Charma Le Edmonds

As a native Choctaw, storytelling is a part of my heritage. Like the Surrealists, I rely on automatic drawing for the basis of my imagery, and these drawings form a layered story within the paintings. I feel this intuitive process creates a psychological depth using veils of layered colors and pattern contrasted with solid blocks of color and intricate detail, mirroring the overlays of experience in our day-to-day lives.

I have always used drawing journals as a source for my work. I select the drawings that speak to me the most and start painting. Working in a smaller format allows for an immediate dialogue with the paintings. Some pieces evolve quickly and stay close to the original image and others become unrecognizable and morph into something completely different, depending on what is happening in my world and the world around me. I tend to work on multiple pieces that date back to my first Tablet paintings.

Each painting has it’s own story but I have chosen not to title the work and instead date the start and end of each piece. The spiritual essence or impact of each painting can then continue to evolve as the viewer brings their own life experiences to the work.

These current paintings are part of a series I began in 2016 following a hiatus spent managing my own decorative painting business. This new work reflects an increased sophistication of palette, surface and imagery, partially honed by the range of aesthetic challenges and experiences during that period. All of the pieces in this series are 16” x 20” oil on linen panel.

ONE PERSON EXHIBITIONS

1998     “Paintings,” Hemphill Fine Arts, Washington, DC

1996    “Paintings,” Hemphill Fine Arts, Washington, DC

1993     “New Works On Paper,” Washington Project for the Arts

1992     “New Paintings,” The Tartt Gallery, Washington, DC

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2020     Laurel Art Guild 51^st Open, First Place, Montpelier Arts Center, MD, Juror Abigail McBride

1996     “Healing Legacies:  Art and writing by women who have faced breast cancer,” Robert Hull Fleming Museum, Burlington, VT

1995     “Anti-Gravity, School 33 Art Center, Baltimore, MD

1995     Annual Juried Exhibition, The Howard County Arts Center, MD, Juror Phyllis Rosenszweig, curator, Hirshorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

1995     Annual Juried Exhibition, The Arlington Arts Center, VA, Juror David A. Ross, Director, Whitney Museum of Art NYC

1994     American Psychiatric Association, Annual Meeting, Psychiatry & The Arts, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, catalogue

1993     “A Meeting of Hands,” An Exhibition presented by Baltimore Clayworks and Maryland Art Place, Baltimore, MD

1993     “Healing Legacies, A Collection of Art and Writing by Women with Breast Cancer,” United States House of Representatives, Cannon Building Rotunda, Washington, DC

1993     “Group Show,” Kristin Johnson Gallery, Washington, DC

1991     “Outside Boston,” The Clark Gallery, Boston Massachusetts

1991     “Meaning nn*,” Rockville Arts Place, Rockville, MD

1991     “Enigmatic Expressions,” Maryland Art Place, Baltimore, MD

1990     “Iconic Visions,” The Tartt Gallery, Washington, DC

1987     “New Talent,” The Tartt Gallery, Washington, DC

1985     “The Washington Show,” The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

1984     “Options ‘84’,” Washington Project for the Arts, Washington, DC

1984     “Fifth Annual Art Auction,” Washington Project for the arts, Washington, DC

1984     “100” Artist’s Books,” Printed Matter, New York, New York

1984     “Group Exhibition,” ACE Exhibits, Washington, DC

1983    “Project for the Ritz,” The Ritz Hotel, Washington, DC

1982     “Group Show,” The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

1981     “Post-Lateralism,” Jack Rasmussen Gallery, Washington, DC

1976     “Non-Silver Show,” Allen Street Gallery, Dallas, Texas

ART BOOKS

1985      Stifled, signed one-of-a-kind book

1984      Breaking Point, signed edition of fifty

1984      A Vocabulary, edition of three hundred printed at The Writers Center, Glen Echo, MD

AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS

1994          Ethel Bernstein Award in Painting, Corcoran Scholl of Art Alumni

1994          Yaddo, Alma B.C. Shapiro Residency for a female Painter

1991          Individual Artist Fellowship, Maryland State Arts Council

1980-82    The Corcoran School of Art Scholarship

1976-81    Ford Foundation Grant Recipient

1975          Shisedo Scholarship, Shisedo Cosmetic Company, Japan

EDUCATION

1986        BFA Corcoran School of Art, Washington, DC

1973-75    The University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas

PUBLICATIONS

1995         “School 33’s ‘Anti-Gravity’ defiant, uplifting,” The Baltimore Sun, by John Dorsey

1995         “Flights of Fancy, School 33’s Anti Gravity Exhibit Rises above the Mundane,” The City Paper, by Mike Giuliano

1994         “The Journey Beyond Breast Cancer,” by Virginia M. Soffa, P. 55

1993        “At WPA, Mixed Messages Upstairs, Lofty Aims; Below, Humble Profundities,” The Washington Post, by Lee Fleming, December

1993        “Fivefold Power Joins ‘Hands’ at MAP,” The Baltimore Sun, by John Dorsey, October

1992        Art Review, “New Paintings,” EyeWash, by Kymberly Martin Sevilla, May

1991        “A Summer Smorgasbord of Styles,” The Boston Globe, by Nancy Stapen, July

1991        “Lively Imagery from “Outside Boston,” Boston Sunday Herald, by Joanne Silver, July

1991        Art Review, “Meanings,” The Washington Review, by Pat Kolmer, June/July

1991        Exhibition Review, The Evening Sun, by Mike Giuliano, February

1991        Exhibition Review, The Baltimore Sun, by John Dorsey, January

1990     “Iconic Visions,” The City Paper, by Alice Thorsen, January

1990     “Iconic Visions at Tartt,” The Washington Post, by Mary McCoy, December

1990     “Art Turns to Body Microscopic Realms,” The Washington Times, by Eric Gibson, December

1989     “Spotlight, Intimate Details,” Museum and Arts Magazine, by Lee Fleming, December/January

1986     WPA Ten Year Catalogue

1985     “Options ’84,” The New Art Examiner, by Kristen Ross, February

1984     “Options ’84,” The Washington Post, by Martha Wright, December

1984     “Emerging Artists,” The Washington Magazine, by Lee Fleming, November

1984     “Continuous Text/Visual Autobiography,” The Washington Review, by Doug Lang, October

1984     “The ACE of Arts,” The Washington, Post, by Benjamin Forgey, March

1983       “Putting on the Ritz Artistically,” The Washington Times, by Jane Addams Allen and Arthur Eves, March

PERFORMANCE

Mary-Averette Seeyle with The Kinesis Collaborative, “Radishes and Flowers: A Wallace Stevens Feast” Stage set by Charma Le Edmonds

Charma Le Edmonds
Voice: 301-437-2287
ce@shelterstudios.com