"Resilient Spirits" Solo Exhibition
August 1-September 30th, Reception: August 30th, 2025, 4-7pm
ABOUT THE SHOW
Charlene Mosley’s current series explores the quiet, persistent resilience found in both nature and the human spirit—the instinct to endure, to adapt, and to survive. Through vibrant, textural oil paintings, bright and fluid watercolors, and intricately expressive drawings, Mosley visualizes the wild within us all. Intertwining human forms with elements of untamed wildlife and organic plant shapes, the artist wants to reveal a connection to the primal, emotional undercurrents that connect us to the natural world. Bold hues and layered textures reflect both inner strength and raw vulnerability.
Pollinators seen as fragile, like butterflies—appear throughout her work not only as symbols of delicate beauty, but of astonishing endurance. A butterfly, seemingly ephemeral, survives migration, transformation amidst often hostile environments. Wild animals such as tigers, are a reflection of inner courage, strength and adventure. Snakes are a symbol of taking risk and shedding an old self to adapt and flourish into something bigger. These creatures become metaphors for the hidden resilience we carry, the instincts we suppress, and the wild beauty we often forget exists within us.
Charlene Mosley invites viewers to activate and embrace their inner wild and highlights the importance of the balance between inward looking and outward living.
Show Dates: August 1- September 30th
Opening Reception: August 30th, 2025 Time: 4-7pm
Pollinators seen as fragile, like butterflies—appear throughout her work not only as symbols of delicate beauty, but of astonishing endurance. A butterfly, seemingly ephemeral, survives migration, transformation amidst often hostile environments. Wild animals such as tigers, are a reflection of inner courage, strength and adventure. Snakes are a symbol of taking risk and shedding an old self to adapt and flourish into something bigger. These creatures become metaphors for the hidden resilience we carry, the instincts we suppress, and the wild beauty we often forget exists within us.
Charlene Mosley invites viewers to activate and embrace their inner wild and highlights the importance of the balance between inward looking and outward living.
Show Dates: August 1- September 30th
Opening Reception: August 30th, 2025 Time: 4-7pm
AVAILABLE ORIGINAL ARTWORKS
WORKSHOPS
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AUGUST 2025
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"PAINT LIKE VAN GOGH" LANDSCAPE
East County Art Association Gallery
124 East Main Street, El Cajon, CA
August 16, 2025
12-3pm
East County Art Association Gallery
124 East Main Street, El Cajon, CA
August 16, 2025
12-3pm
REGISTER HERE
Artival- Inaugural El Cajon Artwalk
EMBRACE YOUR INNER WILD
Sparks Gallery is pleased to show new work by artist Charlene Mosley in her collection
“Embrace your Inner Wild”. Join us for the reception on Sunday, September 1st, 2024 5-8pm. Join us for the artist talk on Sunday, September 29th, 2024 at 11:30am. Charlene Mosley’s current work discusses the importance of the balance between inward looking and outward living. “So often in a society that has certain standards and expectations, a lot of our true self is hidden or tamed to fit in, to appear a certain way or to belong,” notes Mosley. Her body of work is meant to inspire the viewer to live as courageously as a tiger, as resilient and freeing as a butterfly, and to shed in renewal, as a snake does. The wild animals in Mosley’s paintings reveal a connection to the person depicted in each of the works. The animals embody courage, strength, transformation, and reinvention. These creatures empower through their presence. Mosley’s work often depicts people of color surrounded by plants and beautiful stoic animals that harmoniously charge each other in vibrant color. With an interplay of expressive brushwork and texture, Mosley evokes movement and excitement, capturing the viewer’s eye in a journey of discovery. |
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NEWS:
Exhibitions
Pollinators
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A solo exhibition of various newly painted works and some by Charlene Mosley
May 15 - July 3, 2022
Sparks Gallery
530 Sixth Ave, San Diego, CA 92101
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OPENING RECEPTION
May 15, 2022
5 - 8pm
You are cordially invited!
BROWSE CATALOG HERE
www.sparksgallery.com
Of Whom We Take, We Must Appreciate, We Must Protect
Oil on Wood
Part of the Show "Pollinators"
SHOW STATEMENT
Pollinators
Charlene Mosley ; Solo Exhibition
MAY15-July 3, 2022
Sparks Gallery
A pollinator is anything that helps carry pollen from the male part of a flower to the female part of the same or another flower, with the movement of pollen fertilizing plants to produce fruits, seeds, and young plants. Naturally a pollinator is integral to the survival of life on Earth.
