Sitting front and center on stage, with all eyes focused solely on him, Chattanooga, Tenn. artist and pastor Charlie Newton is poised with a sense of serenity. Laid back and easy going, he is quick to smile as he is to joke about himself and his work during an informal discussion on Tuesday, March 25, 2008 at the College of Saint Elizabeth (CSE). 

Held in Dolan Performance Hall in the College’s Arts and Education building, Annunciation Center, the visit welcomed CSE students, faculty and staff, as well as members of the general public to sit-in on the conversation between Mr. Newton and CSE Art Department Chair Dr. Virginia Fabbri Butera.

Using a PowerPoint slide presentation as a means of showcasing his artworks, Mr. Newton describes his paintings as a form of prayer or meditation that speaks to the prophetic in art.

He said, “I am making paintings that psychologically deconstruct the Diaspora for me, producing imagery that appears fractured as well as frenetic.”

One art piece in particular that audience members were eager to ask questions about was his painting, “Yo Mary” (2000), a modern-day rendition of the angel Gabriel’s announcement to Mary that she would bear Jesus, the Son of God. The eight-by-12-foot oil on campus painting was originally displayed in the College’s first art exhibition, “Annunciation in Contemporary Art,” housed in the CSE Therese A. Maloney Art Gallery in Annunciation Center back in September 2007. Today, the painting is on long-term loan by owner David King of Basking Ridge, N.J.

(l - r) Basking Ridge resident David King meets Chattanooga artist Charlie Newton at CSE on Tuesday, March 25 in Annunciation Center on campus. Mr. King is the proud owner of Mr. Newton’s oil painting “Yo Mary” (in background) which is currently on long-term loan to the College.

(Photo by Courtney Smolen) 

“We are excited that the painting will hang in the lobby of the Annunciation Center over the entrance to the Art Wing, so that everyone can enjoy this beautifully painted contemporary rendition of a traditional subject,” Dr. Butera said.