Charmaine Wheatley: Souvenirs

Charmaine Wheatley (b. 1968) is an artist from Canada, who has forged a very personal form of portraiture rooted in conversation exchanges and in the idiomatic expressions of her sitters. Armed with her belief in the communicative power of art and her Schmincke watercolor set, brushes, pens, and pocket-sized hand-cut paper, she has harnessed the power of drawing to record passing moments and to mix and contrast relationships between cultures and eras.

As an Artist-in-Residence at the Gardner Museum in April of 2012, Charmaine Wheatley spent weeks exploring the collection and the archives and appreciating how Isabella Stewart Gardner dialogued with her many artist friends. Souvenirs captures an artist’s perspective into the life language and history of the Gardner Museum through her intimate vignettes of people, galleries and works in the collection. Situated on the ground floor of the historic building in the Fenway Gallery, the exhibition evidences Charmaine Wheatley’s interests and personal friendships as the adjacent Yellow Room and Blue Room galleries are a testament to Isabella Stewart Gardner’s.

Charmaine Wheatley sequentially records encounters with people and places using watercolor, drawing and conversation. Ms. Wheatley drew visitor portraits from September 4 - 30 and from March 30 - April 9.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.