Originally from Memphis, Tenn., artist Renee (Zyra) Neal first encountered art at 4 years old when her grandmother taught her how to hand quilt. After sewing a quilt for her doll, she remembers being proud she had created something. This, she says, was the start of her love for creativity.
After serving in the Army for 11 and a half years starting at age 17 — which included, among other training and duties, being stationed at Fort Benning, Ga., and Fort Myer, Va., now known as Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall, a post where she had Special Duty on the White House lawn — Neal worked for the policing system for nine years before entering into the Army again. In 2011, after a back and neck injury, she was medically retired, and as a lifelong lover of drawing, decided it was time to focus on her creativity again. Through an art therapy class, she discovered her love for painting, as well as her desire to help other veterans express their emotions through art. She began leading art classes for veterans in Cape Girardeau and was featured virtually on “The Drew Barrymore Show” in 2020 for her work.
Although she no longer leads art classes, Neal continues to practice art herself and is now working on a series of portrait collages made from fabric, combining her love of fabric arts passed down from her grandmother, as well as her own love of painting and collage.
Here, she shares about her process, art-making purpose and inspiration. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Mia Pohlman: What is your process with making the collage fabric portraits?
Renee (Zyra) Neal: I draw the whole thing out first. And then to me, it’s like the fabric [says], ‘Oh, I need to be right here.’ Or, ‘I need to be over here.’ I can’t rush. If I rush myself, I mess up. Big time. The color doesn’t look right, or something’s just not right with it. So, I try to put in a little acrylic [for dyeing the fabric], as little as possible, ‘cause sometimes, you just need that little extra. I draw a pattern first, and it’s on paper. … That same pattern looks totally different when I paint it versus using the fabric. So, I keep both of them, and I paint one, and I do the other one fabric.
It looks very precise, as far as how you’re cutting.
Yeah, you have to lay the fabric a certain way, or something might show through. Like, if you want a shadow, you have to cut it a certain way. And the pieces that I’m doing now, they’re even more detailed, because I’ve learned a lot since the last set, and I’m like, ‘Oh, I’m getting the hang of this now.’
I love that progression.
And that’s how I feel about it. It’s a progression. I feel like if you continue to learn, you grow. And I mean — as a person, you know, a collective, the group learns.
Can you talk about that a little more, what you hope your artwork does in the world and how it affects the collective and the group?
I think it all stems from my original purpose for doing the art: I wanted people to feel the same thing I felt. It brought me a lot of joy.
Times in my life when I was really low, I could paint something. That’s why I use a lot of colors, ‘cause I paint something, it just lifted my mood. And I wanted that for other people. For them to see, OK, this might look kind of crazy, but look at it — it’ll make you smile. It’ll bring your spirits up. And I think as an artist, whether you write or whether you paint, that’s our job, is to impact our society in a positive way. ‘Cause a lot of things you see and hear aren’t positive. And that’s what I want my impact to be on the world: positive.
I love that you brought up the bright colors, ‘cause that’s one of the things that I loved and that drew me into your artwork, was all of the vibrant colors you’re using. Why do you use bright colors, and how do you choose the ones to use in a piece?
It’s the mood. It is. It’s like happy, joyful, vibrant, energy. And Faith Ringgold, she’s a quilter from back in the ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s, and I would look at her quilts, and her quilts are detailed. And then Bisa Butler, her work is very detailed. Both of these are quilters. It’s not on a canvas. Mine is on a canvas, so it’s something different. Back when I did the first one, [Butler’s artwork] wasn’t real popular. I hadn’t seen her work at all. And I think it was 2016, they started showing her work, and it was just amazing what she could do with fabric. But it’s quilted instead of putting it on a canvas. … So that’s my inspiration. And I think the more we do art, the more of ourselves are in the work that we do.
Do you see that in your own work? What aspects of yourself do you see in your work?
I see my playful side, I see my serious side, I see how I feel about myself and the world. And like I said, I want to put out positive. Even when things aren’t going well, I want to put out the best I can do.
With the fabrics you’re using, where are you collecting them from?
My aunt in Illinois, she is an avid sewer. She makes quilts, she makes clothing, she makes tote bags, everything you can think of, she makes. So every so often, I get a big box, and it’s all of her scraps. And she uses such vibrant colors, it’s amazing. And then I just add to the collection, because what she sends me is so amazing.
The specific piece we’re featuring — can you talk about that piece and what inspired it?
To me, what “Soul Flower” represents is the fact that we all have a beautiful soul. We don’t recognize it, but we all have a beautiful soul. And I think she’s seeing it in herself. It’s hard for us to see that in ourselves, but she’s seeing it, and it’s kind of reflecting out to the world.
Is there anything else you want readers to know?
I think it’s really important for everybody to nurture their creativity. And everybody’s creative. Even if you do it in a little way. When people say, ‘I’m not creative’ — yeah, you are. You’re a mom, [for example] — you’re very creative. … So, I like that part on being able to say to another person [who says], ‘Oh I could never do that.’ You don’t have to do that. You’re creative in your own way. And you bring a spark to somebody’s life by what you’re doing.
