In the spring of 1999 Charlie returned to his alma mater, Guilford College, to teach a class for one semester. He had been living in Atlanta, Georgia, making pottery full time. It was supposed to be a short-term assignment, a semester at Guilford, then on to graduate school and beyond. That one class became a part- time position running the ceramics program. Charlie decided to stay at Guilford and has been there ever since.

For the past fifteen years Charlie has been exploring painting on pots and using an ash based glaze over an oxide wash and mason stain wash. He has chosen to work with this limited palate, basically four materials, two ash glazes and two washes. In doing so, Charlie has made many discoveries about these materials over time, and continues to examine fired pots to uncover and investigate the complexities of how application of wash and glaze change in the firing process.