STATEMENT
My paintings show human engagements with poetic environments because I am drawn to “the place where” frictions between ideas, people, and their environments, overlap. Using spirited color, I push and pull the environment around a person with gestural brushwork, while I - attracted to the human form like a magnet - find myself tightening the description of the terrain of the human body. Having been trained in an academic form sense - and also inspired by the Romantic, Vienna Secession, German Expressionism, and Nabi art historical movements - I combine divergent painting techniques: the drawing in my acrylic and oil paintings is both structured and emotive in the same composition. I use multiple layers of painted “description” which build on themselves to embody a tension of representational forms that are both “tightly woven” and “unraveled” throughout the image. These components – brushwork, figure, environment, ideas – crescendo on the canvas toward what I see as optical vibration at the edges of things. This combination of disparate form senses culminates in what I think of as a “discussion” of my interpretation of the concepts which inspired the painting’s subject.
BioGRAPHY
Charis J. Carmichael Braun grew up in New Ulm, MN. After a year as an exchange student in Switzerland, she earned her BA from Bethany Lutheran College and her MFA from the New York Academy of Art. In 2020, she received a grant from the Huntington Arts Council to paint portraits of beekeepers on Long Island. Her work received a Juror’s Mention in Arborescent (Cutchogue, NY), as well as an Honorable Mention in Contemporary Realism (Smithtown, NY). She was chosen as a Sing For Hope Piano Artist (2016); and received a Juror's Award for her work in Representational Art in the 21st Century (Hilo, HI, 2015). She has been published in PoetsArtists, The Huffington Post, LINEA: The Artist's Voice and Artists on Art.
As an arts administrator she has managed two galleries in New York City; worked for the New York Academy of Art (New York, NY), the international residency program (“The League Residency at Vyt”) of The Art Students League of New York (Sparkill, NY), and is Visual Communications Manager at the Edward Hopper House Museum & Study Center (Nyack, NY). She has also served as a founding member of Spark and Echo Arts, and as President of the Alumni Association of the New York Academy of Art. Charis also teaches Art History at Bethany Lutheran College, MN, and Farmingdale State College, NY.
With her woodworker husband, Charis currently works and lives on Long Island, New York.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2023 - 2024
Periphera, Gallery Lucida, Red Hook, NJ
Blooms, New York Academy of Art (Tribeca Ball), curated by Heidi Elbers
What Was She Made For? IAC Gallery, Bay Shore, NY; curated by Islip Arts Council Curatorial Team
Face to Face, Huntington Arts Council, Huntington NY; curated by Jeremy Dennis
Illustrator for “Mysteries of Christmas, published by Martin Luther College, New Ulm, MN
Juror for New England Landscape, Lyme Art Association, Old Lyme, CT
Contours of Nature: An Exhibition of Landscape Art, Abend Gallery, Denver, CO
Exhibition Designer for Edward Hopper’s Boyhood on the Hudson River & Emerging Artistic Identity, Edward Hopper Museum & Study Center, Nyack NY
2020 - 2022
The Male Nude: Turning the Gaze, Equity Gallery, New York, NY; curated by Michael Gormley and Peter Trippi
It Begins With a Bee: Pop-Up Exhibition, Museum of Contemporary Arts Long Island, Patchogue, NY; curated by John Cino
Recumbent: The Art of Lying, Equity Gallery, New York, NY; curated by Sharon Butler, Judy Glantzman, Daniel Maidman
