Today we’d like to introduce you to Renee Turner.
Hi Renee, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I’ve been an artist for as long as I can remember. I grew up just outside Detroit, Michigan, and began with black-and-white photography before exploring painting, collage, clay, stained glass, wood carving, glasswork, jewelry, and eventually sculpture. I’ve never felt particularly attached to one medium. I tend to follow an idea, an experience, or an inspiration and then find the material or form that allows me to express it.
In my early twenties, I moved to Colorado for an art apprenticeship, and from there my path became a combination of art, travel, exploration, and consciousness work. I traveled to Australia, lived in several parts of the country, and eventually spent time in intentional community on the Big Island of Hawai‘i. There I continued my artistic apprenticeships while also diving deeply into meditation, consciousness studies, and facilitating a visionary art and music festival. Those experiences really expanded my understanding of art as something that can be lived and experienced, not just something that hangs on a wall.
Eventually, I found my way back to large-scale sculpture and welding. About fifteen years after my earlier time in Colorado, I was living in Eugene, Oregon, when I was introduced to sculptor Jud Turner. I was interested in learning more about large-scale sculpture and asked if he would be open to an apprenticeship. We met, hit it off, and I began working alongside him. We eventually married, and I’ve continued learning from his decades of professional experience while developing my own sculptural practice and working with him on public art.
Along the way, my exploration of consciousness continued to grow. I studied meditation and Kundalini yoga, trained as a doula through my study of conscious birth work, became certified in Limbic Imprint Recoding, and eventually became certified in Holographic Sound Healing. Sound and hypnosis became natural extensions of my artistic practice.
Today, I think of myself as an artist first, but my materials have expanded. I work with welded steel and found objects, but I also work with sound, vibration, ritual, atmosphere, hypnosis, and consciousness. I create sculptures, sound journeys, gong experiences, and immersive environments.
The common thread through all of it is very simple: I want to create more beauty in the world. I believe beauty has the power to inspire, awaken something within us, and remind us of the deeper mystery of being alive.
I create because I have to. It’s simply part of who I am.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Definitely not. It has been a winding road, with a lot of uncertainty, reinvention, and periods of wondering whether I was on the “right” path.
I’ve moved many times, changed mediums, apprenticed with different artists, started businesses, explored different communities, and followed a lot of intuitive nudges without always knowing where they were leading. There were times when I felt very clear and inspired, and other times when I felt completely lost or disconnected from my creativity.
One of the biggest challenges has been learning to trust that the different pieces of my life actually belong together. For a long time, art, sound, consciousness work, spirituality, and all of the different things I was exploring could look like separate paths. Over time, I realized they weren’t separate at all. Art is the thread underneath everything.
My own sobriety was also a profound turning point. It gave me a grounded ability to function, follow through, and actually bring the ideas and visions I had into the world. Daily meditation has been another anchor that has helped me stay connected to myself through all the changes.
There have also been the ordinary struggles of being an artist: uncertainty, financial pressure, figuring out how to sustain a creative life, putting work into the world without knowing how it will be received, and learning not to measure the value of what I create by external recognition.
I think the biggest lesson has been that the path doesn’t have to look linear to be meaningful. Looking back, I can see that all of those seemingly different experiences were giving me another piece of the vocabulary I now use in my work.
So no, it hasn’t been a smooth road. But I don’t think I would want it to have been. The twists, experiments, failures, changes, and unexpected turns have all become part of the art.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
My work is really about creating experiences that move people beyond the surface of everyday life.
I’m primarily an artist, working largely in welded steel and found objects, with a particular love for transforming discarded industrial materials into sculpture. I also create sound experiences and giant gong baths, and I work with hypnosis and consciousness practices. What connects all of these things for me is the creation of beauty, atmosphere, emotion, and transformation.
I think of myself as an Artist, Minister of Sound & Consciousness Facilitator. Sound is one of my favorite materials to work with—not just as something we hear, but as vibration and frequency that can influence our experience. When I create a sound experience, I’m not simply playing instruments. I’m creating an entire environment, incorporating music, lighting, scent, ritual, hypnosis, symbolism, and intention.
What sets my work apart is that I approach the whole experience as art. I believe my life is art, and that an environment, a ritual, a sound journey, or an encounter with a sculpture can all be artistic experiences. I’m interested in awakening the senses and creating something that feels emotionally authentic rather than superficial.
I’m also deeply interested in transformation. Whether I’m taking a piece of discarded metal and turning it into sculpture, using sound to create a different state of awareness, or using hypnosis to explore deeply held beliefs, I’m working with the same underlying idea: something can become something else.
I’m especially proud of Oblivion Gallery, the gallery Jud and I created together in Eugene. It gives us a place to show our own work, host events, and share the work of other local artists with the community. I love that we’ve created our own little ecosystem for art rather than waiting for someone else to give us permission to participate.
Ultimately, I think what sets me apart is that I don’t see these as separate careers. They are all expressions of the same creative impulse. I create because I have to, and I want to use that creativity to bring more beauty into the world. I believe beauty has the power to inspire people, awaken something in them, and open the door to a deeper experience of being alive.
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
My best advice is to genuinely care about the people and the work you’re approaching. I’ve never been particularly good at networking in the traditional sense of trying to meet the “right” people or figuring out what someone can do for me. What has worked for me is following genuine curiosity and looking for people whose work I deeply respect. That has ALWAYS put the right people in my path.
Early in my life, I sought out apprenticeships because I wanted to learn by being around people who were doing what I wanted to do. I was willing to start at the bottom, ask questions, work hard, and actually participate rather than just asking someone to give me advice.
That’s how I eventually met Jud Turner. I was interested in learning large-scale sculpture and welding, discovered that he was doing that work in Eugene, and simply reached out to see if he would be open to an apprenticeship. That relationship completely changed the trajectory of my artistic life.
I think a good mentor relationship is about mutual respect and genuine connection. Don’t approach someone because you think they can advance your career. Approach them because there is something about their work, their way of thinking, or the way they live that you genuinely want to learn from.
And I think it’s important to remember that mentorship doesn’t always have to be formal. I’ve learned from artists, craftspeople, communities, teachers, spiritual traditions, friends, and simply from being willing to immerse myself in experiences.
My other advice is: show up. Be curious. Be useful. Follow through. Make things. Keep making things. Let people see that you’re serious about your work. Have a strong work ethic, take that part very seriously.
The right relationships tend to develop naturally when you are genuinely engaged in what you’re doing. You don’t have to force networking when you are building a life and a body of work that you truly care about.
Pricing:
- Group Gong Bath spots $35/each
- Private Sound Bath $165/2 hours
- “Omni” $1400.
- “Rising” $850.
- “Release” $3200.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://reneemahni.com
- Instagram: Renee Mahni
- Facebook: Renee Mahni
- Youtube: theoblivionfactory
