Born Toronto, Canada, 1969 Carlie has been immersed in the art world since she was a child -her grandmother Clara was a fine artist and teacher showed her colour and painting fundamentals. Carlie pursued her art education by going to a special arts high school in Unionville, Canada in 1986 and studied design in college in Barrie, Canada in 1990. In 2000 Carlie completed her Art History Honours Degree from University of Toronto, graduating with Distinction. Subsequent to graduating at the University of Toronto, Carlie was appointed Gallery Curator at Envers Chapin Gallery in Toronto. Carlie worked closely with a number of well-known contemporary Canadian Artists in her capacity as Curator. In particular she became close friends with Vladan Ignatovic and Emilija Pasagic. Through many long hours spent in their studios Carlie mastered a wide variety of techniques and, indeed, Vladan and Emilija began to see great potential in her work and provided her with an immense amount of critique and encouragement. In 2002 while Curating a show at the New York Art expo Carlie met her husband Glenn Sullivan, they were married in September 2003 and, soon afterwards, moved to Cape Town, South Africa where they opened a contemporary art gallery together: Park Bench Gallery. In August 2004, their son Cole was born. Carlie’s work expresses her moods through “characters”, that is, figures within her work and through abstracted imagery. Her work is, at times dynamic and energetic, with sharp contrasts in tone and colour. As dichotomous as her own nature, her work is sometimes more contemplative- as she describes, “reflective and mellow”. Carlie’s inspirations come from both past and present artists- she admires many styles of artwork that she has studied over the years. The colour palette of Canadian Jack Bush, the style of Egon Schiele, the elegance of line by Canadian sculptor Elizabeth Wyn Wood, the fantasy imagination of Yves Tanguy, and the playfulness of Paul Klee. She especially loves the painting techniques of the Abstract Expressionist abstracts of the 1960s. Working primarily with acrylic paints, Carlie creates an archetype of her mood through facial expressions and stylizations in colour and shape so that in the end, she “meets” her character. One of her works, “Marguerite” is a guiding and wise being. The light, warm, colours and hazy imagery is spiritual in nature – beyond the tangible. Line and composition are minimalist and understated. Her extremely abstracted face enhances this ethereal quality. “To me, Marguerite is reassuring- a containment of that inner voice we have inside us that says everything will be fine” says Carlie. Her still life works are more dynamic and full of brushwork that swirls – creating motion and circular flows, in and out and around and around. Similarly, her fully abstracted style, while less representational, features the same soft, organic, undulating flows. Recently Carlie’s work has been informed by her environmental concerns, she has turned towards African Wildlife imagery. She combines bold flat colour with sensitive portrayals of wildlife – again trying to evoke moods within her subject matter, without relying on naturalistic representation.