Resurgence, Mills Pond Gallery, Smithtown NY; curated by J. Thomas Legaspi
The Washhouse, One Year Later, Equity Gallery, New York, NY; curated by Melanie Vote
Thirty Seven, Edward Hopper House Museum & Study Center, Nyack NY; juried by Kathryn Markel
Contemporary Realism, Mills Pond Gallery, Smithtown NY; juried by Max Ginsburg - Honorable Mention
30th Annual Holiday Miniatures Show, Abend Gallery, Denver, CO
Arborescent, Alex Ferrone Gallery, Cutchogue, NY; juried by Lillian Ball - Juror’s Mention
Inspired ApART, InspiredApArt.com; curated by Katie Koenig
Terra Incognita, The QNS Collective
Artists Off Grid, Abend Gallery, Denver, CO; curated by Caitlin Hurd
New York Academy of Art, New York, NY; a benefit for Christophe Nayel
2017-2019
The Canvas Project, Brooklyn Art Library, Brooklyn, NY
In Perspective, New York Academy of Art, New York, NY; a benefit for Mr. Patrick Connors
Patron of the Arts Invitational, Union Arts Center, Sparkill, NY; curated by Elena McCabe
Reformation Reformed, Concordia University, St. Paul MN; curated by Keith J. Williams
Reformation 2017, Bethany Lutheran College, Mankato MN; curated by William Bukowski
Single Fare 4, Highline Stages, New York, NY
Guilty Pleasures, Bell-ans Center of Creative Arts, Orangeburg, NY; curated by Lynn Stein
Palette, Abend Gallery Fine Art, Denver, CO
Art with Emotion: Faces and Figures, Mainstream Commons, Nyack, NY: curated by Elaine Schloss
No Net Ensnares Me, The Rockport Center for the Arts, Rockport, TX; curated by Lauren Amalia Redding
The Figure Contemporary, A National Exhibit, Santa Cruz Art League, CA; juried by Noah Buchanan
Nasty Women, RI, Hera Gallery, Wakefield, RI
2016
Point of Origin, The Lodge Gallery, New York, NY; curated by Dina Brodsky & Trek Lexington
Picturing The Unprintable, Flux Gallery, Long Island City, NY
1st Annual Portrait Show, Jo Hay Open Studio, Provincetown, MA
Small Matters of Great Importance: PAPER+ART, Edward Hopper House Art Center, Nyack, NY; curated by Michelle Donnelly, Curatorial Fellow at the Whitney
"Nude in Nature" Artist Salon, Piermont Straus Gallery, Piermont, NY
Earth Impermanence, Union Arts Center, Sparkill, NY
CURATOR for Summer Exhibition, Elizabeth V. Sullivan Gallery, The League Residency at Vyt, Orangeburg NY
Christine Carmichael: A Life by Design, The Grand Center for Arts and Culture: 4 Pillars Gallery, New Ulm, MN
A Conversation with Nature, Sean Scully Studio, Palisades NY
Sing for Hope Piano Artist, New York NY
Employees Exhibition, Art Students League, New York NY
2015
The Art of Portraiture Invitational, Orange Hall Gallery, SUNY Orange, Middletown NY
Art in the Park, Piermont NY
Summer Exhibition, Elizabeth V. Sullivan Gallery, The League Residency at Vyt, Orangeburg NY; curated by Naomi Campbell
Hungry Ghosts, Cake and Shake, Ottawa ON, Canada
Representational Art in the 21st Century, University of Hawaii at Hilo, Hilo HI; curated by James Lancel McElhinney
AANYAA Exhibition, Studio 7 Fine Art, Bernardsville NJ
2014
Go Figure, Black Earth Gallery, Cedar Rapids IA; juried by Sean Ulmer
Artoberfest, Garner Arts Center (GAGA), Garnerville NY
Lucid Visions, Panepinto Galleries, Jersey City NJ; curated by Diana Corvelle, Cara DeAngelis, and Tun Myaing
Human Brevity, The Collective Art Tank, Asbury Park NJ; curated by Andrea Williams, Elena Rodz, and Elizabeth Misitano (ALE Curators)
Alumni Pop-Up Exhibition, Tribeca Ball, New York Academy of Art, New York NY
Panorama, Rockland Center for the Arts, Nyack NY
WELS National Conference on Worship, Music, & the Arts, Carthage College, Kenosha WI
2011 - 2013
CURATOR for Spark and Echo Arts: LIVE, Alchemical Theatre Lab, New York, NY (co-curator with Ebitenyefa Baralaye)
