about charlotte
"For me, painting is a way to process the world. It’s healing, play, prayer and storytelling. Sometimes I know the story I want to tell, but often the story chooses me, revealing itself in the creative process."
Charlotte grew up roaming a hundred-acre wood in rural Iowa. She attended Goshen College, Indiana, receiving a B.A. in fine art and a B.A. in psychology in 2000. She has also studied fine art at the University of Maryland and Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina as well as Expressive Arts Therapy graduate coursework at the College of Education of Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina. She's received additional training at Eastern Mennonite University's Summer Peacebuilding Institute and it's Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience in Virginia.
Outside of her studio work, painting and exhibiting encaustic, acrylic and mixed media work, she’s taught elementary and private art classes and worked as director of a non-profit community art organization.
She has also used art-making as a healing process in different settings, including with people dealing with homelessness in Washington D.C. and with survivors of war and other trauma in Colombia and Nepal, where she worked in the peace-building field for a number of years.
Currently she combines art-making and nature-connection practices in retreats and workshops in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, where she lives with her husband and two children.
Encaustic Painting Summer Session
Penland School of Crafts, North Carolina, 2007
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Bachelor of Arts in Fine Art
Goshen College, Indiana
1996-2000
Fine Art and Art History Courses
University of Maryland, Maryland
1998-99
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8x8
Oasis Fine Art and Craft, Harrisonburg, VA, 2023
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Visions of a Sustainable Valley
Oasis Fine Art and Craft, Harrisonburg, VA, 2020
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The Elephant in the Room [solo]
Community Mennonite Church/Arts Council of the Valley, Harrisonburg, VA, 2020
Song for the Rising [solo]
Pure Eats/Arts Council of the Valley, Harrisonburg, VA, 2016
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6x6x30
Spitzer Art Center, 2014
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Chaos to Calm [solo]
The Yellow Button/Arts Council of the Valley,
Harrisonburg, VA, 2013
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Members Group Exhibition
Spitzer Art Center, Harrisonburg, VA, 2012
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Recent Works [solo]
Spitzer Art Center, Harrisonburg, VA, 2012
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Dust to Dust Series
Song for the Rising Series
Works On Loan
Elkland Art Center, Todd, NC, 2008-2012
Exuberance Feminine
Works On Loan
Mountain Laurel Clinic, Boone, NC, 2007-2012
Song for the Rising [solo]
Todd Mercantile Gallery/Elkland Art Center, Todd, NC, 2010
Dust to Dust [solo]
Todd Mercantile Gallery/Elkland Art Center, Todd, NC, 2009
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Song for the Rising [solo]
Open Door Gallery, Boone, NC, 2008
Dust to Dust [solo]
BeansTalk, Boone NC, 2008
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Juried Exhibition
Nth Street Gallery, Boone, NC, 2008
Glow
Regular pop-up exhibitions, Boone, NC, 2007-2008
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Salvaged Stories [solo]
International Expressive Arts Therapy Conference, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC, 2007
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Senior Exhibition
Goshen College Art Gallery, Goshen, IN, 2000
Mediums
Mixed Media
Encaustic
Acrylic
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Location &
Email
Harrisonburg, Virginia