Nature is her muse

She has lived in multiple states, worked on different continents and held a variety of jobs over the past few decades.

But one thing has been constant throughout Renee Schreiner’s life.

“I’ve always been into art,” she said.

The Port Washington native who is the September artist in residence at the Cedarburg Cultural Center is using nearly every moment of her retirement to partake in the pastime in her second-floor apartment on Grand Avenue.

Her acrylic paintings fill the walls of a large room she has turned into her studio.

Her daily hikes in local spots such as Harrington Beach State Park or Lion’s Den Gorge Nature Preserve are her inspiration. Schreiner’s first tool in the creative process is her cheap point-and-shoot camera.  

After the park visits, Schreiner goes through her snapshots and picks out what she will translate from photo to canvas.

Schreiner, beyond relishing in her own painting passion, loves to inspire others to create their own art.

While working as a paraprofessional at Webster Middle School in Cedarburg, Schreiner ran an after-school art program. She helped art teacher Tyler Nygaard with the mural in the gym of Lincoln Elementary School in Port and with the school’s art program.

For the last decade she taught art to those with intellectual and developmental needs at Portal Inc. in Grafton. She retired from teaching there in February, and the last show her class entered won first place in the Cedarburg Cultural Center’s Spectacular Elf-tacular community exhibit in January. The Grafton Public Library bought one of the pieces her students did.

Her teaching style is to provide an example of how something can be painted, then have her students do their own interpretations of it.

“This is how I would do it. How are you going to do it?” she said.

After high school, Schreiner joined the Army and was sent to Germany. She worked as an administrative specialist and traveled Europe as an 18-year-old.

She left after three years and attended college on the GI Bill. Schreiner studied art at San Antonio College, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Cardinal Stritch.

Then, she embarked on a host of different careers.

People got to know Schreiner for her photographs she captured during hikes, but she protested. “It’s like, no, I’m a painter,” she said.

She doesn’t always have to travel to trails to find subjects. Port’s lakeshore down the street from Schreiner’s apartment provides plenty of subject matter.

Each piece is etched into her mind. “These are all me. I have not infringed on anybody else’s idea,” she said.

The sizes of her pieces vary, depending on the scene. Prices vary, but Schreiner said she keeps them affordable.

She gets canvas from thrift stores, rummage sales and big-box stores, and she does some of her own framing, finding deals on frames at Goodwill and estate sales.

She also does some mixed media work.

She has sold her work through the Covered Bridge Art Studio Tour and will again be in this October’s event, and she has items at the Mercantile Plaza and has had exhibits at Gallery 224, both in Port. She has been the artist in residence at Fiddleheads in Grafton “being with my other love, coffee,” she said.

Her favorite piece is whatever she is working on at any given time. When she thinks a painting is complete, she examines it top to bottom to see if anything is missing.

Then she steps back to appreciate her work.

“It’s an accomplishment. You feel good. I don’t know how to describe that feeling. When you stand back and look at it, it’s like, ‘wow,’” she said.

Others have said “wow” too. She recently won first place in a veterans’ art show for a painting of her Women’s Army Corps uniform with dog tags draped  against an American flag in the background that will be on display at the Zablocki Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Milwaukee and could qualify for a national show.

To contact Schreiner about purchasing her work, call her at (262) 683-2204 or email her at artist54@live.com.