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Atlanta-based artist Charlie Watts seeks to create images not of this world, to use photography as a stepping-stone to the unknown realm just past the peripheral edge of consciousness. She creates images to bring imagination into fruition and provide a visual escape from the mundane to the fantastical. In 2016, Watts finished an MFA program in photography with the San Francisco Art Institute after graduating with highest honors and a B.A. in art history and visual arts at Emory University.
She has been a member of the Dashboard CO-OP and a resident with Marble House Projects, The Creatives Project, Hambidge Center for Creativity and the Arts, Starry Night Retreat, and the Hambidge Hive Project at Colony Square. Her photographs are heavily performance-based and have been exhibited at Fort Mason, Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport, SomARTS, Root Division, WhiteSpec, the Diego Rivera Gallery, Mason Murer, Barbra Archer Gallery, and “Boom City” with the Dashboard CO-OP. Her photographic exploration to raise awareness of sex trafficking in Atlanta, The ThrowAways, currently is on display at the Rollins School of Public Health.
In 2011, Watts received the Emory Center for Creativity and the Arts Community Impact Award, and she is the recipient of grants from the City of Atlanta’s Office of Cultural Affairs, among others. In 2017, Honey or Tar v, was selected for first prize out of 850 artist as past of The New South at Kai Lin Gallery. Watts is represented by WhiteSpace Gallery.
Education
MFA, Photography, San Francisco Art Institute
BA, highest honors, Visual Arts/Art History, Emory University
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2018
(proposed) Mighty Box Gallery, San Francisco, CA
(proposed) whitespace gallery, Atlanga, GA
2017
The Salon at 1043 presents: Charlie Watts , The 1043, Atlanta, GA
2015
Feast , Paul Sach Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2014
Just Past the Peripheral , whiteSpec, Atlanta, GA
Misanthropia , a performance piece, whitespec, Atlanta, GA
The Throwaways , Rollins School of Public Health, Atlanta, GA
Selected Group Exhibitions
2017
Building a Ship for the Shipwreck , Museum of Contemporary Art Georgia (MOCA GA), Atlanta, GA
Hive Mind Arise as part of The Hambidge Hive Project, Colony Square, Atlanta, GA
The New South II , Kai Lin Gallery, Atlanta, GA
Wildwood Revival , Cloverleaf Farm, Arnoldsville, GA
Uneasy , Parlor Gallery, Atlanta, GA
The Barn at Marble House Project, Marble House Project, Dorset, VT
2016
Sanctuary , de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA
The Nightmares , B-Complex, Atlanta, GA
Sister Song/Awaken , Gallery 72, Atlanta, GA
ISO Queer, Root Division, San Francisco, CA
Vernissage , Fort Mason Herbst Pavilion, San Francisco, CA
Rite of Passage , The Gallery of the Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California, Oakland, CA
memoria , Mission Art Performance Project, San Francisco, CA
2015
Freedom Expressions , Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, Atlanta, GA
Freedom Expressions ATL II , Ghost Slavery: Art Against Human Trafficking , Gallery 72, Atlanta, GA
Milk , Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2014
Continuum, The Creatives Project, The Goat Farm, Atlanta, GA
Company XX , Mammal Gallery, Atlanta, GA
2013
Momentum, Exit to the Future , The Goat Farm, Atlanta, GA
Art of Georgia , The Georgia Capitol Museum, Atlanta, GA
Rotation , Saatchi Gallery, London, England
Decatur Fine Arts Juried Exhibition, Dalton Gallery, Agnes Scott College, Decatur, GA
ArtFields , The Capitol Building, Lake City, SC
Emory School Of Medicine Art Gala Exhibition, Atlanta, GA
2012
Boom City , DASHBOARD CO-OP, Atlanta, GA
Convergence , The Goat Farm, Atlanta, GA
Talent Loves Company , Barbara Archer Gallery, Atlanta, GA
The Four Directions: Buffalo, Bear, Eagle, and Coyote , The WonderRoot Index, Atlanta, GA
Fresh Blood , Mason Murer Gallery, Atlanta, GA
2011
Silent Ruination , two-man show, Emory Visual Arts Student Gallery, Atlanta, GA
The Review , University College of London Student Gallery, London, England
2010
The Finals, Galleria del Arte, Syracuse University of Florence/Florence, Italy
Curation
2015
FLYNN: The Collaborative Works , artwork by Flynn Grinnan, Lauren Shaw, Neil Enggist, Kevin Hill, Ryan Van Runkle, Sebastian Ortiz Cabrera, Dana Morrison, and Erik Serson, Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Dear Virginia , artwork by Christie Spillane, Charlie Watts, Jordan Rose Jurich-Weston, Kendall Jacob, and Devon Lach, Still Lights Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2014
Lost Curiosities of a Salvaged Mind , sculpture by Dana Morrison and Lauren Carly Shaw, Wallace Lake Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Awards & Residencies
2017
Resident, The Marble House Project
Resident, The Hambidge Hive Project
Award, Kai Lin Gallery Regional Juried Show
2016
Walthall Artist Fellowship
2015
Resident, Starry Night
2014
Resident, Hambidge Center for Creative Arts & Science
Resident, The Creatives Project Housing & Studio Program
2013
Resident, Hambidge Center for Creative Arts & Science
2012
Resident, The Creatives Project Housing & Studio Program
Member, The Dashboard CO-OP
Atlanta Office of Cultural Affairs
2010
Emory University’s Stipe Society for Creative Scholars Artist Grant
Reviews & Press
featured in Floromancy vol. 19, 2018
featured in Whital Magazine vol. 1, 2018
review in West Coast MFA Dispatch: Highlights from the Recent Graduates of Mills College, 2016
California College of the Arts, and San Francisco Art Institute by Roula Seikaly, 2016
featured in Studio Visit Magazine vol. 33, 2016
featured in queerer, the gods sure are queer vol. 2, 2016
review on ArtsATL for Just Past the Peripheral by Jerry Cullum, 2014
interview with CommonCreative ATL for The ThrowAways, 2013
review on ArtsATL for The ThrowAways by Jerry Cullum, 2013
review on BurnAway for The ThrowAways by Jessica Blankenship, 2013