OUR PROGRAM
Since leaving our previous home within Arts @ Large’s building, Reflo is still making an effort to bring art into our working environment. For the past year, we have been working on building our main conference room into a gallery space, filled with locally made art from our Artist in Residence.
Meet the Artist
Reana Smith
As a kid Reana always loved to create things. Whether it was with sewing, crocheting, cooking, drawing , or painting, she enjoyed learning new skills but never took the time to actually perfect them. In 2020 when the pandemic hit, Reana began to paint again after taking a break for a few years. This brought back her passion for art which led to her desire to turn it into a career.
Now Reana is completing her third year at the University of Wisconsin Whitewater, with a degree in Art and Communications. The program has built upon her skills while also giving her new knowledge to use as a professional artist. With this degree Reana plans to go into film and television production, hopefully for Disney and other large animation companies.
Reana is also currently a part of the Reflo team as their first Artist in Residence. She joined the team in June 2022 and it has honestly been the best job that she has had. The energy is always great and accepting when she comes home over break and works in the office. Reana’s work can be seen throughout Reflo’s office space, but mainly in their gallery room.
Pour Art
This summer I had the pleasure of working with Reflo’s interns on pour art. This was an easy way for the interns to have a fun mental break. To create these pieces we used glue, acrylic paint, and water. The materials were mixed together to make a steady consistency and then poured on the canvas. Each intern got to pick their own colors, giving them creative freedom on what their art should look like. This project was chosen to show them that they do not need to be technically trained artists to create something beautiful and cool.
Essence
A woman’s healing and nurture comes naturally without question. Essence is meant to bring comfort to those who seek it. This piece is all acrylic and inspired by mother nature. Throughout the process of creating Essence, I would paint outside to have that visual representation of nature around me. Painting this came with so much calmness, because it was a way to express all the things I love about nature while also tying it back to mother nature and how women are able to give so much to the earth while receiving. For the finisher I went with a resin coat because I wanted the colors to really pop, and be appealing to the eye.
Free visionary
As a kid, waking up on a saturday and watching cartoons was a needed break from school. Unknowingly at the time, it was a way for me to relax and be a kid. The inspiration for this painting was going back and forth between my relaxing and imaginary world, to the reality of waking up early for school when all I wanted to do was watch cartoons all day. The cartoon that I had in mind specificlly was “Who Framed Roger Rabbit”. I used to watch this movie all the time with my brothers and honestly if I could go between a cartoon world and reality I would. This is an all acrylic-based painting with a top coat of resin to give it a nice shiny layer.
Evening Breathe
There are days where I wish I could sit in the middle of the ocean and watch the sunset while hearing the waves crash just to exhale. Isolation has been made out to be this bad thing when sometimes that’s what we need to focus. What better form of isolation is there than in the middle of the ocean by yourself. Nature has recently been a new source of therapy for me so it has started to reflect into my art.
Colorful Drift
As we grow into adults we are told to throw away those crazy dreams that we want to chase and find a real career that is steady. This painting is meant to show someone breaking through those negative blinds that people try to put in front of our faces and embrace the craziest reality that you feel describes you. To make something out of just a dream by turning it into a passionate career. This art piece is a mixed media which includes charcoal and acrylic paint. I chose to mix these two medias because I have been slowly getting into charcoal and seeing how far I can go with it.