Introducing Charles Chaisson

Charles Chaisson is an artist and New Orleans native residing in Arnaudville, LA. Raised by a creative family, his artistic journey began early, studying at schools like NOCCA|Riverfront and St. Augustine High School. Over the years he was able to hone his artistic skills in college at The Ringling College of Art & Design and at the School of Visual Arts. The experiences and connections garnered at these institutions helped Charles to build a fulfilling freelance illustration career over the past decade and a half. This path led to working as an adjunct professor at the Rhode Island School of Design between 2020 and 2021 before deciding to return home to Louisiana to be closer to family.

Currently, Charles has delved into the world of abstract art, its openness serving as a refreshing way of exploring layered psycho-somatic narratives. While home, he has become increasingly aware of Louisiana’s coastal vulnerability, seeking collaborative spaces aimed at building sustainable and regenerative futures. Since moving back to the South, Charles has become a board member for Common Ground Relief, a New Orleans based non-profit focused on coastal regeneration and community aid. He’s also founded Levity, a nonprofit geared toward ideating systems that meet human needs in ecologically harmonious ways.

Who makes up your art Circle?

With the art institutions I’ve been involved with, be it schools or Arts & Culture organizations I feel like my art circle is held within a pretty wide net. I went to an art based high school, art college, and grad school. So the friends I made at each of these places had huge impacts on me intellectually and artistically. One of my favorite memories from grad school is the books we encouraged each other to read. It’s been really wonderful to be immersed within creative communities for the larger part of my life, since my family is creative in a variety of ways. Being exposed  to people working in different art forms like writing, dance, music or cooking has been incredibly mind expanding too. Having been an adjunct professor for a short while, I’d say students are also included in that circle. When listening to students they’d often share as much knowledge as teachers do—new artists, ideas or processes. I also keep in touch with a lot of my teachers from over the years, especially the ones from NOCCA.

How do you expand your art Circle

Mostly by visiting places where artists tend to congregate like museums, schools, or art organizations honestly. Either that way or meeting artists organically through other interests of mine like activism or ecological restoration projects. I’ll get to talking with people at these events and realize they’re also creatives. We’re everywhere! In the past two years of moving to Arnaudville from New Orleans I’ve spent a lot of time at NUNU Arts and Culture collective, which is such a wonderful place. It almost feels like being in art college again, but with people of vastly different ages—which may be my favorite aspect of the place because it also comes with a difference of perspective and life experience. My art circle has expanded a lot through the people I’ve met there, especially in connecting me to other art institutions like ACA or Basin Arts. Some of my friends from St. Augustine High School have been having some pretty cool art based events in New Orleans too, which has been a great way to reconnect to creatives in the area after having been away from home for so long.

What value do you see in having a creative community?

Having a creative community is invaluable. I can’t recall how many times I’ve pitched ideas, gotten feedback or advice from friends who are also artists— and that relationship is reciprocal. Creatives are also great at drawing connections between different concepts, or expanding the viewpoint of the mind—so being surrounded by them often leads to growth or a lens shift in one form or another. In my experience they’ve also tended to have the biggest and most open hearts. Art is so ubiquitous in this age that it feels it can be taken for granted by people who don’t utilize artistic expression. It’s everywhere, road signs, product design, buildings. Everything has to be artistically conceptualized before it’s created in real life. It’s interesting because creativity seems like something that’s innately human—Something that we all have the capacity for and need to express throughout our lifetime.

How does your artistic approach contribute to your creative community?

The body of work I’ve been creating is focused on the psychosomatic nature of relationships, love, and language. So my hope is that it’ll encourage people to love each other well, and have more grace with each other—since those things can have physical impacts on our bodies and longevity. The process of that work involves a combination of intuitive mark making and perspective drawing. After teaching a class at NOCCA/Riverfront a while back I was pretty elated to hear that it helped some of the students get out of a creative block. It did the same for me at a time when art making had become associated with stress and burnout in my mind. I’d really like to teach that process more, especially if I could co-teach with a friend of mine who’s way or art making is similar. Collaboration is also huge part of the work I’ve been doing recently, outside of the painting series. Just wrapped up a speaker series called Building With, which was done via collaboration between NUNU, Art Transit Authority, and Levity (the nonprofit i’ve been working on). It’s been so fun to work on a team, especially with other creatives who work hard, are hilarious and laid back in a way that often makes work feel like play.