ANYTHING you want to be!

In the beautiful East Tennessee valley of the Smoky Mountains, you’ll find the most amazing sculptured art – seriously - it will take your breath away.

I recently ‘met’ Renee on Indiepublic and became an instant fan. I was immediately drawn to her work, especially the tree sculptures. Each time while reading the descriptions and gazing at them, I feel the emotions and feeling of each piece – I am simply mesmerized by them.

Creating for as long as she can remember and inspired by her mom, fairy tales (her first tree sculpture was inspired by Pan’s Labyrinth), music and nature, Renee creates her one-of-a-kind whimsical art. Her mom is also a part of her Etsy shop and mainly sculpts Christmas Elves (she states her creative gene came from her mom – yeah mom!) Combined, their work is both funky and folky, so coming up with her shop name, “Funky Folky”, didn’t take a rocket scientist.

Music seems to play a big role in Renee’s work as she “ALWAYS” listens to music while creating. In fact, music that is feminine and sexy is what she likes to listen to while creating her tree sculptures – which is usually Sarah McLachlan or Goldfrapp – “if you see this kind of kooky video my work may make more sense: Goldfrapp." Let me just say that I watched this video – twice - and I completely understand. Okay, and am now a fan of Goldfrapp – that video rocks.

Renee hasn’t done any craft shows yet, but she has created a lot of custom orders, plus has her own website with her mom selling soap, candles and a mixture of their sculptures at The Ragtree Co.

How did she hear about Etsy? Through her “dear friend Nikkii” and she’s been addicted ever since! (Addicted? I have no idea what she’s talking about…wink wink). She enjoys the “wonderful community of artists and crafters. I get so inspired by doing random searches to see what everyone else has created!.... I don't want to create my art to sell, per say. I want to create what I am inspired to create... sculptures that I feel passionate about. I don't want to create items that I think buyers will like so Etsy is the perfect place to show items that are out of the mainstream."

I asked Renee one last question - I love her heartfelt answer: “I guess the one thing that I would want others to know is that I believe creativity is so important in every day life. I know many of us must trudge off to the salt mines to make a living every day and in most of our jobs, we can't be creative and do what we want to do. Through art, we can be ANYTHING we want to be and do ANYTHING we want to do without any rules. Art is a way to live life on your own terms and to be a true individual. Aside from that, I have a wonderful hot hubby who likes to streak around the house when all of our retired neighbors go to bed and a gorgeous son who always like to remind me that I'm "not quite right" and that my sculptures give him nightmares ;)"

If you are looking for that unique piece of art for a gift or for yourself, please check out Renee’s Funky Folky Etsy shop where you will find art sculptures in a variety of ways: trees, magnets, art dolls, wall hangings and more. Also visit her blog to see what she is working on next!

Happy ANYTHING Monday everyone!

☼ Rocki

P.S. Okay, so are you curious about the hot streaking hubby too?