Today we’d like to introduce you to Charlene Waggoner.
Hi Charlene, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
My work uses fiber art and storytelling to create an interactive world where curiosity, conversation, and imagination complete the artwork.
I am a lifelong maker, storyteller, collector of overlooked things, recovering academic, and clean water fanatic. I discovered machine embroidery after receiving a sewing machine for my fiftieth birthday and have been fascinated ever since by the challenge of transforming my own drawings into embroidered sculptures, badges, books, and curious objects.
Working as much as possible with reclaimed fabrics, remnants, and machine embroidery, I translate two-dimensional sketches into expressive sculptural forms using stitch direction, texture, and color. Unlike a painter who can mix any color, my palette is limited to the fabrics and threads I discover. Some characters wait years for the right fabric to appear. Others introduce themselves the moment I stand in front of a bolt of cloth. Every denizen is designed, digitized, embroidered, and assembled in my studio.
As the cast of characters grew, so did their stories. Today they inhabit the WaggonsWest Traveling Chicken and Monster Show—an invitational storytelling environment where visitors step into the middle of an unfolding story. Every denizen has a history, whether I know it yet or not. Some tell me their stories immediately. Others wait until someone stops, smiles, asks a question, or shares a memory of their own. Those moments are the essential core of my work.
I create opportunities for discovery. A handmade object may spark a childhood memory, inspire an unexpected conversation, or invite someone to imagine a story that neither of us could have created alone. My hope is simple: that each visitor leaves with a smile, a little more curiosity than they arrived with, and the reminder that imagination is something we create together.
My work has been exhibited at fine art festivals throughout the United States and has received awards including Best in Class for Fiber at the Montevallo Arts Festival and Honorable Mention in Fiber at River Clay Arts.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Ever since I started cutting up my husband’s old jeans and selling them on the internet, he’s struggled to understand me. Fortunately, I discovered that the skills I’d spent a lifetime developing as a scientist—curiosity, observation, and experimentation—were exactly the skills I needed to become a fiber artist.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
The WaggonsWest Traveling Chicken and Monster Show is a place people come to visit. Wherever the waggon stops—whether at an art fair, online, or in the pages of one of my books—it comes to life.
It is inhabited by Very Shy Monsters, unruly llamas, curious denizens, and countless tales. Some drift by on a soft breeze, almost too quiet to hear. Others refuse to be ignored. Every visit is an invitation to smile, wonder, and imagine. There is always one more corner to explore, another unexpected connection to make, another tale waiting to unfold—if you’re paying attention.
The Traveling Chicken and Monster Show always tells the story of now. Its past is waiting to be unearthed, and its future is yet to be imagined. Visitors arrive in the middle of that story and are invited to make it their own. A little boy once carefully listened to every chicken before announcing that they were all named Bob. Now they don’t answer to anything else. A family returned a year after adopting a monster so their daughter could proudly show me the illustrated book she had created about it. That book didn’t become part of the Traveling Chicken and Monster Show. It became part of her family’s story, and that made my heart happy.
What sets my work apart is that while it is a collection of individual artworks, I think of it as a place where people can pause for a while. Sometimes they leave with a denizen. Sometimes they leave with an idea, a memory, or the beginning of a story. The most important story is the one they continue after they leave.
What I am most proud of is something that happens more often than you might expect. A visibly grumpy person pauses in front of the Traveling Chicken and Monster Show. They look up, notice something unexpected, and smile. It may be only a fleeting glimmer, but if you’re paying attention, you see it. For just a little while, the world is a little brighter than it was before the show came to town.
I make something more than a piece of art. I create a place where curiosity is rewarded, imagination is welcomed, and every visitor leaves with a story that didn’t exist before they arrived.
How do you think about luck?
I believe serendipity has played a much larger role in my life than luck. Looking back, some moments seemed wonderfully fortunate while others felt like they might be the end of the world.
What I’ve learned is that nearly every one of those moments contained a choice. Sometimes the choice was to follow a path I hadn’t planned. Sometimes it was to embrace a challenge I hadn’t wanted. Sometimes it was simply to look a little harder for the glimmer, even when its light was dim.
I choose to polish that glimmer until it shines a little brighter.
That philosophy eventually found its way into the Traveling Chicken and Monster Show through the Very Shy Monsters. They understand gloomy days better than most. For generations they have carried the burden of being known as the monsters under the bed. They know how easily fear can become a story. That’s why they collect glimmers of happiness—not to pretend gloomy days don’t exist, but to remind us that they aren’t the whole story.
To me, that’s what serendipity really is. It’s recognizing a glimmer and choosing not to walk past it. Choosing to polish it. Choosing to nurture it until it shines brightly enough for someone else to notice it too.
I choose to notice the glimmers. I hope everyone who visits the Traveling Chicken and Monster Show leaves with one of their own.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://waggonswest.com
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/waggonswest
- Facebook: http://facebook.com/waggonswest
