Charles Kellman is a visual artist and art educator whose work is rooted in the tradition of easel painting. Working primarily in oils and drawing media, his subject matter includes landscape, portraiture, and still life. Kellman received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting and Printmaking from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt) and completed his Master's degree in Visual Art at Vermont College in Montpelier.
Finding a deep source of inspiration in his students, Kellman incorporates their images into portraits of African American, West African, and Caribbean figures. This work sparks essential conversations about race, class, and the post-colonial experience, raising critical questions of authenticity and ownership. Kellman's process involves appropriating imagery from popular culture, print media, and photographs, allowing his creative direction to remain fluid and spontaneous. A landscape might give way to a collage, as he follows his artistic impulse. Recently, his focus has shifted to the natural world, with the garden becoming his muse. This new direction is captured in quiet, contemplative pieces: a single flower painted to scale on his drawing table, the delicate structure of a feather, or the expansive view of the Detroit river. In his practice, both the appropriated image and the observed object become sites for quiet revelation.
