Charles Maher

Born and raised in Birmingham I spent most of my working life as an Engineer in the automotive and aerospace industries. Having always an interest in art, it was not until 2000 that I took up painting, completing a Diploma in Art and Design in 2004 at UCE Bourneville Birmingham (now Birmingham City University www.bcu.ac.uk specializing in Fine Art Printmaking. Whilst in Birmingham I regularly exhibited at the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists, the Water Orton, Lichfield and Sutton Coldfield art societies. Since moving to Weymouth in 2005 I have focused my work on Dorset’s Jurassic coastline, painting mostly in oils, acrylics and some mixed media. I am a member of: Weymouth Art Group, & Artwey CIC (a group of artists who combine to organize exhibitions and promote the arts around the South Dorset area)and have since gained a BA (Hons) Painting degree with the University of Creative Arts www.uca.ac.uk through the Open College of Arts. www.oca.ac.uk I am very much influenced by the artistic visual language of landscape particularly, late Romanticism, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism and Neo-Romanticism; my art is directed by combining these influences with abstract qualities of: aesthetic romanticism, surrealism, gothic architecture, symbolism, lyrical poeticism and speculative realism: “I find myself particularly drawn to the mysterious qualities of the quiet seclusion of ancient sacred and secret places while striving to evoke a sense of ‘time and place’.