Charis J. Carmichael Braun grew up in New Ulm, MN. After an exchange year in Switzerland, she earned her BA from Bethany
Lutheran College and her MFA from the New York Academy of Art.

Charis' artwork is bound to themes about vulnerability and projection, finding its origin in her faith and familial relationships. Situating the
content of her images between the ideal and the flawed, between attraction and repulsion, between exalted and repressed, her paintings
embed themselves in a "grey middle" of things that are challenging to clarify yet unmistakably felt.  

Often preferring to paint the human body explicitly, her images seek a balance between seemingly divergent concepts. While acknowledging
the body as a carrier of the soul, her pursuit of painted reconciliation is rooted in her Lutheran beliefs concerning ideas about "both/and"
found in the theology of the Incarnation. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and may be found in both private and
public collections.
Charis serves in leadership positions on two NYC arts not-for-profits: Spark and Echo Arts and the Alumni Association of the New York
Academy of Art. She is currently a caretaker and the Director of Communications at the international artist residency program of the Art
Students League of New York, The League Residency at Vyt. With her husband Andrew Braun, a woodworker and cabinetmaker, Charis
lives and works in New York.
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Charis J. Carmichael Braun
Falco
2008, oil on canvas
Private Collection
Shedding
2008, oil on linen, 48 x 60 in.
Preparation
2008, oil on canvas, 14 x 12 in.
Private Collection
Andrew, Drying
2011, oil on metrocard, 2x3.5in (5.5x8.5cm)
Private Collection
Untitled (blue portrait)
2008, oil on canvas, 20 x 16 in
Still…Life
2000, oil on canvas, 16 x 14 in.
Study for "M, In the Kitchen"
2014, acrylic on panel, 7.5x10.5in
Private Collection
(exhibited at the invitational “Panorama” for
Rockland Center for the Arts, 2014)
Touch 2, Touch 1
(made exclusively for the Marquis De Luna
Chocolatier)
2014, oil on paper (box), 2.75x 2.75in.
Morning Coffee
2005, oil on canvas, 56 x 30 in
Collection of the Arts Center of St. Peter, MN
The "Before I Transfer" portrait painting project started as a metaphor to help me remember the connections
I've made to other people as we all travel along our individual journeys.
See the project at beforeitransfer.blogspot.com
STUDY for Portrait of Christine, in Her Living Room
(with Schmaus)
2014, oil on panel, 11 x 14 in.
Before I Transfer