Charmaine Spencer

  • Abandon, nests Wood veneer and hemp thread 8 x 6 x 3 ft
  • Revival, stand and natural wood lath and rope 18 x 26 x 12 ft
  • Generation Synthetic hair, electrical conduit 7 x 11 x 4 ft
  • Crates in a Barrel Fruit crates 7 x 6 x 4 ft
  • Adrift,driftwood, paper and wool thread 8 x 9 x 5 ft
  • New Urban Habitat, stainless steel, lath, grass, compost and wool thread 6 x 18 x 6 ft
  • Of Fire, newspaper pulp, steel nails 32 x 18 x16 in
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I left my hometown of Ann Arbor, Michigan to attend the Cleveland Institute of Art, where I presented my BFA exhibition in 2005. While there, I was recipient of the William McVey Award for Excellence in Sculpture and was one of two students selected to finish posthumously, the last sculpture of David E. Davis, the founder of the Sculpture
Center.

In February 2011, I presented my work at PechaKucha Night Cleveland and was guest speaker for the Cleveland Institute of Art’s next program. I am the recipient of a 2010 Ingenuity Project Award, the 2009 Creative Workforce Fellowship, and The Sculpture Center 2008 Emerging Artist Award. My first solo exhibition (Rising Bound) was with Groop Gallery in 2004. My work has been exhibited at Cleveland State University Gallery, Spaces, the Gallery at Lakeland, the Cleveland Public Theatre, and the Maltz Museum. In addition, I participated in ‘The Painted Village’ a rally and exhibition on the National Mall in Washington DC in solidarity of the Refugees of Darfur, Sudan

As a Cleveland artist and community advocate, my artistic career has evolved by balancing aesthetic sensibilities while confronting social and environmental issues.
The main influences in my work are my personal heritage, the social conditioning in contemporary culture and environmental issues. Exploring how an individual adapts to social, economic and environmental change is the consistent conceptual theme of my work. The works fiscal composition represents the struggles and growth in the reinvention of self and place.

Favoring readily accessible utilitarian materials, made available by consumer-discarders. Disassembled and reformed accumulation of driftwood, lath, hair, electrical conduit, paper, dirt and steel creates bold sculptural works that are green in the making and greener in the message.

  • Artist Info

    • Cleveland, OH
      US - Midwest

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