Meet Charlene Eckels

Today we’d like to introduce you to Charlene Eckels.

Charlene, before we jump into specific questions about your art, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
When I was four, my mother was pregnant with my younger brother. I wasn’t in school yet, so it was my mom and I was home alone most of the day. My stepfather was an artist, and my mother told him to teach me something so that I wouldn’t be bored. I remember him giving me outlines of drawings he had done, just so I could color them. I remember him telling me to draw what I see and not what I think I see.

I was given good materials and an even better teacher.

When I arrived in Kindergarten, we had a daily drawing. I got in trouble because not only would I do my daily drawing, but I would draw everyone else’s. I’d ask them what they wanted, and assure them I was the person to go to for these things.

In first grade, I won my first award. I sat in during my recess time, just to draw and color earth with people and animals holding hands.

I continued to win awards throughout public school.

Then, I entered high school. I was 14 and I showed the art teacher my portfolio. She let me in the senior art class. I was happy but I realized I would take this course every year for the next three years. I knew I wanted to be an artist.

I decided to enter a program that was part homeschool and part courses at college, geared towards a degree.

At 18 I travelled to Bolivia and entered a fine arts school in La Paz for a semester. In my free time, I taught art in a few orphanages. I traveled to the Amazon to visit my maternal grandmother and relatives, on the way back I survived a plane crash there. I was inspired.

I had to go back to the USA to finish my studio art degree, but I took my time. I loved traveling. I spent time in different places around the world (London, Dubai, New Zealand, Korea, Brazil, and of course Bolivia). I did a summer art residency in Ireland.

Finally, in 2014, I graduated. I was finished and immediately got on a plane back to Bolivia. I spent another year there, working on my own personal philosophy and art theory. I created a bilingual coloring book geared towards the promotion of Bolivian culture.

My portfolio was reviewed by the Bolivian syndicate of artists, and they handed me official documents, as well as an artist license, stating I was a national Bolivian artist.

Fast Forward…..

In 2018 I was apart of three art shows in South Korea.

This year, I was invited again, and just got back from an international art show this week.

I am currently working on my second book about the tribes in the Amazon of Bolivia. And I was chosen to co-create a shoe for Nike, that will be out November 1.

Has it been a smooth road?
My biggest support has always been my mother. She is from the Capital of the Amazon in Bolivia. Her views on life are pretty straight forward.

Many times throughout my life people would ask, “What are you going to do with that? What does studio art mean? Like, you just do art?” People still ask this, and I’m assuming it will never stop.

Every time my mom has defended me and said, “Why not? If you want to be an artist, then do it. Why would I tell you to do something that doesn’t make you happy? Where I come from there are not a lot of opportunities for things that make you happy. There is a stigma that you have to be a lawyer, a doctor, or something else to be successful, but what is successful? To be happy.”

We’d love to hear more about your art.
I admire education and simplicity. I have designed my work to mimic the things that I enjoy most. To have symbolism means to find meaning.

I hope to bring attention to topics that haven’t been brought through art before. When I create illustrations and designs I am fully aware of what I am making, what colors I am using, the simplicity of my work. I am not focused on creating a being, but a representation through colors and objects. Colorful designs with meaning.

With my coloring books, through illicit knowledge, I hope to bring cultural and contemporary narratives to the table.

Currently, I have co-created a shoe with Nike, that is a tribute to the beauty and endurance of nature in the Bolivian Amazon. Named “Paraba”(parrot), the Nike React Element 55 was born.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I see a trend in diversity and inclusion in the art world. I see an increasingly diverse art history and art world that is still very white and very male, especially in Museums.

For example, “A recent survey of 18 prominent art museums in the US found that out of 10,000 artists featured, 87% are male and 85% are white.”- from the Smithsonian Magazine.

In October 2019, MOMA reopened with a $450 million expansion to include more women artists and underrepresented artists.

Pricing:

• $140.00 “Paraba” Nike React Element 55
• $10 “Who Lives in the Bolivian Amazon?” Art Book

Contact Info:

• Website: https://charleneart.com/
• Phone: 6267570947
• Email: charleneckels@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/charlene.charlene.charlene/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CharleneEckels.Artist/

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