I have won many awards with my automotive paintings, including an award in Oil Painters of America’s national juried show. Two of my paintings were also selected by the S.C. Arts Commission for the 2013 Gala Art Auction and Sale, which represents about 50 artists from S.C. Currently I have work in Les Beaux Gallery in Greenville, and Portfolio Gallery in Columbia, S.C.

Charlie enjoys the challenge of using woods with unique features such as natural holes, root balls, knots unusual grain patterns, burls and figure and tries to highlight and incorporate these features. One of his favorite techniques is to leave natural edge or holes on a piece which gives it a definite one-of-a-kind distinction.
Charlie prides himself in the exceptionally smooth texture of his finished pieces and the fact that they all have the natural color God gave them. Each piece of wood is hand selected taking full advantage of its qualities and each is finished by hand. All of the original design items are finished with a clear Danish oil to preserve the natural color and beauty of the wood and are further polished with a nontoxic carnauba wax.

Charlie has exhibited in out-of-state and in-slate galleries and in seasonal Arts and shows in a number of states. He is a member of the American Association of Woodtumers, the South Carolina Artisans, the South Carolina Upstate Visual Arts, the Greenville Metropolitan Arts Council, the Palmetto Woodturners, and the Greenville Woodworkers Guild. He occasionally teaches woodturning at local venues and for guilds.

In 2009, I joined the Anderson Arts Center in Anderson, SC, where I was part of two events they hosted: “Pet Project”, an exhibition featuring a handful of artists’ work in pet portraiture and the “34th Annual Juried Exhibition”. In October 2009, I became part of The Gallery On Trade, a new and exciting gallery / co-op in downtown Greer, SC.

But while all of this development has taken place over the past couple years, my love for “the creative” started many years before that in the rural town of Green Valley, Illinois, where I spent nearly all of my childhood years. Surrounded by acres of corn and bean fields, imagination was almost a necessity for the kids in my neighborhood! And I certainly put that imagination to work on a regular basis. I spent hours alone creating worlds, characters and experiences that existed only in my mind. Whether it was toys, music, books or movies, they all played a role in helping channel my creative side.

And really, the same still holds true today. Inspiration is all around me: fashion, nature, news, entertainment and many times, my own photography. There’s been a camera in my hands since a very young age and I always loved subjecting my family and friends to photo “shoots”. My experience in photography has certainly helped me develop an eye for portraiture, which is a large part of the work I do today. Often times I’ll take photos for/of a client that I then turn into a finished drawn portrait. And because I was always pulled towards black & white photography more than anything else, the transition into the charcoal artwork and portraiture I do today felt very natural.

It was said that, “ … the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams … ”. As I look forward to that future and continue to pursue my own dreams, my goal is to produce work that’s exciting, interesting and unique to me. This is only the beginning and I hope to have many years ahead that allow me to continue to nurture and explore this side of life. And along the way, I hope to take you with me to those places that only our imaginations can go!

Thoughts on Photography:

Photography is many things to many people, but at its roots it is the fusion of vision, light, and technology that makes it possible. It is as much exclusive as it is inclusive and thereby focuses our attention on the subject at hand–in isolation from time and in isolation from its surroundings. The world is our subject, but the art is in what we connect with, how we capture it, and how we frame it to give it both a balance and wholeness that others can see. But capturing an image is really only the beginning whether it is on film or with digits. It is a starting point because people and cameras do not “see” in the same way. Thus further image refinement of the appropriate form is often necessary in an attempt to recreate the subjective side of how we see as well. While it is unlikely that two people ever see the same thing in the same way, it is my hope my work will speak to you in a meaningful way—Enjoy!