The exhibition “Pollinators” reveals Charlene’s love and fascination for nature and extraordinary insects, birds, bees and other animals that play a vital role in the massive operation of pollinating 80% of the world’s flowering plants. She strives to not only celebrate their beauty, but their resilience by defying the odds every day. One remarkable insect, the Monarch, is known to be the only butterfly to migrate over 3000 miles to perpetuate its species all the while carrying thousands of pollen grains from one flower to another. That seems like a miracle when considering the mere fact that metamorphosing into a butterfly alone is highly unlikely with only a 10% chance of survival from its egg form to adulthood.
The women portrayed in the exhibition, represent another type of pollinator. Women, especially women of color, have always ‘pollinated’ the development of civilizations with countless incredible contributions and achievements and were rarely credited for any of the ‘honey’ that was made from. Today, women rewrite history and are constantly defying stereotypes and breaking barriers. So, naturally Charlene feels a sense of empowerment and pride in creating strong, well-rounded characters based on real-life women in her family and surroundings, women she admires from afar, and even herself. Painted in a confident yet natural pose, the female figures often grab the viewer’s attention with a captivating eye contact, pulling them in to further analyze all the intricate details and the ever-moving vibrant strokes to their story.
The artist draws similarities in her work between the two pollinators, focusing on their shared resilience, courage and strength as they flourish in each others presence. She showcases a deep respect and appreciation for their achievements and the unequivocal endurance to the struggles of both their existences.
“In a way, my work is the manifestation of imagination and endless conversations with myself and about life, examining my own identity as a woman, as an artist, as a person of color, as one individual within 7.7 billion and my impact on nature. Every one of my paintings and drawings play their own role and spark their own conversations in order to grow a bigger understanding and appreciation for what it means to be a pollinator of this world, in a literal and symbolic sense.”
Pollinators
Charlene Mosley ; Solo Exhibition
MAY15-July 3, 2022
Sparks Gallery
A pollinator is anything that helps carry pollen from the male part of a flower to the female part of the same or another flower, with the movement of pollen fertilizing plants to produce fruits, seeds, and young plants. Naturally a pollinator is integral to the survival of life on Earth.
The exhibition “Pollinators” reveals Charlene’s love and fascination for nature and extraordinary insects, birds, bees and other animals that play a vital role in the massive operation of pollinating 80% of the world’s flowering plants. She strives to not only celebrate their beauty, but their resilience by defying the odds every day. One remarkable insect, the Monarch, is known to be the only butterfly to migrate over 3000 miles to perpetuate its species all the while carrying thousands of pollen grains from one flower to another. That seems like a miracle when considering the mere fact that metamorphosing into a butterfly alone is highly unlikely with only a 10% chance of survival from its egg form to adulthood.
The women portrayed in the exhibition, represent another type of pollinator. Women, especially women of color, have always ‘pollinated’ the development of civilizations with countless incredible contributions and achievements and were rarely credited for any of the ‘honey’ that was made from. Today, women rewrite history and are constantly defying stereotypes and breaking barriers. So, naturally Charlene feels a sense of empowerment and pride in creating strong, well-rounded characters based on real-life women in her family and surroundings, women she admires from afar, and even herself. Painted in a confident yet natural pose, the female figures often grab the viewer’s attention with a captivating eye contact, pulling them in to further analyze all the intricate details and the ever-moving vibrant strokes to their story.
The artist draws similarities in her work between the two pollinators, focusing on their shared resilience, courage and strength as they flourish in each others presence. She showcases a deep respect and appreciation for their achievements and the unequivocal endurance to the struggles of both their existences.
“In a way, my work is the manifestation of imagination and endless conversations with myself and about life, examining my own identity as a woman, as an artist, as a person of color, as one individual within 7.7 billion and my impact on nature. Every one of my paintings and drawings play their own role and spark their own conversations in order to grow a bigger understanding and appreciation for what it means to be a pollinator of this world, in a literal and symbolic sense.”
I Am Listening, I Will Follow
Oil on Canvas
10x20in
PART OF "POLLINATORS" EXHIBITION
SOLD
Gallery Selections 2020 Interview
Sparks Gallery recently met on Zoom with a few artists, including Charlene Mosley from the Gallery Selections 2020 exhibition to discuss their work, their artistic process, and thoughts on finding inspiration. Click the link below to watch the full recorded discussion.