Philadelphia native Charles Searles attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and on graduation travelled to West Africa with support from a Cresson Traveling Scholarship. He taught at the Ife-Ife Black Humanitarian Center in Philadelphia (where he developed the visual art program with fellow artist Barbara Bullock) as well as the University of the Arts, commuting back to Philadelphia after a 1978 move to New York City. He was keenly interested in African art and greatly influenced by his travel in Nigeria and Ghana. In 2013, concurrent exhibitions were presented at LaSalle University Art Museum, Woodmere Art Museum, and Tyler School of Art to celebrate the artist's career. Searles is included in the collections of the Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Howard University Art Gallery, and the David C. Driskell Center, among many others.
