In Conversation with Renée Rautio: The Art of Patience and Connection
By Bella Kovar
One of my favorite movies growing up was Henry Selick’s generation-defining work of wonder, Coraline. In childhood, I was enamored by the way that everything looked, and as a Halloween lover, I loved seeing something spooky that wasn’t considered too grown-up or scary—it was perfect for my adventurous and curious eight-year-old mind. As an adult, I’ve revisited the film many times. There is a line I think of often. It happens near the end of the story when Coraline is exploring The Other World and realizes that walking in a particular direction will simply lead you back to where you started. She looks puzzledly at her cat companion, “How can you walk away from something, and still come back to it?”
Courtesy of Renée Rautio
Strangely philosophical for a children’s cartoon, this line came to mind in my time interviewing the lovely and talented Renée Rautio. I stumbled across Rautio’s stop-motion animation work on my TikTok feed. I was immediately reminded of my formative interest in the craft, and equally enamored by her specific and captivating style. Rooted in a whimsical, nostalgic, and slightly gothic mood, Rautio’s work has captured the attention of many, garnering thousands of likes across multiple short-form videos. The posts that have been getting attention are clips from her final degree piece, “Conquers”. Rautio is currently finishing her Fine Arts degree in London at Kingston School of Art.
Courtesy of Renée Rautio
Although stop-motion animation wasn’t Rautio’s initial artistic niche, she explained to me that simply drawing 2D images of the characters in her brain wasn’t enough to fully encapsulate the weight of the feeling behind them. She began to experiment with paper puppets, and then shortly after, made 3D sculptures. When I asked her about this transition, Rautio recounted her doubts before beginning, “I thought [stop-motion] was beyond my capabilities”. However, she’s always had a deep admiration for this type of puppetry, stating that some of her favorite movies growing up were The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach. Other acclaimed artists who have dabbled in the genre have also motivated her, like Wes Anderson, Nathalie Djurberg, and Michèle Cournoyer.
Courtesy of Renée Rautio
Beyond these inspirations, Rautio also explained to me how her work is rooted in familial dynamics. She finds herself looking at old family photos for drawing references. In my time speaking with her, I became very fascinated by her effortlessly instinctual nature regarding her creative process. Small things like using family pictures and utilizing old clothing scraps for building her puppets are beautifully innovative and create an intimate foundation for these figures to evoke strong emotion. Rautio’s work courageously displays her heart on her sleeve to audiences, inviting a quiet but mighty reflection to those digesting her pieces. While learning about these perceptions of her relationships and deeper emotions regarding her coming-of-age, Rautio also learns more about her limitless abilities as an artist. Her method revolves so heavily around the complexities of her feelings that the possibilities going forward are numerous. She’s also impressed by her own perseverance, stating with a laugh, “I’m surprised by how patient I can be”. She shared with me her helpful line of thinking that isn't about day-by-day progress, but focusing on how the individual shots you take each day are what contribute to the final piece. I believe this mindset is inspiring and applicable to multiple creative processes.
Courtesy of Renée Rautio
There are some darker tones to her work, while she tackles feelings of grief and loss lingering from her adolescence. Conquers explores these feelings and how they coincided with living alongside her parents in their small London flat. The overarching themes in Rautio’s art bring me back to Coraline’s question.
Although a simple idea from the eyes of a child in a supernatural world, life behaves similarly. There are many feelings we walk away from, just to revisit them later, whether in a new light or through consuming or creating art in a different era of our lives.
Rautio’s Conquers, also featuring original music by her father, will be out near the end of May.
