Let’s Talk Art!

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2014It’s 2014, a new year and I’m still working fervently on my personal ambitions, long after the resolution keeping should be fading.  I’m determined.  So that’s made me take a good look at this website and I have decided to make some changes.  One is bringing the blog front and center once again.  I’m also in the process of getting my workshops scheduled and the pages that talk about them dialed in.  No small task I confess!  This is the tip of the iceberg.  For now…

THIS WEBSITE IS ABOUT ART, IT’S ABOUT PEOPLE, IT’S ABOUT LIFE, LOVE, ARTISTRY AND COMMUNITY.  IT’S ABOUT WHO WE ARE, WHAT WE DO AND WHAT WE BRING.  NO MATTER WHAT WE DO OR HOW WE DO IT WE LEAVE SOMETHING OF OURSELVES BEHIND, THAT’S OUR LEGACY.  IT’S ABOUT CREATING AND THINKING AND IMAGINING AND INSPIRING AND EXPRESSING.

I remember the first time I thought about art.  I mean REALLY even considered art.  I may have been about seven years old.  I was drawing grapes and coloring them with crayons.  My mother came to see what I was doing and got very excited.  My grapes weren’t just purple she exclaimed.  They were purple and blue and all the possible shades between.  I had expressed their color in a hyper reality and was coloring them with all their true beauty, all their amazing colors represented in varying shades of blues and purples.  By the way she got so excited I knew I had done something good.  That was my awakening to the love affair with art I would continue to enjoy from that day forward.

grapes

There have been many ways I’ve enjoyed art.  From drawing and painting to pen and ink and batik.  Fashion design, quilting, fabric design, silk painting, metal sculpture, wood sculpture, jewelry making including the lost wax process and glass bead making.  I’ve made clothes, pillows, scarves, greeting cards, clocks, wall art in the realm of photography, conceptual art, watercolor and all sizes possible.  I’ve written songs, melody and lyrics, written articles, poetry and haiku.  I can’t even remember what all else because it just never seems to stop.  I’m a constant doodler and I even capture everything imaginable– texture or event– with my phone as so many in our culture do now.

I think we are all artists.  I’m always shocked when someone tells me they’re not artistic when I can so clearly see artistry in all things, everywhere!  Just dig in to them a bit and all manner of artistry tumbles forth.  and that smile is such a beautiful thing to see when they realize yes, they are indeed an artist.   Being good in business is the most fascinating kind of art. Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art.  Andy Warhol   Andy Warhol got it right.  andy-warhol-with-soup-can-painting

Warhol’s quote is good but certainly not the story I was actually getting to.  He made the Campbell Soup Can iconic because he saw art in it.  As I interpret this I see how artistry is everywhere.  There is art in the design of a light bulb, design in the ball point pen, a t-shirt, a napkin holder, there is artistry in window blinds and architecture.  There is as much design and artistry in a iron skillet as there is in the most beautiful Faberge eggScreen Shot 2014-02-05 at 4.49.36 PM.

So that’s the new premise of my life.  Art is everywhere, we are all artists and we are all beautiful beyond measure.

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About charr

Charr Crail is a Northern California photographer and artist with an avid passion for creating unique digital imagery. Charr, a full-time freelance photographer, spans the divide between photojournalism and extraordinary art via photography and can trace back her evolution as an photographer/artist from three dominant sources. Her father made his living as a newspaper photographer and as soon as he could, was taking young Charr, then four, on assignments to capture a lifetime of experiences and images. He instilled a sense of adventure and curiosity in her as they would often meander down unknown country roads of the South – just to see and capture what was out there. Soon after, Charr would develop her eye for photography and journalism as “the river that runs through everything she does”. Charr’s mother blessed her daughter with the ability to appreciate art in its various mediums. Further, her mother was able to pass along the joy, satisfaction and excitement one can experience in actively creating something beautiful. It’s no surprise, then, that Charr would become a photojournalist and later a photo editor spanning two decades working for Northern California publications including The Sacramento Bee. Often, her assignments would include community events with a “close to home” theme woven into every image and story she captured. Her photojournalistic experience has therefore been nuanced through everything she produces. She’s also drawn to the wonder of color and the beauty that can be found in the composure of a face and the make-up of the human bodyscape. Charr has won countless awards for masterful pieces including; the Professional Photographers of America LOAN Collection for two consecutive years, WPPI Grand Award and her work has been featured in the Di Rosa Museum in California’s beautiful Napa Wine Region and is also part of the permanent collection. Separately, she instructs digital photography workshops that teach students how to blow out the creativity of their photography in simple methods using programs like Adobe Photoshop and how to market using mobile devices-- Visual Content Creation using Mobile Devices.. Charr lives in Sacramento with her husband Chris and kitties Leeloo and Sadie.

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