Charlie Brouwer

Charlie has been making and exhibiting art since 1970. He taught art in high schools in Australia and Michigan for 13 of those years and at Radford University for 20 years (until 2008). His work ranges from indoor and outdoor constructed wood sculptures to installations and temporary public art projects, and he and his daughter, Jennifer L. Hand, who is an oil painter, do collaborative works and commissions.His public art projects in recent years in Winston-Salem, NC, Grand Rapids, MI, St. Louis, MO, Atlanta, GA, and Roanoke, VA have all involved borrowing 100's of ladders from a community's individuals, families, businesses, schools, churches and organizations and tuning them into large structures that intend to be metaphors for the combined hopes and dreams of the community - and, after a month long exhibit, returning the ladders to their owners.Charlie and his wife Glenda live in Floyd County. Nine acres of fields and woods, with 20+ outdoor sculptures placed along a 1/2 mile walking trail, surround the house and studio. Charlie calls their place "Out There" because of its remote location at the end of a gravel road, but also because he believes that art can point us towards thoughts, feelings, and meanings beyond our immediate experience. He states on his website and business card that he is an "Artist in search of the Good, Beautiful, and True."Visitors are always welcome to come see the studio and walk the sculpture trail - school or church groups, families, and individuals can call 540-250-2966 to make an appointment.