Charmaine Wheatley is a graduate of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University. Her work is held in international museums and library collections, including New York’s Museum of Modern Art. She has received numerous awards and done many Artist in Residencies – currently at the University of Rochester Medical Center (since 2017) and also at the University of Buffalo. She is also a lifetime Artist in Residence of The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, MA.
Wheatley’s current program of work includes creating humanizing portraits of people from stigmatized communities, by capturing likenesses and fragments of conversation with watercolor on paper. These portraits of individuals, in aggregate, create a portrait of a community and place.
Charmaine shares what’s wonderful about being the Artist-in-Residence at the Golisano Children’s Hospital:
I’m an outsider. I’m not part of the system. That’s how I’ve always been. I can float into different areas and ask the question: “How can I be of service? How can I be useful?” I’m good at making connections. At looking at things with fresh eyes. At seeing what others don’t. At being creative; making things fun. I don’t think outside the box; I live outside the box.
