“There’s something about taking paper and through imagination turning it into something completely different that always excites and amazes me. It connects for me with the power of the imagination to transform.”
about Milly
Milly Charles lives and works in Nyack, NY. She was born in NYC into a theater family and worked in the theater for many years as an actor, dancer and choreographer in the U.S. and abroad. Her art practice was something that she did “on the side” for the joy of it. She was always taking art classes, drawing, doodling, painting, or collaging something.
Milly landed in California for a visit that turned into decades. She acted, danced and choreographed there while studying at Otis College of Art and Design, painting, drawing and yes collaging. Later, while raising her family she opened Lily Pad Preschool, in Los Angeles, which she ran for 12 years. When the pandemic hit and her preschool closed she put up her easel and started making art full time. Milly’s art is now in exhibitions and private collections.
Artist Statement
When I’m involved in the creative process I lose my smaller self in the larger river of spirit, soul and beauty– in flow with life. For me it’s about paying attention, opening my senses, intuition, and noticing the miraculous that exists in the “ordinary” around us and within us and becoming aware of the unseen connection that joins us all together.
There is so much chaos, violence, inequality, and suffering in the world, and there is love, connection, compassion and beauty all existing simultaneously. Through art I explore these forces, and a possibility of people living in harmony with ourselves, nature and other beings–in everyday moments that are sacred and beautiful.
“This my dear is the greatest challenge to being alive: To witness injustice in the world and not allow it to consume our light.” Thich Naht Hanh
The Process: Painting with Paper
I’ve always loved paper, the colors, textures, patterns, tones–the feel, look, even at times the smell. It’s a very sensual medium. From a very young age I loved to experiment with collage. There’s an alchemy involved, finding how the papers interact with each other, when layered or put next to each other, or scraped away that can be quite intuitive and magical.
I “paint” with paper; hand cutting, tearing and gluing paper onto stretched canvas. Many of my collages have hundreds of individually cut or torn pieces that create the images on the canvas. I also use scraping as a kind of excavation tool, after building up layers, to let what is underneath emerge. I use a matte or gloss medium to adhere, coat and seal the paper.
The papers I use vary from plain brown wrapping paper, newspaper, tissue paper, origami paper, scraps of painted paper, to handmade papers from Japan, Korea and Nepal.
Exhibitions
2026 Art Council of Rockland (ACOR) Hidden Treasury Gallery, New City, NY–upcoming Sept 2026
2025 Juried Spring Group Exhibition. Edward Hopper House and Museum, Nyack, NY
2024 Winter Salon Group Exhibition. Perry Lawson Fine Arts, Nyack, NY
2023 Artist and Makers Exhibition, Woodstock Arts Association and Museum, Woodstock, NY
Commissions
2024 Commission for Theater for New Works production of Step
Right Up M’am, The Overture Center, Madison Wisconsin. The
production featured three female actors performing works by three
women writers. The theme was women’s resilience. Three collages
were commissioned, they were then scanned and printed on
banners to be displayed on the stage. The artwork was a visual
interpretation of the stories these women tell.
Education
Nick Buhalis, Woodstock, NY
The Art Students League, NYC
Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, CA
