Char Schwall American, b. 1964

Char Schwall's work investigates a longstanding interest in curvilinear and organic formations found in nature connected to life, growth, water imagery, and the life sciences. In each work, interdependent elements create compositions that explore diverse organic systems and are evocative of flora and fauna of the natural world. Her aesthetic explores trajectories of growth, the expansion of organic systems, and morphology (the form of living organisms and their structures). Compositions are created through the use of overlapping forms and visual elements that come together, touch, and in one sense caress one another. There is interplay of containment and lack of containment among the energy transferred among the distinct relational parts. Color is an essential element employed to compose the spaces of the paintings.

Her most recent works on paper explore forms of change (processes that are taken apart, torn, split, or severed) and forms of union (processes that are seamed together, reconnected, or joined). These works explore the relationship of human culture to nature, and seek to create gendered space by combining forms that reference the natural world with cultural references taken from textiles, forms of clothing, and fashion. Symmetry, asymmetry, and surfaces that mirror one another and reveal the contents from another place are also key concepts in the work. Indeterminacy and fluidity of meaning within the context of gendered space provides viewers with opportunities to reconsider what can be revealed when looking deeper or beyond what is immediately obvious.

Char Schwall studied the educational system in the municipality of Reggio-Emilia, Italy, and co-edited and co-authored the book, "In the Spirit of the Studio: Learning from the Atelier of Reggio Emilia." She holds a BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute and an MFA from Sam Fox School of Visual Arts - Washington University in St. Louis. She lives and works in Kansas City, MO