Artwork by Charla Steele

The inspiration for Charla Steele’s collage artwork came from a small package, her newborn daughter, MacKenzie (Kenzie). Looking at the blank walls of the future nursery and unable to find the perfect art, she became inspired to create her own pieces. Using the abundant number of magazines collected about the house, Charla began to cut, glue and layer her collage pieces together. Her initial works complimented Kenzie’s barnyard nursery theme and included a barn, duck, pig, cow, goat, sunflower and windmill. Building upon that work, her collages have expanded to include a variety of frogs, flowers, ballet, beach, coffee and wine images, as well as portraits to name a few.

Born in Ohio, Charla moved to Tennessee in 1989 to study Interior Design at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She has been practicing interior design for more than 15 years. Although design has been her profession, creative expression has been her passion.

Charla is an “Artist of Pieces”, from line charcoal drawings, to pointillism, to construction paper collage, to stained glass and now to magazine collages. By recycling magazines, each collage is crafted by carefully selecting magazine pages to provide extraordinary color, depth and texture. The papers are cut into “mosaic-like” shapes, heavily layered onto a substrate and then wrapped onto the edges. Once the image is complete, a thick resin coating is applied to enhance the vibrancy of the image and “bring it to life”. Charla’s specialty is her ability to capture common subject matter, then give it personality.

Original works, open edition matted or resin coated prints and commissioned pieces are available. Please contact Charla Steele at 615.428.1408 or contact us for more information.