Charlie Yowell

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, I later moved to the Chattanooga area for the good hang gliding there. My love of hang gliding led to my unique art forms. In 1979, I started a business, Skyout Sculptures, making hang gliding and musical wire works. BB’s Jazz and Blues Night Club in St. Louis displayed my wire instruments. Attached to the hang gliding milieu for twenty-five years, I designed trophies for the East Coast hang gliding Championships from 1989-1996. Concurrently, I began work in stained glass design and development.

Putting the two media (brass wire and stained glass) together allows me to play with light and movement. Wanting to incorporate the freedom of flying into my artwork, I create pieces which move with the wind or vibrations, and thus are well displayed in outdoor gardens or patios, or in front of windows. For me, such movement expresses the life force. Glass and wire media allow me to plumb my imagination.

Glass is a favorite medium because it does something to color that no other medium can; it focuses and intensifies light. Medieval artisans used stained glass to bring the light of God into the life of the common person. Most often, stained glass has been used two-dimensionally. Using a brass frame, I bring my work to life in three dimensions. Then adding movement, I make my sculpture literally come to life. This is accomplished with a fine balance of glass and wire, so that the slightest vibration or breeze brings beauty to the eye.