Charles Strong was born in Greeley, Colorado in 1938 and spent over fifty years exploring Abstract Expressionism. The work of Clyfford Still made an impression as a young artist. In 1959 he enrolled at the California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco, the alma mater of artists such as Richard Diebenkorn and Frank Lobdell. As such, he would come to be associated with the San Francisco School of Abstract Expressionism.

As a child, Strong had often visited Taos, New Mexico with his father. He returned to the area to settle in Ranchos de Taos in 1989, and remained an active and generous member of the art community and community at large in Taos until his passing in 2013.