Meet Charlene Waggoner | Recovering academic and river advocate.

We had the good fortune of connecting with Charlene Waggoner and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Charlene, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?

I can’t actually say that I pursued an artistic or a creative career. I think I evolved into my current iteration of a creative life more than actually deciding to go in that direction.
I come from a family of makers. My parents were always making as were my siblings. We didn’t have the latest anything but we always had the raw materials to make whatever we could imagine. Sewing, cooking, drawing, making paper forts, working with clay, digging, planting, painting, broom making. We were able to try our hand at whatever occurred to us.  I have always had some sort of project at hand. I sold Christmas ornaments in grade school. I designed and made my own clothes through high school. It was making hand painted garments that helped get me through grad school and beyond. I started quilting when my children were small. I learned to make soap and candles and… and… and….

My early career was as a research biologist and then serving on the faculty at a midwestern college teaching biology and environmental studies to non-science majors. There are a lot of similarities between figuring out how to design an experiment to test a hypothesis or how to create laboratory lesson to inspire learning and figuring out how to construct and test a plushie. There is a lot of trial and error and serendipitous events along the way. In many ways, I go about creating a new creature in the same way I used to set up my experiments. My fabric notes are not as meticulous as my lab notebooks but you would probably be able to tell they were done by the same person.

Life circumstances caused me to move away from my faculty position and I never managed to return. Now I am a recovering academic who spends much of my time as president of an environmental non-profit and the rest of my time making things that make me laugh.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My internet avatar is WaggonsWest. It comes from the many years I spent traveling between Colorado and Ohio combined with the belief that if my father had been born a hundred years earlier, my family would have been on a wagon train headed west. Of course, I would have made a terrible pioneer as I can never keep track of my needle!

The Traveling Chicken and Monster Show is a throwback to the salesmen traveling the countryside in horse drawn wagons. Except my waggon is drawn by three unruly llamas named Cora, Luna and Darlene. It is inhabited by a variety of denizens each with their own story. The stories sometimes come to me as I make them. Sometimes the children who visit my booth tell me the stories. One little boy let me know, after talking to each one in turn that the chickens were all named Bob. Cora, Luna and Darlene came from a little girl who explained to me that the llamas would be much less unruly if I called them by name. One little girl would visit regularly and finally picked out a monster. She eventually wrote and illustrated a book about her monster. It is that sort of thing that makes me happy.

And it is that connection to the patrons of my shop that forms one of the most important lessons I have learned. People want to know the story of art. More importantly, they want to be part of the story. Giving people a place to share in the process is why I am inspired to continue to create.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Assuming there isn’t a fire ban, our day will start with sourdough pancakes cooked over the open fire. We might then pop in to South Park Pottery and probably a make a stop at South Park City for a photo op with the train and the Mosquito Range in the background. Dinner at Millonzi’s is always good. Fishing at the ‘beach or up Buckskin Gulch might also be on the agenda. If we come down from the mountains, we will spend time at Golden City Brewery on 12th Street in Golden. It always has great beer and the best beer garden in the city. If my guests are family, we might make a trip around some of the old home sites in Cherry Creek and visit the cemetery in Evergreen.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
First and foremost, I have to shoutout my family: My sister, Janine Sturdavant, who is an amazing artist and who is always pushing to have me do more and my brother Todd with whom I built a log cabin (small playhouse size) from recovered nails. My three boys, whose shenanigans caused me to make the original traveling chickens. And my dear husband who schlepps my tent, organizes my threads and expects me to be able to figure it out when he wants to be a dump truck or a mailbox for Halloween. I also have to shoutout my creative friends. Karen Miller of Binx Ceramics is my creative twin in another medium. We constantly share ideas and she challenges me to keep up with her brilliant silliness. Jeffrey Johnson @redherringjeff is another source of wisdom and inspiration.

Website: http://waggonswest.etsy.com

Instagram: http://instagram.com/waggonswest

Facebook: http://facebook.com/waggonswest

Image Credits
Becky Fuller Merlin Whitman