Charlene Heilman (Chuck)

I have a motley set of life experiences that distinctly inform my aesthetic decisions. In the 1990s, I tore my life apart in the DTES while working in the margins of the sex and drug trade. I worked as a scalper and an electrical apprentice. I rebuilt my life and spent years helping others do the same. I currently live and still reside in the DTES. “I love art, I love making art, and I love talking about art”. The DTES is my neighbourhood and community. I also work in the DTES as a Community Liaison Worker in an Opiate Replacement Therapy clinic where I work directly with community members under a harm reduction model. Although I am a white, settler woman; I am someone with lived experience—having been addicted to crack cocaine and heroin and been homeless for a portion of the 1990s.

I very much consider myself to be a Multidisciplinary artist. I have worked in many mediums over the years, such as painting (acrylic, watercolour) while incorporating assemblage with atypical materials, like rhinestones. I draw in mixed media and often purchase my materials from dollar stores. I have experience with printmaking (screen printing, Intaglio). My true love is with sculpture: stone carving, woodworking, resin, lost wax, and sand casting. Again, I like to work with unusual materials and that includes sculpturally- candy, yarn, and lard for example. As well, I have worked with lighting sources (fluorescent, electroluminescent) and have built and remodeled chandeliers. The themes in my work have oscillated between the non-serious, visually stimulating to reflections on social justice: from the absurd and humorous to dark and heavy. My one drive has always remained constant which is to be accessible to everyone.

EXTRA CARE FOR ART:

Anything with gems on it, gem shedding is natural. Will do repairs, commissions and contracts, if I like the idea of course