Raine Bedsole

Born in Mobile, Alabama, Raine Bedsole spent much of her childhood on a farm. Her earliest experiences inspired a lifelong interest in nature’s forms and textures and continue to influence themes in her art. She received a Bachelor of Fine Art from Auburn University and a Masters of Fine Art from the San Francisco Art Institute. Returning to the south, Bedsole settled in New Orleans twenty years ago. Recent recognition includes feature footage of her work in the final two Twilight movies and grants for public art from the Joan Mitchell Foundation and the Jefferson Parish Public Art Initiative. Bedsole’s work is included in the collections of the New Orleans Museum of Art and the South Carolina Museum of Art, as well as many other public and private collections both nationally and internationally.

STATEMENT

Evocative, haunting and serene, Raine Bedsole's art whispers in the timeless language of mythology and symbolism. Nautical imagery that informs the artist's work harkens to the Egyptian barques that ferried souls into the afterlife; Norse longboats embodied with poignancy and romance; Native American canoes; and the raft – that rescues us from harm, delivers us to safety. The boats, oars, bird’s wings and other recurring motifs are expressed in a language not limited to earthly tongues and time periods. With poeticism and concentrated emotional potency, Raine Bedsole’s sculptures and works on paper speak directly to the human heart. They elicit the phenomenon of memory and the dynamic between the objects and experiences – those that anchor us to our past and those that liberate us to let go. The notches and grooves in Bedsole's oars sculptures weave mysterious narratives about the hands that rowed them – their individual histories mixing with the artist's experience in intricate layers of paint, texture, fabric, found paper and poetry. Whether collage or assemblage, painting or sculpture, the works have luscious patinas and textures embodied with meaning. Incorporating materials and found objects that allude to the personal narratives that shape our lives, Bedsole marries material virtuosity with an uncommon sensitivity to myth and the power of natural form.

RESUME

Education
1989     MFA San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
1983     BFA Auburn University, Auburn, AL
1980     Sydney University, Sydney, NSW, Australia
1979     Rollins College, Winter Park, FL

Solo Exhibitions
2014   “Imagined Shores” Callan Contemporary, New Orleans, LA
2012     “Dream Documentation” Callan Contemporary, New Orleans, LA
2011      “Ghost Fleet” Gallery Bienvenu, New Orleans, LA
2009     “Recent Work” Gallery Bienvenu, New Orleans, LA
             “Instruments for Navigation” University of West Florida, Pensacola, FL
2008     “Beneath the Surface” Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN
2007     “Fragments of Lost Days” Gallery Bienvenu, New Orleans, LA
              “Lost Moorings” Loyola University, New Orleans, LA
              “Raine Bedsole and Ron Bechet” Loyola University, New Orleans, LA
2006     “Lost Moorings” Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN
2005     “Raine Bedsole: Recent Work” Greenville County Art Museum, Greenville, SC
2004     “Navigation” Marguerite Oestreicher, New Orleans, LA
2003     “Ashes” Trudy Labell Fine Arts, Naples, FL
2002     “Navigating Light” Marguerite Oestreicher Fine Art, New Orleans, LA
             “Without Borders” Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN
2001     “Ephemera” Delgado Fine Arts Gallery, Delgado College, New Orleans, LA
2000    “Diary 2000” Eichold Gallery, Springhill College, Mobile, AL
1999     “Boats of Myself” Marguerite Oestreicher Fine Art, New Orleans, LA
            “Memory of Flight” Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN
1998     Gallery 28, Del Ray Beach, FL
1997     Marguerite Oestreicher Fine Art, New Orleans, LA
1996     Elizabeth Leach Gallery, Portland, OR
1995     Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN
1994     Marguerite Oestreicher Fine Art, New Orleans, LA
1992     Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN
1991      Suzanne Dey Gallery, Menlo Park, CA
1990     Hall Barnett Gallery, New Orleans, LA
 
