Cloverdale’s Create-it Emporium is hosting a gallery opening for a local artist who works in bold, unconventional colours and is fueled by a desire to help others unlock their own creative potential.
Charlene Wright started out as a chalkboard sign artist, designing menus for restaurants, bars and other businesses, and has logged more than two decades of creative work.
More recently she’s devoted her creative and professional efforts to her artwork: chalk pastel illustrations on wood.
She’s drawn to the medium’s intense, vivid hues, which allow her to create spectacular, whimsical landscapes, and abstract and representational still life works.
An ongoing showcase of her artwork will be on display this fall at Create-it Emporium, located at 17582 56A Avenue.
Her chalk pastel works are sealed to look and display like paintings – there’s no fear of smudges or chalk dust flying off the canvas.
She experimented with materials for preserving her work, finally coming up with a mix of her own. She completes the painting, then applies a liquid layer on top, a process that can have unanticipated, beautiful results.
The final product is a gleaming veneer that is as beautiful as it is durable.
In addition to focusing on her own creative output more intensely, Wright, a creativity coach, instructor, and artist, also recently launched her own business – offering mobile art classes and creativity coaching.
“My clients are like me, busy women who want time to explore and unlock their creativity as a way to de-stress, or simply as a fun way to hang out with their girlfriends,” says Wright, a resident of Cloverdale.
As artist-in-residence at Create-it Emporium, an arts and crafts studio that specializes in paint-your-own pottery and more, Wright teaches a popular class called Paint Like a Master.
In a few hours, she promises to show even artistic newbies how to create their very own masterpiece in acrylic – whether it’s a Tom Tompson, Van Gogh, Monet or Lawren Harris.
Her goal is to make art accessible, creative, convenient and fun – empowering others in the process.
In launching the showcase of Wright’s work, Create-it Emporium is carving itself a berth in Cloverdale’s artistic scene.
The gallery opening is Thursday, Sept. 26 from 7 to 9 p.m. For more details, please call 604-574-4044.
– For more, visit artdonewright.com
