Crista Carr Shatz

cell:     (314) 401-9797
email:  cristacarr@gmail.com

 

 

Artist
Multimedia Paintings, Textiles and Ice/Glass Installations

Color is the language spoken. The forces of nature are the subject of inquiry.

The weight of air. Water in all its phases, especially ice. The bounce of light. Gravity. Tectonic movement. Weather. Glaciers. Inevitably, the sea and sky. The interconnectedness between the vast and the infinitesimal.

"Making art about powerful physical forces requires that I use my own power of expression with all the strength I can muster. Paint and textiles are formats that allow exploration of the balance between structure and randomness, the hidden and the revealed, the self-evident and the metaphorical. The ephemeral ice and glass pieces are a more conceptual and literal way of addressing the same issues."

Designer
Though fundamentally a painter, the drive to "make things" has led to an abiding interest in the interface between fine and utilitarian art.  Crista Carr Shatz Handpainted Fabrics, a nationally distributed line of custom painted silks and cottons, is one manifestation of a lifetime love of cloth. Furnishings, fashion, jewelry, performance and installation done solo and with other artists are the inevitable result of Crista's natural impulse towards collaboration.

Educator 
A third generation teacher, Crista has always taken an interdisciplinary approach to art education, building on the same basic visual elements of line, shape color, texture and composition, no matter the age of the student or material used. From pre-school to older adults, artistic expression is seen not only as an essential and universal form of human communication but a reinforcer of all learning.

A supporter of scientific literacy, Crista's long-term ambitions include becoming knowledgeable enough in anthropology and earth sciences to teach those subjects which inform and inspire her art.