Selected Group Exhibitions
2014     “50th Anniversary Exhibition: The Art and Design of Mardi Gras” Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, AL
             “24th International Sculpture Conference: littleSCULPTURE”, New Orleans, LA
              “Prospect 3 Biennial: Imago Mundi” curated by Diego Cortez, New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA
              “Paper” curated by Stan Hackney, Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, AL
2011       “Trees” Sibley Gallery, New Orleans, LA
2010      “Women Artists in Louisiana: 1825-1965” New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, LA
2009     “Float” Clark Gallery, Boston, MA
              “Gallery Artist Group Show” Maralyn Wilson Gallery, Birmingham, AL
              “Gallery Artist Group Show” Wade Wilson Gallery, Houston, TX
              “Visiting Artist Exhibition” NOCCA, New Orleans, LA
2008     “Close Up: Recent Work From Five Louisiana Artists” Kathryn Markel, New York, NY
              “40 Days and 40 Nights” Louisiana State Archives, Baton Rouge, LA
              “Sculpture New Orleans” Jonathan Ferrara Gallery, New Orleans, LA
2007     “Kaleidoscope Katrina” Lord & Taylor, New York, NY
              “Elemental” Steve Martin Gallery, Miami, FL
              “Body Image” Lee Gallery, Clemson, SC
2006     “Vernissage” U.S. Embassy to NATO, Brussels, Belgium
              “Haverstraw Sculpture Exhibition” Haverstraw Art Center, Haverstraw, NY
              “Art from the Gulf” Pyramid Atlantic Art Center, Silver Spring, MD
              “Dedicated to New Orleans” Swan Coach House Gallery, Atlanta, GA
2005     “Made in New Orleans” Bradbury Gallery, Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, AK
              Artspace, Shreveport, LA
              Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, LA
              Space 301, Mobile, AL
2004     “Opening Exhibition” Center for the Living Arts, Mobile, AL
             “Glass and the Bigger Picture” Jonathan Ferrara Gallery, New Orleans, LA
             “Summer Group” Maralyn Wilson Gallery, Birmingham, AL
             “Five New Orleans Artists” Arthouse, Houston, TX
2003     “Saltline Biennial”, Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, AL
             “Cerebrations”, Art Off Center, Saenger Theater, Mobile, AL
2001     “International Biennale”, Florence, Italy-bronze medal in Grafica
             “Julia Street North” Masur Museum of Art, Monroe, LA
             “Repetition” Sandler Hudson Gallery, Atlanta, GA
             “Works on Paper” juried by David Kiehl, Curator of Prints, Whitney Museum, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA
             “Assemblage” Barrister’s Gallery, New Orleans, LA
2000     “New Orleans Artists” University of West Florida, Pensacola, FL
             “Petite Physique - a body of small work” Marcia Wood Gallery, Atlanta, GA
1999     “Triennial 1999” Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, AL
             “The Written Word: Text in Art” Cumberland Gallery, Nashville, TN
             “Goliad: A Cultural Convergence” Goliad, Texas
1998     “Unbound: An Exhibition of Artists Books” Weintrab Thomas Gallery, Sacramento, CA
             “Shrines: The Sacred and Secular in Contemporary Southern Art” Lenox Square Artwalk, Atlanta, GA
             “In the Footsteps of the Muse” Bushbarn Art Center, Salem, OR
             “Dix Artistes de Louisiane” Artists’ Alliance, Lafayette, LA
1997     “Drawing Invitational” Galerie Simonne Stern, New Orleans, LA
1996     “Southeastern Juried Competition” Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, LA
             “Sculpture Invitational” Southeastern Louisiana University, Hammond, LA
1995     “Innocence Lost and Found” Elise Goodheart Fine Arts, Sag Harbor, NY
             “Alabama Impact: Contemporary Artists with Alabama Ties” Huntsville Museum of Art, Huntsville, AL
             “Contemporary New Orleans Artists - Works on Paper” Warwick Galleries, Warwick, NY and DHLW Gallery, Lafayette, LA
1994     “Summer Group Show” Stephen Haller Gallery, New York, NY
             “Underexposed” Contemporary Art Center, New Orleans, LA
1993     “Timely and Timeless” The Aldrich Museum, Ridgefield, CT
             “MS Represented; Women’s Invitational” Center for Creative Arts, Clarksville, TN
1992     “New American Talent” Laguna Gloria Museum, Austin, TX
             “Selections” University of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA
            “Compact Competition” Juror’s Merit Award, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA
 
Public Art Works
2010      “Odyssey Boat” Jefferson Parish Sculpture Grant, Lafreniere Park, Metairie, LA
              “Reference Boat” Loyola University Library, New Orleans, LA
2009     “Becoming Rain” IMTT Sculpture Garden, St. Rose, LA
2008     “Remembering Boat” Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant for Public Sculpture, West End Park, New Orleans, LA
 
