Abstract fiber artist Charlita Rae Whitehead has progressed from unfinished hand embroidery kits to a 19-piece tufting tapestries exhibit at the Appleton Museum of Art. Whitehead’s Every Fiber Of My Being will be on display until September 8th.
Charlita Rae Whitehead’s abstract fiber artwork is a revelation in yarn. A prime example is the aptly named Bliss, a 3-foot x 3-foot visual delight of color, texture and unintentional heart shapes. Varying shades of purple, red, teal, brown and hot pink get your attention from across the room. Up close, the different types of yarn, including wool, cotton and acrylic, intricately woven together in different pile heights create mesmerizing topographies. You spot the heart shapes that Whitehead will tell you appeared on their own out of the artistic process, which makes her smile.
“In 2020, I began learning about hand embroidery, but never progressed beyond practicing stitches with samplers and working on, but not finishing a few kits,” reveals Whitehead, 36, who in January became the Economic Development/Cultural Arts Projects Coordinator with the city of Ocala. “Then I wanted a rug for my apartment and found out really nice artistic rugs are very expensive. So, I began researching rug making and came upon the art of tufting.”
Tufting, which originates from the European craftsmanship of embroidering rugs, refers to a process of creating three-dimensional textile surfaces. In the case of abstract fiber art, the emphasis is on the aesthetics rather than the utility. An electric tufting gun is used to push the yarn through a tufting cloth hung on a frame to form continuous loop stitches. Tufting is also called the electric version of punch needle embroidery.
Whitehead was contemplating getting into tufting when her partner, artist Jordan Shapot, gifted her with a tufting gun.
“The first piece I did on my 3-foot x 3-foot frame was Bliss, says Whitehead. “When I finished it, I gifted it to Jordan. It’s on loan from him for the Appleton Museum exhibit.”
Looking around at her Appleton Museum of Art exhibit, which opened April 13th and will run through September 8th, Whitehead is a bit amazed.
“Up until I began tufting in 2022, I had never been involved in any visual art form,” says Whitehead, who has a Bachelor of Science in health services administration from the University of Central Florida and logged a nine-year career in health information management. “Growing up, I sang in my high school choir and did some theater. I did draw a little as a kid, but stopped because I thought I wasn’t good enough to continue on with that. But I think as my life has evolved through my life experiences, so has my idea of what is art and how I can express myself through it.”
A Nomadic Childhood
Whitehead’s father Charles was in the U.S. Air Force, stationed at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan, when Charlita Rae was born in 1987. Her mother Gwendolyn was a nurse, and the family includes Charlita’s older sister Natasha.
“In the Air Force, my father worked in logistics. When I was 3, we moved to Moody Air Force base near Valdosta, Georgia,” says Whitehead. “When I was 12, we relocated to the RAF Alconbury base in Huntingdon, England. During that time, through various family and group excursions, I got to travel all around Europe. It was a great way to be exposed to all kinds of cultures.”
The next move was to Altus Air Force Base in Altus, Oklahoma, when Charlita was 16. The family remained there until Charlita graduated high school. Whitehead’s father retired from the Air Force and the family moved to Ocala in 2006. Charles Whitehead would go on to work for Veteran’s Affairs Department in Ocala and Gainesville before retiring again.
“I was diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) while in Oklahoma after I graduated high school, which gave me a lot of clarity about myself,” admits Whitehead. “I knew I needed to go to college and researched up-and-coming career fields. Since my mother had been a nurse, I decided to go into the healthcare field. I got an associate of science in health information technology from College of Central Florida and got married in 2011.”
Flipping The Page
Flash forward to July 2020, Whitehead has earned her bachelor’s from UCF and is now divorced.
“It was such a time of upheaval for me. In addition to the divorce, I lost several family members; one to a car accident and others died of COVID. I took a break from working to deal with it all,” shares Whitehead. “Jordan and I had met in 2019 at The Keep, a now closed bar in downtown Ocala. I picked up those hand embroidery kits was an activity to do on hikes while Jordan was painting plein air.”
In August 2021, Whitehead became the studio and gallery coordinator, as well as artist’s assistant, at Jordan Shapot Art Studio and Gallery. And by 2022, she was immersed in tufting.
“I work primarily out of my home studio but occasionally at Shapot Art Gallery,” says Whitehead, who radiates creative energy. “I’m inspired by nature, color and texture. I love that all the colors and color combinations are found in nature. I sometimes work in bursts and then may not touch a piece for weeks or more. Other times, I finish much more quickly.”
One of Whitehead’s three tufting frames is 8-foot x 6-foot, which she notes “allows me to work large or on multiple smaller pieces at a time.” And because she is working from the back of the frame, pushing the yarn with the tufting gun through the cloth, she has to remember to stop now and then to peek around to the front to see what’s developing.
In 2023 into early 2024, Whitehead exhibited some of her fiber artwork in shows at the Shapot Art Gallery, Brick City Center for the Arts and CF Webber Center Gallery.
“In February 2024, I was part of a group exhibition, Body Language, curated by Jordan and Stephanie Guerra. My contribution was Marked, which was a photo I took of myself, projected, traced and made into a tufting piece,” explains Whitehead. “It’s one of my favorite pieces and it was my first sale.”
The person who bought Whitehead’s Marked was Victoria Billig, the assistant director of the Appleton Museum of Art. Jason Steuber, the director of the Appleton, had also attended the Body Language exhibition.
“Victoria (Billig) and David Reutter, the registrar for the Appleton, later visited my home studio to look at my work,” recounts Whitehead. “I was then offered and accepted a five-month exhibition at the Appleton.”
Billig says, “We’re so pleased to exhibit Charlita’s work at the Appleton. Museum visitors will undoubtedly appreciate her sophisticated yet playful approach to color and design, as well as the creativity and technical skill involved in creating each piece.”
Grateful Creativity
Whitehead’s Every Fiber of My Being exhibit is so named because it consists of nearly every tufting piece she has created. In addition to Bliss, a few of her other favorites include:
Parting Waters is a diptych depicting two bodies of water in rich hues of blue with the white wall providing separation. Whitehead notes that this “provides the flow to the piece.”
Depression in the Tropics is a triptych, each piece in browns and blues and indeed conjuring up hurricane season, is mounted on wood. Whitehead points out “that each piece is interacting with the others.”
Mother Bare, at 24-inches x 64-inches, is the largest piece in the exhibit, featuring various yarns in purple, pink, mauve, brown, green winding around in and out in Whitehead’s signature tufting technique. She shares, “I let my friends look at it when I was finished, and the reaction was that it felt maternal.”
Whitehead is grateful for where her art has brought her and looking forward to where it will take her.
“Art gives you an avenue to create and contribute at the same time,” says Whitehead. “Art brings value and grace to our lives.” OS
Whitehead will give an artist’s talk at 2pm on August 18th at the Appleton Museum, with free admission. To learn more, visit appletonmuseum.org/exhibitions/every-fiber-of-my-being
