Nadette Charlet artist…

Artist Bio

I was born in Belgium in 1958 .
From an early age I always loved to draw and create things.
I completed a degree in Art teaching in Mons, Belgium, but chose not to teach in schools, where the traditional academic system was not in tune with the freedom of my creative mind…

I love travel, new discoveries and new challenges, alternative ideas. In 2005, I moved with my husband and 2 kids to Ireland to the wild and beautiful Beara peninsula, in search for a new life style. There, at a footstep of the ocean, we home-schooled the children for 8 years. That new freedom allowed the family to travel the world every winter. Other cultures, people, colours, images and emotions…

Meanwhile, my roots slowly grew deeper in the wild beauty of west Cork and I have embraced its creative inspiration. I love the way nature always changes and has an endless palette of tones, lights, textures and movements.

In the last decade, since the boys left home, I found myself resourcing in India every winter and growing more roots in Ireland the rest of the year. Like a swallow, I feel this half nomadic life style is the best I could ever dream of to nurture my creativity.

I like to live in the now and to stay in tune with my intuition. New ideas often like to merge in my dreams, exactly during that small lapse of time between deep sleep and awakening…

I work mainly with watercolour or oil at home, in my own intimate space, with some music in the background. When I’m traveling, I like to keep a diary and sketchbook.

Pencil, ink, watercolour or oil, my art always takes me to a special space, a precious moment of joy within a basic need, the pure act of creating.

CV

Belgian artist, I worked as a freelance illustrator and paper engineer ( pop-up books) for Belgian and French editors, included Casterman and Moulinsart (“Tintin”).

After I moved to Ireland I carried out my illustrator work for a few years, but the wildness and the inspiring beauty of the countryside called my mind and my hands to draw, paint, create for myself. ( I live at the tip of the Beara peninsula, west Cork ).

Over the years I took part in numerous group exhibitions (Skibbereen, Kenmare, Casteltownbere, Cork city, Schull ) and had a duo exhibition with Charles Tyrell in the Copper Mine Museum in Allihies.

I was selected in the RHA annual 2019, and had a few solo exhibitions in Schull and Allihies since.

In July 2022 I opened my own art gallery in Allihies. The “8 Cows Gallery” is actually the furthest art gallery from Dublin !…

My work is also visible all year round in Cork and Kerry ( Sarah Walker Gallery Casteltownbere; Cleo gallery Kenmare; Adrigole Arts )

I am a member of VAI, of the Lavit Gallery, Cork city, and of Uillin West Cork art centre in Skibereen.