Charles Beall

Creating art is something I have to do—a creative necessity to which I now devote myself full-time from my studio in Valencia, Spain.

I came to art late, and by surprise. One afternoon, my daughter and her six-year-old friend Ella wandered into an art room that had never been used. Ella emerged with a painting made in fabric paint that stopped me in my tracks. I wondered whether I could create something that cool. I’ve been making art ever since. In 2026, after 42 years creating and running the National Academic Championship, art became my full-time work.

My work now consists primarily of geometric abstract reliefs combining painted wood, found and weathered materials, and gold, silver and copper leaf. I explore the relationships between architecture, geometry and light: how overlapping planes cast shadows, how metal leaf catches the light, and how a small shift in placement changes the balance of an entire composition.

I find particular satisfaction in transforming discarded wood into something beautiful and unexpected, preserving the grain, nail holes and worn paint that record its past life. Precise geometric forms meet irregular, weathered surfaces; spare arrangements sometimes give way to denser, interlocking constructions....

BA History, Otterbein College, 1975
MABS, Dallas Theological Seminary, 1981

Six of my works will be featured in an exhibition in Florence, Italy, in November 2026.