What began as an exploration of grief and healing has evolved into an artistic practice centered on transformation, storytelling, and rites of passage.
I create quilts and wall hangings using fabric, photographs, paint, and found objects, weaving together fragments of memory, experience, and imagination. My work often combines traditional handcraft with mixed media, creating visual narratives that explore both personal and universal journeys.
My children’s books and illustrations are informed by extensive world travel and an enduring curiosity about what lies around the next corner, beneath the surface of the sea, or carried in on an offshore breeze. While some of my work is playful and whimsical, others have described it as alchemical, mythic, and quietly enchanting.
Storytelling has always been at the center of my creative life. After many years working in film, I expanded my artistic practice into radio, writing, and opera. Following the loss of my beloved partner to COVID-19, I created and hosted the weekly radio program Good Grief: Talk Radio for the Grieving Soul. That experience led to the development of my opera libretto Good Grief, an exploration of loss, love, resilience, and the transformative power of mourning.
Whether I am working with cloth, paint, photographs, film, found objects, words, or music, I return again and again to the same question: How do we transform our experiences into stories that help us heal?
My work lives at the intersection of memory, myth, travel, spirituality, and human connection. Each piece becomes both artifact and invitation — an opportunity to honor where we have been while imagining where we might go next.
Charlene Huston is a Santa Barbara-based multimedia artist, filmmaker, writer, illustrator, quilt artist, radio host, and opera librettist. She is currently a member of Elevate Gallery at La Cumbre Plaza.
charmadillo@me.com
@charmadilloproductions
www.charmadilloproductions.com