The Blue Event, The Outside In Gallery, Piermont NY
Single Fare 3, RH Gallery, New York NY
Stand Together Rockland Disaster Relief Community Festival, Nyack NY
Single Fare 2: Please Swipe Again, Sloan Fine Art, New York NY
Deck the Walls – Holiday Party and Small Works Show, New York Academy of Art, New York NY
Salon Show - 7th Anniversary, Greenpoint Gallery, New York NY
Self-Portrait as a Monster Truck, vol. 2: The Reckoning, Kleio Projects, New York NY
Below Chambers, Biddy Early’s Lower Gallery Space, New York NY
2010
Remnants, Fuse Gallery, New York NY; curated by Michelle Doll and Lisa Lebofsky
Single Fare: A Show of Small Works on Used Metrocards, 224 Grand Street, Brooklyn NY
The Fellowship Mosaic, Sure Foundation Lutheran Church, Woodside, NY
Solus Christus, Martin Luther College, New Ulm MN
Draw, Museo de la Cuidad de Mexico, Mexico City, Mexico; curated by Erik Foss and Curse Mackey, Miguel Calderon
2009
Water/Bodies, Eden Rock Gallery, St. Barthelémy, French West Indies; curated by David Kratz
Ylvisaker Drawing Invitational, Bethany Lutheran College, Mankato MN
Draw, Shooting Gallery, San Francisco CA; curated by Erik Foss and Curse Mackey
2008
Art in Free Fall, Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, Red Hook NY
Summer Exhibition, New York Academy of Art; curated by Will Cotton, Matthew Flowers, Nicola Hicks, David Salle, New York NY
“Cherchez la femme!” New York Academy of Art, New York NY; co-curated by Catherine Howe
WELS National Conference on Worship, Music, and the Arts, Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter MN
Diploma Exhibition, New York Academy of Art, New York NY
TriBeCa Open Artist Studio Tour, New York NY
2005
13th Annual Prairie Lakes Regional Art Exhibition; curated by Dick Green and James Wegner, Mankato, MN
Transitions (solo exhibition), Gallery at Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, Minneapolis MN
2004
Cross View Christian Arts Festival, Edina, MN; curated by Dan Mason, Keith J. Williams
Transitions (solo exhibition), Kiesling House Garden Gallery, New Ulm MN
Self-Perception: CANU Annual Juried Exhibition; New Ulm MN
2003
Concerning the Ideal, Bethany Lutheran College, Mankato MN
Matters of the Heart: CANU Annual Juried Exhibition, New Ulm MN
Figures of Speech, Kiesling House Garden Gallery, solo exhibition, New Ulm MN
1999
Foot in the Door, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis MN
AWARDS & Residencies
Juror’s Mention, Arborescent, Alex Ferrone Gallery, Cutchogue NY, 2020
NYSCA LI Creative Individual Grant, 2020
Artists Off Grid 2018
Juror Award, Representational Art in the 21st Century, University of Hawaii at Hilo, Hilo HI; 2015
People’s Choice Award, Solus Christus, Martin Luther College, New Ulm, MN: 2010
Merit Scholarship, New York Academy of Art; 2008
First Place 2-D, Purchase, and People’s Choice Awards, 13th Annual Prairie Lakes Regional Juried Art Exhibition, Mankato MN; 2005
Honorable Mention, CrossView Christian Arts Festival, Edina MN; 2004
First Place 3-D, CANU Annual Juried Exhibition, New Ulm MN; 2004
Honorable Mention, CANU Annual Juried Exhibition, New Ulm MN; 2003
Bethany Purchase Award, Student Art Exhibition, Mankato MN; 2001
EDUCATION
2008 - M. F. A. New York Academy of Art, New York, NY
2005 - B. A. Bethany Lutheran College, Studio Art, Cum Laude, Mankato, MN
2010 - The Art Students League of New York, New York, NY
Art Talks
BIBLIOGRAPHY
“History Lives on in Minnesota Ghost Towns/A Bit of Southern Minnesota History, Brown County" Narr. Vincent, Jason, Dion Cheney. KEYC TV News. FOX. 12 KEYC, Mankato. 17 November 2005. Television.
