Columbia, SC - The works of Renee Stout are currently on display in the Ponder Fine Arts Gallery on the campus of Benedict College until March 16, 2012.

An opening reception to meet the artist is schedule for Thursday, February 9, 2012 from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. During the opening reception, Renee Stout will present an open dialogue session and will include a question and answer session. The event is free and open to the public.

Originally trained as a painter, Renee Stout came to realize that her creative vision was so expansive it would be confining for her to limit herself to creating in one medium for her entire career. She says, "When an idea hits me, I immediately decide which materials will best allow me to make that idea tangible." As a result, Stout’s bodies of work have included paintings, drawings, prints, sculpture, photography and installations. Each one of Stout’s pieces are seen as a fragment or installment in an ongoing narrative that’s her contribution to telling the story of who we are as a society at this point in time.

The common thread running through bodies of Ms. Stout’s work of the past several years is the continuing need for self discovery and the need to understand and make sense of human motives and the way we relate and respond to each other. The process of working out the many questions about the human condition directly through her work has been both cathartic and empowering.

Renee Stout’s work is rooted in African spiritual belief systems, and through them she learns more about who her ancestors were. She further explains, "I am primarily interested in the time, long ago, when the different cultures of Africa did not separate their everyday life from their spiritual beliefs, as we do in this modern age."

Born in Junction City, Kansas and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Renee Stout received her BFA from Carnegie Mellon University in 1980. In 1985 she moved to Washington, D.C. and began to explore the roots of her African American heritage through her work. She takes her inspiration from a myriad of African belief systems and their influences on cultures throughout the African Diaspora, as well as the environment of her neighborhood and current events, to create works that encourage self-examination, introspection, and a willingness to stand back and laugh at human nature and the absurdities of life.

The lives of Stout’s imaginary characters unfold through a variety of media, including painting, mixed media sculpture, prints, drawings, photography and installation. She has been the recipient of awards from the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, the Joan Mitchell Foundation, the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation, the Gottlieb Foundation and most recently the David C. Driskell Prize awarded by the High Museum of Atlanta. Her work has been shown in solo and group shows throughout the United States, England, Russia and the Netherlands and can be found in numerous museum collections across the U.S. and in the Netherlands.

Gallery hours are Monday through Friday 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. For more information about the exhibition or to arrange tours, contact Mr. Tyrone Geter or Ms. Vonda Wright at (803) 705-4768.