Renee Wallace was born in 1969 in Denton, Texas, the first girl in four generations and sister to twin brothers. Within the first year her family moved to Houston where she spent the next nineteen years close to relatives. Everyone around Renee was artistic: her grandmothers were both painters, her father works in wood, metal, drafting, and restoration, her mother is an illustrator and writer. Involved in painting at an early age Renee made many trips to the American Watercolor Society meetings accompanied by her grandmother.

 

Surrounded by art and artists Renee was the only one in her family to go in the direction of artistic expression. She continued to paint along with the exploration of paper crafts and sewing. Discouraged from becoming a teacher she decided to go in the direction of fashion design where she studied art as a minor. The death of her grandmother in 1988 left an artistic void in Renee’s life. Later her passion for painting was fueled again by artist and professor Millie Giles who told her to, “Never stop painting.” Renee obtained a Bachelor of Science at Texas Woman’s University in 1992.

 

Shortly after she was married to Scott Wallace and became a stay at home mom to two boys, Austin and Cole. While staying at home she became interested in the education of her sons and started to homeschool them. During that time she taught watercolor, acrylic painting, scrapbooking, and quilting to the students of the Denton Homeschool Association in which she was secretary for three years.

 

Shortly thereafter Renee became an art teacher at Royse City High School where the passion for art came alive again. She waited until her sons graduated when she applied for graduate school at Texas A&M University-Commerce in the summer of 2016. Upon acceptance into the program a very personal diagnosis with ulcerative colitis became the immediate focus for her work. Her very personal journey using mixed media has caused for an exploration into cultural disease. Each piece representative of metaphor for disease.