Renée Ortiz (b. 1963, California) received her M.F.A. in Painting at Savannah College of Art and Design, in 2021. She studied at Otis/Parsons and ArtCenter College of Design, Pasadena, and received her BA at Loyola Marymount University in 1986, after which she went on to work in The White House. Ms. Ortiz teaches Painting for Saddleback College and is a Resident Artist for Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Orange County, CA. She has exhibited her work in solo and group exhibitions throughout the West Coast. As a painter she is interested in developing spaces for open dialogue through contemporary art making. Currently, Renée Ortiz is working with marginalized women in society creating an arts based platform to give them voice, as well as on a book project presenting conceptual art practices. Most recently, she founded SHE/THEY, a non-profit art gallery and community center.