With great pleasure and joy we honor and highlight Charmaine Spencer, a close friend and artist Still Point has had the privilege to represent since 2012.

Eight years ago (July 2014) Still Point Gallery selected Charmaine for is first annual Artist Tribute Edition. Each year we dedicate this space to a unique artist whose character and story inspire others and whose work and message set new standards for excellence. 

Charmaine has continued her journey since receiving recognition and new awards each year,  establishing her quiet claim as one of Cleveland's foremost artists and sculptors. She distinguished herself winning major awards throughout her tenure at CIA, graduating in 2005, and moving on to produce public and private commissions, directing her own studio and holding workshops for adults and young students. Among her honors are the prestigious William McVey Award for Excellence in Sculpture, the Sculpture Center's 2008, Emerging Artist Award, a Creative Workforce Fellowship in 2009 and a 2010 Ingenuity Project Award. She was one of two students selected to finish posthumously, the last sculpture of the Sculpture Center’s founder, David E. Davis.

Other recognitions have included a County commissioned two-story signature sculpture, "Harmony", that greets visitors to the new Cleveland Hilton Downtown. It was installed for the Hilton's opening, coinciding with the RNC convention in 2016.  In 2020 she received an Ohio Arts Council ADAP Grant and the 2018 CAN Triennial Prize.  And this week she was notified of another OAC grant.  Earlier this year she held a solo show as the Sculpture Center's "spot-lighted" artist , entitled, "From Seed to Root".  

Charmaine's next exhibition, running concurrent with FRONT'S TRIENNIAL, is her upcoming solo show at the Botanical Garden's Guren Gallery beginning with an opening August 11 thru September 25th (see below for details). 
 

ARTIST'S STATEMENT
Exploring social conditioning and how it defines our concepts of value and our sense of place, and how it shapes our individual development are the consistent conceptual subjects that help define my work. The sculptures’ physical forms favor natural and utilitarian materials, which I shape through traditional and contemporary construction methods. This visually contrasts the valued or “prized” against the discarded, while distinguishing its place.

The totality of my work represents the struggles and growth as one reconstructs his or her self-worth and social place. The materials symbolize identity being stripped, cut or broken, then reformed, woven, bound or slotted back together. The work’s new “self” is formed, creating bold sculptures and installations that adapt, acculturating new environments and states of being.