Meet Charmain Schuh
Charmain Schuh is an accomplished artist and museum professional for the last 20+ years. She has made her career by establishing a credible reputation, showcasing a versatile skillset, and by serving her art community through initiatives that promote and increase artist involvement and education.
Charmain on Her Art:
“In my own artwork, I am most inspired by seeing and by teaching other people to see. Seeing is a practice of observation that connects the artist to their world. Seeing is not only noticing what’s around you but taking the time to absorb what’s around you. Stopping in your tracks and watching how the light plays with the fence creating various colors and shadows that beg to be captured...
...To see is to make yourself known and recognize where you are in the world. To be one with the place; to be one with yourself; delving into the space of what surrounds you; letting the thought carry you to create a work that no one else has seen. It is letting the work come to you - not forcing creation.”
Early Childhood
Charmain was born and raised in South Dakota on a modest farm. Her childhood serves as a driving inspiration to her artwork as she grew up surrounded with horses, cows, chickens, pigs, cats, dogs, and ducks on the farm. The animals became much as a resource as the miles and miles of open prairie. A source for purity, peace, beauty, limitless vistas and life.
Education
Charmain received her BFA from the University of South Dakota at Vermillion. It was walking into the Art Department for the first time where Charmain found her home, and as she says, “There was no going back.” Art opened her eyes to the world of color explosions, energy, new perspectives of life, and yes, she learned to “See”. After receiving her BFA from the University of South Dakota, Charmain became the Exhibition Designer at the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha. NE for 3 years. She then moved to Boulder, CO, where she still lives today, and received her Master’s in Fine Arts from the University of Colorado – Boulder.
Professional Life
Charmain has held positions such as: Curator, Consultant, Exhibition Designer, Grant writer, Special Events Coordinator; Educator and Mentor in her Museum/Gallery professional arts administration years. She has worked in esteemed organizations such as the Joslyn Art Museum, Denver Art Museum, Museum of Natural History, City of Denver Public Art, Museum of Contemporary Art in Ft. Collins, the Dairy Center for the Arts, CU Boulder Arts Galleries, and is presently teaching art at Naropa University. She is an active artist in the Colorado art community by being involved and initiating a number of artist events and workshops such as: Art Happens (The Dairy program of bringing arts to the classroom PreK-12); The Arvada Center’s Art Market Exhibit and Sale; the Mad Cow Arts Festival; Visual Shift (Art for Artists); The Annual Children’s Art Show Gift of Giving-with the Community Foundation of Boulder; and the Arts Administration Intern Program with University of Colorado Fine Arts Department. Charmain is a highly skilled grant writer and has secured nearly $700,000 for various art organizations from local and national Foundations, Corporations, and Government agencies to fund artists and art programs.
Accomplishments
As a university educator, Charmain has taught beginning artists in courses in drawing, painting, portfolio, and mixed media. As a mentor, she uses her past museum work to show students how to present their work for upcoming exhibitions and presentations. As such, Charmain creates workshops for youth and adult art programs.
Notable Events:
•Rocky Mountain Ridge Music Center: "Bunraku" by Toshiro Mayuzumi at the Rocky Ridge Music Center in Estes Park, Colorado, with dynamic visualizations by Charmain Schuh and Hugh Sung.
•2007 Mad Cow Festival: Amateur artists created mixed media visuals for synchronized live performance to the music of Debussy.
•Visual Recital Workshop: Charmain Schuh, SoYoung Lee, Amy J. Clark, and the creative team at The Dairy created an innovative approach to the live concert experience! With the Visual Recital Workshop, the audience member is immersed in the performance and plays a vital participatory role as co-creator with the musician. Sung collaborated with winners of the Emerging Artist Series Competition in a fantastic concert combining dance, music, and visuals in a format that one listener proclaimed as "the future of live classical concerts!"
Rocky Mountain Ridge Music Center2007 Mad Cow FestivalVisual Recital Workshop
Accomplishments at a glance
"Kids have so much ahead of them. If you open up talent, they can go beyond their dreams. Go for the heart and that’s what creates vibrant work"
- Charmain Schuh on Teaching
Powered by AZEXO Shopify page builder