Grants and Awards
2011       Twilight: Breaking Dawn (Paintings & Sculpture featured in Motion Picture)
2009     Jefferson Parish Commission for Public Art
2008     Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant for Public Sculpture
2007     Juror, Grand Isle Art Exhibition and Retrospective, Venice, LA
2006     Six American Artists, Vernissage, NATO Embassay, Brussels, Belgium
2005     Judge, University of West Florida Student Exhibition, Pensacola, FL
2004     Collector’s Club Artist for 2004, Contemporary Art Center, New Orleans, LA
              Juror, “No Dead Artists” Jonathan Ferrara Gallery, New Orleans, LA
2003      Artist in Residence, The Mesa, Springdale, UT
2002     Juror, Student Art Exhibition, Loyola University, New Orleans, LA
2001      Bronze Medal in “Grafica”, Florence Biennale, Florence, Italy
1992     Juror’s Merit Award, Compact Competition, Louisiana State University
 
Collections
Argo Company, San Antonio, TX
Loyola University
Xavier University
Capital One Bank
Iberia Bank
Hibernia Bank
Faith Hill and Tim McGraw
Joel and Shari Mellon
Sam Maloof
Tommy and Dathel Coleman
Marcus Allen
New Orleans Museum of Art
South Carolina Museum of Art, Greenville, SC
Miami Herald, Miami, FL
U.S. Embassy to NATO, Brussels, Belgium
U.S. Embassy, Surabaya, Indonesia
U.S. Embassy, Kathmandu, Nepal
U.S. Embassy, Kuwait City, Kuwait
New Orleans Airport
Nordstrom’s, Seattle, WA
Grand Hotel Marriott, Point Clear, AL
Mobile Press Register, Mobile, AL
 
Press
“Imagined Shores”, D Eric Bookhardt, Gambit Weekly, New Orleans, LA, Oct. 7, 2014
“Art for Art’s Sake”, Doug MacCash, Lagniappe Times Picayune, New Orleans, LA, Oct. 3, 2014
“Fragments of Memories”, Karl Volkmar, New Orleans Art Review, Oct/Nov/Dec 2012
“Lofty Pursuit”, Doug MacCash, InsideOut Times Picayune, Nov. 12, 2011
“Books and Art Tango...”, The Tennesean, Sept. 25, 2011
“Veranda Magazine”, May/June 2010
“Love of Boats”, Debra Kronowitz, Art New Orleans, Summer 2009
“Close Up”, Thomasina Bartlett, New Orleans Art Review, 2008
“Kaleidoscope Katrina”, New York Times, Sept. 3, 2007
“Skin Deep”, D Eric Bookhardt, Gambit Weekly, New Orleans, LA, 2007
“The Fragile Journey”, D Eric Bookhardt, Gambit Weekly, New Orleans, LA, Sept. 28, 2004
“Celestial Navigation”, D Eric Bookhardt, Gambit Weekly, New Orleans, LA, Dec. 17, 2002
“Ephemera”, Doug MacCash, Times Picayune, New Orleans, LA, June 1, 2001
“Catch a Wave”, D Eric Bookhardt, Gambit Weekly, New Orleans, LA, May 29, 2001
“Great Art in the Big Easy”, Julia Reed, Southern Accents, January Issue 2000
“Cool Raine”, Thomas B. Harrison, Mobile Register, Mobile, AL, Oct. 1, 2000
“The Big Picture”, Doug MacCash, Times Picayune, New Orleans, LA, April 1, 2000
“Raine Bedsole: The Course of Mystery”, Christopher Fischer, New Orleans Art Review, Nov./Dec. 1999
“Small Boats and Flowers”, D Eric Bookhardt, Gambit Weekly, New Orleans, LA, Oct. 12, 1999
“The Picture of Success”, Doug MacCash, Times Picayune, New Orleans, LA, Oct. 3, 1999
“Going Ape”, Paul McClean, In Review, Nashville, TN, March 23, 1999
“More Than Words”, Donna Dorian Wall, Southern Accents, Sept./Oct. 1998
“Artbooks”, The Sacramento Bee, Sacramento, CA, Dec 14, 1997
“Raine Bedsole @ Marguerite Oestreicher”, D Eric Bookhardt, Art Papers, Atlanta, GA, July/Aug. 1997
“New Masters of Art”, Art Santa Fe, Summer 1997
“Age Old Encaustic”, Donna Dorian Wall, Southern Accents, May/June 1997
“Women on the Verge”, Alan Bostick, The Nashville Banner, March 17, 1996
“An Optimist’s Eye in Ridgefield”, Viven Raynor, The New York Times, Dec. 5, 1995