Charla Steele’s collage work was inspired by her daughter, MacKenzie (Kenzie) and her barnyard nursery theme. Using the various magazine collections in her home, Charla was able to capitalize on the rich color, text and uniqueness of magazine pages as well as benefit her personal recycling effort. The original simplicity began to evolve, mature, and incorporate a variety of subjects such as frogs, flowers, ballet, beach, coffee, wine and the occassional portrait.
Each collage is crafted by carefully selecting magazine pages with extraordinary color, depth and texture. The papers are cut into “mosaic-like” shapes or run through a paper shredder, layered onto a substrate then wrapped onto the edges. Once the image is complete, a gloss coating is applied to enhance the vibrancy of the image and “bring it to life”. The charm of Charla’s work lies within her ability to capture common subject matter and give it a jovial yet sophisticated personality by redefining the original intention of her medium.
Today, Charla’s work continues to address the importance of adding sheer pleasure to the complicated, busy lifestyle. Putting it simply - she creates work to make people smile. Influenced by her interior design background and dealing with spatial elements, Charla is driven to take her medium three dimensionally. She has begun to “sculpt” with her magazine pages resulting in very vibrant and textural wall art as she progressess toward fine art sculplture.
Original works and commissioned pieces are available. Please contact Charla Steele at 615.428.1408 or [email protected] for more information.
Each collage is crafted by carefully selecting magazine pages with extraordinary color, depth and texture. The papers are cut into “mosaic-like” shapes or run through a paper shredder, layered onto a substrate then wrapped onto the edges. Once the image is complete, a gloss coating is applied to enhance the vibrancy of the image and “bring it to life”. The charm of Charla’s work lies within her ability to capture common subject matter and give it a jovial yet sophisticated personality by redefining the original intention of her medium.
Today, Charla’s work continues to address the importance of adding sheer pleasure to the complicated, busy lifestyle. Putting it simply - she creates work to make people smile. Influenced by her interior design background and dealing with spatial elements, Charla is driven to take her medium three dimensionally. She has begun to “sculpt” with her magazine pages resulting in very vibrant and textural wall art as she progressess toward fine art sculplture.
Original works and commissioned pieces are available. Please contact Charla Steele at 615.428.1408 or [email protected] for more information.
Cola
"Coca-Cola. Enjoy Life." (1923 slogan for Coca-Cola)
"Cola" was lovingly created from vintage magazines. The concept behind "Cola" - everything gets better with age. Vintage LIFE magazines and a few other vintage magazine pages have brought Cola to life; just as a new adoption would bring life to the adopter and adoptee. The bold red images draw attention to him as well as show he is full of heart and has a lot of life to live. Using the Coca-Cola slogan as the tag line is just another way to bring the spirit of happiness and old age. "I'm an oldie, but still a goodie!"
"Cola" was lovingly created from vintage magazines. The concept behind "Cola" - everything gets better with age. Vintage LIFE magazines and a few other vintage magazine pages have brought Cola to life; just as a new adoption would bring life to the adopter and adoptee. The bold red images draw attention to him as well as show he is full of heart and has a lot of life to live. Using the Coca-Cola slogan as the tag line is just another way to bring the spirit of happiness and old age. "I'm an oldie, but still a goodie!"
Searching for My Angel
2014 Statue (available)
"Searching for My Angel" is crafted from shredded, recycled magazines. The pages and theme were selected to reflect a dog's point of view..."We come in all shapes, sizes and colors; however, we are all looking for our angels." Senior dogs offer wisdom and class, therefore, colors of royalty, gold and purple, were chosen for the wings and googles. Including eye wear is a tribute to my three-dimesional ladies, which all wear fashionable sunglasses. (Pearl is an example of one of my ladies in my wall art style).
