©Charlotte Schmid-Maybach, Forest of Forgotten Keys, 2024, Sewn archival pigment prints on kozo paper, thread, printed silk gauze overlay 61 x 51 inches Unique

In an era when digital photography has removed the artist’s hand, more and more artists are finding ways to intervene and alter their photographs. Charlotte Schmid-Maybach creates rich and layered photographic tapestries, transforming images of the natural world into ethereal three dimensional works. Schmidt-Maybach opens the exhibition, Water, Woods and Sky, at the Themes + Projects Gallery in San Francisco on September 7 running through October 26, 2024.

Charlotte Schmid-Maybach is an interdisciplinary artist working with photography, textile and assemblage. Originally from San Francisco, she earned her BA from UC Berkeley in South Asian civilization and MA in Photojournalism from the University of Missouri, Columbia. Her background as an archaeological photographer in Pakistan and fifteen years as a newspaper photojournalist have informed her artwork. Charlotte started studying with artist Tom Wudl in 2016 and made the transition to a full-time studio practice. She received the Photolucida Critical Mass Top 50 photography award in 2021 and was an exhibitor in Klompching Gallery’s FRESH 2023. Charlotte is based in Los Angeles, and her work has been widely shown in galleries and museums. She is represented by Themes and Projects Gallery, San Francisco.

Instagram: @clsmstudio 

Instagram: @themesandprojects

©Charlotte Schmid-Maybach, Blue Lake, 2024, 31 x 42 inches framed Sewn archival pigment print on kozo paper, thread Unique

My new collection: Water, Woods and Sky represents a year’s worth of work. In experimenting with printing photographs on silk, I found that layering the gauze with my sewn images on kozo paper both deepens the pieces and makes them more ethereal. It’s as if I found a way to print a layer of fog and add it to my process which already integrates photography and textile. – Charlotte Schmid-Maybach

©Charlotte Schmid-Maybach, Gold Lake, 2024 31 x 42 inches framed Sewn archival pigment print on kozo paper, thread Unique

When I visit Charlotte’s studio in West LA, she shares her latest collection, Water, Woods and Sky, with me. Starting with her piece, “Reading the Ice,” she spreads it across a large sewing table filled with her instruments – spools of thread, vintage lace, buttons, strips of washi paper, a set of old keys – bits of
ephemera that will someday make their way into her art. She runs her hand over and across the work, unafraid of her own creation because she herself is sewn into the fabric – wildly, delicately, intricately, passionately.

Water, Woods and Sky invites us into exterior rooms of an interior life, honoring a certain lens into childhood. The pieces tug at our sense of longing, shrouded in a mask of what was. But they are also playful – a child’s lenticular souvenir. While her images bring a distinct and distant giggle, they also carry the gut punch of loss – a beautiful marriage.

In “Violet Hour,” we peer into a shadow box where it feels as if a girl’s hand has drawn on the lake of family summers. Fuchsia, her wanderings mimic cloud formations – bright metallic threads shine through the top layer. The golden twins, “Blue Lake” and “Gold Lake” play like music – far away but very clear – folded but not creased – in quadrants but one.

In “Forest of Forgotten Keys” and “Lands End,” Charlotte stitches scraps of fairy tale and personal history into a veil of fog – silk, tengu and kozo paper – whispered across the surface. This brings the work into a visual double-take while drawing us more deeply inside the smell of eucalyptus, the fog of the city. The trees’ gnarled branches remind us of our first exhilarating steps away from our parents’ home into the woods.

“Daring to Fly” and “Anniversary,” pull us out of the darkness into the light, soaring above the trees. The color is saturated, the clouds heavier and more substantial than fog. These pieces are windows into pure potential, the next steps in life and beyond.

Charlotte’s sewn photographs challenge us to reach for a memory that almost isn’t there anymore. Viewing her work is like waking from a dream while trying to hold onto it. You hear the alarm, but you keep reaching. The threads run away, but what the artist leaves you with is the kiss of that reverie, the evidence of what you thought you forgot.

~ Erin Cressida Wilson
August 2024 New York City

©Charlotte Schmid-Maybach, Night Threads, 2024 Sewn archival pigment prints on kozo paper, thread, vintage lace 39 x 43.5 inches framed Unique

©Charlotte Schmid-Maybach, Daring to Fly, 2024, Sewn archival pigment prints on kozo paper, thread, vintage lace, printed silk gauze overlay 40 x 45 inches Unique

©Charlotte Schmid-Maybach, Anniversary , 2024, Sewn archival pigment prints on kozo paper, thread, printed silk overlay 23 x 45 inches framed Unique

©Charlotte Schmid-Maybach, Reading the Ice, 2024 Sewn archival pigment prints on kozo paper, thread, printed silk overlay 34 x 45 inches Edition of 2 with unique variations

©Charlotte Schmid-Maybach, Pastoral, 2024 Sewn archival pigment prints on kozo paper, thread, printed silk overlay 21 x 27 inches framed Edition of 3 with unique variations

©Charlotte Schmid-Maybach, Heaven is a Place, 2024 Sewn archival pigment prints on kozo paper, thread, printed silk gauze overlay in shadow box 14.25 x 19.5 inches framed Edition of 3 with unique variations

©Charlotte Schmid-Maybach, Golden Slumbers, 2024 Sewn archival pigment prints on kozo paper, thread, printed silk gauze overlay in shadow box 14.25 x 19.5 inches framed Edition of 3 with unique variations

©Charlotte Schmid-Maybach, After the Rain, 2024 Sewn archival pigment prints on kozo paper, thread, printed silk gauze overlay in shadow box 14.25 x 19.5 inches framed Edition of 3 with unique variations

©Charlotte Schmid-Maybach, Violet Hour, 2024 Sewn archival pigment prints on kozo paper, thread, printed silk gauze overlay in shadow box 14.25 x 19.5 inches framed Edition of 3 with unique variations

©Charlotte Schmid-Maybach, Land’s End, 2024 Sewn archival pigment prints on kozo paper, thread, printed silk gauze overlay in shadow box 14.25 x 19.5 inches framed Edition of 3 with unique variations

©Charlotte Schmid-Maybach, Pink and the Dirty Boulevard, 2024 Sewn archival pigment prints on kozo paper, thread, printed silk gauze overlay 18 x 23 inches unframed Edition of 3 with unique variations

©Charlotte Schmid-Maybach, Night Blooms, 2024 Sewn archival pigment prints on kozo paper, thread, printed silk gauze overlay 18 x 23 inches unframed Edition of 3 with unique variations

A catalog accompanies the exhibition and for purchase, contact the artist.