Rena Brouwer

Rena Brouwer


Artist's Statement: 
"Art is an integral part of my life; it continually pulls and stretches me in new and exciting directions. No matter what is going on in my life, I constantly feel the need to make art, teach art, see, hear, feel, sense and experience life . Interjecting what I know and what I experience into a creative process. This is the way I relate to life."

Artist's Bio: Rena Brouwer knew at age 12 she was destined to be a watercolorist. Encouraged by her art teacher she began exploring watercolor in Lafayette, Indiana where she grew up. With self-taught skills, Brouwer has worked both collaboratively and individually in a variety of interdisciplinary projects from her local community to other continents. Starting as a fine arts material promoter with international companies, she then served as an illustrator to promote the use of maize for third-world countries. Her project Arts for Change, promoted by public television, brought the arts to underprivileged children. She developed a mentoring program pairing at-risk children with professional artists, completing several community public installations.

Professional achievements include an invitation from the Indianapolis Museum of Art to present her unique approach to watercolor during the Exhibition of Turner in 1997. That same year she organized “Sparks Across the Arts,” a year-long collaboration of multi-media women visual artists paired with creative writers from the Women’s Writers group. She also teamed with others to provide multi mediums in tandem with musical exhibits to the Lafayette area. Chosen as one of ten from a pool of 150 artists juried statewide, she worked two years with Central Indiana Land Trust painting depictions of their sites resulting in her work being chosen as the outstanding watercolor by three international artists who juried the exhibition. In 2013, she was selected to be in the book Painting Indiana III, the only Indiana watercolorist. In 2014, she presented a stage performance with the Lafayette Symphony Orchestra, to the music of Debussy.  

Community enrichments consist of Brouwer as owner and director of Lafayette Renaissance Academy which combined visual fine arts with performance arts in a historical building from 2004-2007. Currently, she is owner of the Opera House Gallery of Contemporary Art, LLC. Rena collaborated with the Delphi Preservation Society for six years during the renovation of the Opera House. During this time, she was their resident artist and director of the Opera House Gallery. She is an Indiana Artisan, member of Brown County Art Guild, Indiana Artists, Cardinal member of the Watercolor Society of Indiana , Hoosier Salon, Indiana Heritage Arts  and Indiana Plein Air Painters.

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