 7th Art Walk in the cultural district.  The evening at the gallery will feature the unveiling of the new window display showcasing four artists submissions, mine being one! Thanks to Katie Gianni and The Gilt Complex for this opportunity. 

This is Yogi (a commission oil painting). A print of this beautiful boy will be hanging in the gallery’s window for all of 2020!

2018 was a great year...I said goodbye to some of my “babies” and have become immersed in creating some new art in my new “winter” location...studio south, Stuart Florida.  My “studio” many be small, but the light is amazing and I can’t say anything more about the view. The difficulty is that with the gorgeous weather, it is often a difficult decision to stay in and man the easel. 

                                                                         NEW PAINTINGS in progress

I have been very busy of late...painting, selling and exhibiting.  I just did a show/sale at Ligonier Country Club.  It was great fun and sold one of my very favorite pieces.  Earth and Sky:Sunlit Missouri Stream. It was a great day, with great music and wonderful support from Bill Elliot and his amazing staff at LCC.

I am also happy to announce that my painting Bent Not Broken#Me Too has been accepted into two juried shows: The Pittsburgh Watercolor Society's Aqueous International (October 6 through October 27 at the Spinning Plate Gallery and the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art/Loretto's Biennial Exhibition (October 19 through January). Unfortunately due to an oversight on my part, I can only show the painting in the Aqueous.

Fortunately my painting Lacrima Azzura was also accepted into the Biennial and will be on display at the Exhibition in Loretto.

Last night I received word that my oil painting Storm Laden Skies Above Fields of Gold has been accepted into the Greater Latrobe Exhibition and Gala as well as the 23rd Annual Regional SPCA Juried Art Exhibition at SAMA/Ligonier.  I feel honored to have my work accepted at these wonderful exhibits

I will be showcasing my work and my McHenry Maryland studio for the Garrett Arts Art/Studio Tour July 28 and 29 right at Deep Creek Lake. I will have originals available for sale as well as many prints and some greeting cards.Come on to the lake and check it out!  I'm located at 905 Deep Creek Drive in McHenry Maryland.  see https://garrettarts.org/art-tour/
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My painting, In the Arms of An Angel is currently being shown at the Artist's Choice Exhibit for The Pittsburgh Society of Artists at the Brew House in Southside (through August 3). Earth and Sky: Sunlit Missouri Stream will be on display at the Greensburg Art Center's Biennial juried exhibit, Complementary from July 21 through August 24.  It is located at the Rowe Gallery in Greensburg.

Just to follow up on my last blog...(a little time gap I might add),  I'd like to share a recent painting that I did as a commission of a young boy with his best friend.  First of all, I feel as if I became both friends with my client through our several conversations, and feel as if I really began to know "the boy and his best friend" through the many photos my client sent me to use as references for the piece.

This was a super fun commission to do...(which I received through Finely.io--check out their website). The client wanted a painting of his nephew with his "best friend".  Both were dressed as super heroes, which  made the work more creative and enjoyable. He wanted the painting to be realistic yet showing the young boy's imaginative side.  Hence, Boy on a Green Hill with His "Dog", both are at the ready...ready to jump into action when they see the Batman signal in the bright night sky.  (30' w x 40" h)  oil on canvas

The above are two early stages---the first sketch to help determine the composition, the second is after the sketch on the canvas, first paint, the third is the finished painting hanging in my studio.  And now it's not.  One of my babies has gone off into the world!  Always a happy thing, but always a little wistful.