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 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."
lovers leap portrait.jpg

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

​charlotteshristi@gmail.com

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