September News

Hi Friends,
 

As the seasons shift, I hope you are finding time to enjoy autumn's splendor. September was an exceptional month of creative work and collaboration for me. Here's a peak at some highlights.

Thanks for your support of my creative work.

In gratitude,

Christen

"Arabesque," 16 x 16 inches, oil on canvas, available at Matzke Fine Art

 The 16th Annual Art Auction
September 6 through October 4

I have a watermelon painting in the Matzke Auction this year! Check out the many art offerings and “feather the nest” while showing some love to your local artists and galleries. A portion of all proceeds directly benefits the artists.

How the Auction Works

View the art
https://www.matzkefineart.com/16th-annual-art-auction/

Contact Karla Matzke to place your bid 360-387-2759 or matzke@camano.net.

 

Watercoloring at my workbench while on residency on Lummi Island

Convening Bodies Art Residency

I recently returned from an artist residency called Convening Bodies which provided a time of fellowship, research, and artmaking on Lummi Island. A pilot program launched by artists Jenny Hawkinson and Paige King, Convening Bodies was created to  “support a coming together as a counter politic in a time of hyper-individualism and climate and societal emergencies, to foster supportive discourse, deep listening, the sharing of creative practices and knowledges, restoration, and making.” We were joined by remote artist-residents via Zoom from as far away as Kenya and New York!

Collaborative eye drawing by high school students at The Fairhaven Program. Study of oil painted eye from "St Catherine of Alexandria" by Caravaggio.

Teaching

This Fall, I returned to The Fairhaven Program to teach drawing to a keen group of high school students. Recently, I overheard them talking about how they couldn’t draw eyes. So I divided the class into teams and gave each team part of a large, cut-up image of an eye without telling them what it was. They had about 15 minutes to replicate the shades of light and shadow using charcoal and white chalk. At the end, we jigsawed the drawings together and a beautiful eye was revealed. As Morandi said, “There is nothing more abstract than reality.” I hope the students come away with a fresh sense of the strangeness of the “ordinary”, and a feeling of empowerment to draw anything and everything. We have our final session next week–I will miss these lively interactions!