One of the things we love most at the gallery is getting to know the people behind the art—what inspires them, how they developed their unique voices, and the techniques they employ to express their creative visions. That’s why we were so thrilled to recently visit the Nashville studio of Charlotte Terrell, one of our featured artists for the upcoming Fall Showcase. She graciously walked us through the processes behind her masterful paintings and shared about the heart behind her work.
Artist statement:
Charlotte Terrell's artwork is a product of her deep cultural roots and interests developed growing up in Mississippi. She has extensive experience with landscapes—from her academic work in landscape architecture to traveling and researching 19th-century European country landscapes, Terrell found her niche very early on. This led her to New York City, where she assisted with the city's historic parks and landscape revitalization, including Central Park. It was also here that she first honed her practice for decorative painting under the tutelage of masters of Old World techniques.
Her painting style layers polished plaster, oil paints, and glazes on solid birch panels. Century-old decorative painting techniques have naturally translated into fine art that expresses her deep connection to landscapes as a subject matter. When describing her art, Terrell says, "These idealized landscapes are fictional places intended to be universally familiar to the viewer, a present moment in time. I love the tactile nature of working in plaster, the labor of polishing it smooth, the pooling of the juicy paints, and pouring glossy translucent glazes over the surface."
Whether on her recognizable birchwood panels or her custom wall coverings, all of Charlotte’s pieces are united in their grace and identifiable as products of her one-of-a-kind process.
