Carol Rensink is our September 2023 Volunteer of the Month! 

Carol first fell in love with art at five years old. Her family visited the Prado Museum in Madrid and a security guard beckoned her over. He lifted her up to look through his magnifying glass at the tiny hairs on the chin of a portrait of a young man. She was fascinated. She will always be grateful to that guard for introducing her to the art world. From that point on, Carol noticed art. 

Carol’s father was in the Air Force, so her family moved several times while she was young. Her family lived in Portugal, South Carolina, Bermuda and Illinois, among other places. Carol attended Oklahoma University and earned her degree in Philosophy and Art History.

Around 1976 Carol’s husband accepted a job in Houston and relocated his family here. After getting settled in, Carol taught art programs at a local Montessori school and continued to study art. She took courses at Glassel and other local colleges in addition to studying under artists like Jose Perez and Lajos Markos.

Many years ago, Carol heard about a prosector (a person who prepares dissections of the human body for study) who taught at Baylor’s College of Medicine. Carol and her artist friends approached Baylor about having the prosector teach a course just for artists. It really helped enhance her knowledge of anatomy. 

In 1997, Carol built the Mother Earth Eco-Sculpture commissioned by Houston Women’s Caucus for Art. She placed 60 truckloads of clay to sculpt a massive 80-foot figure of a woman lying in repose and covered in low-maintenance buffalo grass. To read more about the sculpture, click Mother Earth Eco-Sculpture.

Carol began attending WAS-H’s model lab when they held their sessions at the Art Supply on Main. Once WAS-H moved into our current building, she was asked to take over as Model Lab Coordinator and she’s been here since! Each week, Carol schedules a model, a lab assistant and a monitor to facilitate the model lab sessions each Wednesday afternoon-it’s no small feat!

She is currently working on her own art and drawing more from the imagination and sculptures or 2-D images. 

Carol is married to Dave, who is also an artist. He uses rock and wood to create unique sculptures. You can check out his art at Dave Rensink.

Thank you, Carol, for all you do for WAS-H!