Rennie Jones is an artist, architect, and environmentalist based in New York City. Rennie’s sculptural ceramics explore the tension between self-identification and the external appearance of the body. Their work centers queer pleasure to challenge conventional relationships between gender and anatomy. Rennie was an artist-in-residence at Watershed Ceramic Arts Center, Pocoapoco, and Cité Internationale des Arts. They taught design courses at the City College of New York and New York Institute of Technology and were an assistant instructor at Yale University, Princeton University, and the Fontainebleau School of Fine Arts.
Rennie spent nearly ten years as an architect and urban designer working in climate adaptation and resilience, where they helped communities analyze the risks of flooding and extreme heat and develop plans to mitigate those risks. As part of this work, they designed nature-based solutions with Coast Salish First Nations in Vancouver, developed flood mitigation plans with cities in Indonesia, and strategized with community leaders in Houston to strengthen neighborhood resilience.
Rennie holds an M.Arch from Princeton University and is currently pursuing a Master of Environmental Management at Yale School of the Environment, where they are focusing on international climate policy and climate displacement. In the future, they hope to help establish effective carbon pricing and direct capital toward climate action.
