Artist Biography
Charmaine Spencer has established her quiet claim as one of Cleveland’s foremost artists, distinguishing herself winning major awards throughout her tenure at the Cleveland Institute of Art (CIA) graduating in 2005. While attending CIA she was recipient of the William McVey Award for Excellence in Sculpture, curated her first professional solo exhibition, Rising/Bound, at Groop Gallery and was one of two students selected to finish posthumously, the last sculpture of The Sculpture Center’s founder, David E. Davis.
Among Spencer’s honors is the 2009 Creative Workforce Fellowship, the 2010 Ingenuity Project Award, a 2020 and 2022 Ohio Arts Council Grant. She was awarded a 2022 FRONT Art Futures Fellowship. Her work has been exhibited at the Artist Archives of the Western Reserve, Cleveland State University Gallery, Spaces, the Cleveland Botanical Garden, The Sculpture Center, the Transformer Station, the Maltz Museum and the Akron Art Museum. At the end of 2024 her work was shown at PRIZM Art Fair in conjunction with Art Basel Miami Beach. Spencer’s works were recently acquired by CWRU and are on permanent exhibition in the Putnam Collection as well as a site-pacific two-story installation in the Hilton Collection Downtown Cleveland.
Spencer's recent accolades include a 2025 invitation to apply for the Joan Mitchell Fellowship. Her FRONT Arts Futures Fellowship exhibition will take place in October 2025, followed by the exhibition of her curated works at MOCA Cleveland in January 2026. Charmaine Spencer's honors also include a major sculpture commission, which the Art Institute of Chicago subsequently acquired for its largest and most ambitious international exhibit to date, 'Project a Black Planet: The Art and Culture of Panafrica’. Charmaine’s work will travel from Chicago to Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona. After Barcelona her work will be at the Barbican Center, London and then on to the KANAL-Centre Pompidou, Brussels where the exhibition will conclude in 2027.
Water, 2022, Putnam Collection
Pulped paper, soil, clay, reed grass, hemp thread
5 ft. x 3 ft. x 3 ft.
Air, 2022 Putnam Collection
Notes to the ancestors; shredded, African lost-wax filigree brass trade beads, vintage brass bell beads, faux suede cord
3 ft. x 3 ft. x 1 ft.
Harmonic, 2016, Hilton Collection
Reed grass, silver jewelry wire
18 ft. x 18 ft. x 2 ft.
River Stones, 2014, Private Collection
Driftwood, jute rope, bamboo
thread, river stones
7 ft. x 5 ft. x 1 ft.
Of Fire, 2008 A Place To Dwell,
The Sculpture Center
Green fiber insulation, steel nails
1.5 ft. x 1 ft. x 1 ft.
Generation, 2006, AfroFuturism, Spaces Gallery
Synthetic hair, electrical conduit
7 ft. x 11 ft. x 4 ft.
Choir's Revival, 2005 BFA Exhibition, Cleveland Institute of Art
Wood wall lath, jute rope, black and red concrete stain on walls and floor
18 ft. x 38 ft. x 12 ft.
Halo, 2004, Private Collection
Cast Bronze
12 in x 16 in x 16 in
Portals To Everywhere, 2004
David E. Davis Sculpture Garden,
University Circle
Stainless steel
12ft. x 7 ft. x 7 ft.
