Hello, my name is Chrissa. Hopefully you are reading this extremely interesting
information about me because you have seen my art and like it. People have been asking me the same bloody
questions for years now, and so I am finally leaving the television in order to address them. Not watching
tv for an hour is a big deal…but you are a big deal, so here it goes.
I was born in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and grew up in Greendale, WI. It was a very suburban neighborhood-y
kind of place. I was always a bit “unique” for the society, but I had a bunch of friends, so it was okay
when I dressed weird in high school. I grew up as an only child until I turned 14. That’s when one of my
favorite people ever was born, my brother, Jon. He’s a freakin’ genius.
I went to college when I was 16 and after a stint at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, graduated
in 1992 from University of Milwaukee-Wisconsin with a BFA in painting and drawing. The highlight for me was
in my junior year when I applied for and won the Ruth Milofsky Scholarship. The scholarship was awarded to
one individual in the Fine Arts Department. They looked at actors, dancers, musicians and fine artists. It
was a big deal to me. It didn’t even matter that someone STEPPED on one of my drawings. ...guess I probably
shouldn’t show work taped to the floor… oh well. I won.
Seattle is where I live now. I went to Arizona for a couple of years and moved here for the rain. There is
just too much freaking sun in Arizona! Swimming was great, but vampires like darkness to sleep in. …now
that I think about it, do vampires swim…probably not. Anyway, Seattle is fabulous. I live with my husband
Kevin, my dog Monkey, and my insanely cool cat named Monster. I have recently left my career to do my
artwork full time. So here I am now, making art, poor, life is lovely.
My work consists of two very separate, very different series at this time. One is a very meaningful,
fulfilling type of work and is figurative. I paint and draw women and sometimes girls who hold something
mysterious. When I am working, I think of trying to evoke a spirit. My figures are representational of
people you see while walking down the street, or in a restaurant and look twice at. I believe angels
walk among us, not knowing they are…and that they are meant to communicate with us in a subconscious
manner. People ask me all the time what my figures are thinking about, and tell me there is “just
something about them”. Good.
Most of my figures have tell-tales and are missing limbs, or have closed or damaged eyes. When I work
on these they are telling my autobiography at the time. Even though I do not make self portraits, I
always get asked if I do, and it is in this way that they are.
My second series I am involved in is my “Glitter Toilet Series”. It’s exactly that - acrylic on canvas,
paintings of toilets with glitter seats. This series started while I was in college and has had many
faces, if you will, including prints, photos, painting on wood, and now has evolved for the moment to
canvas and heavy use of glitter. These are big sellers…I don’t know. I can tell you that when you put
one in your bathroom, it’s pretty damn cool.
Some of my favorite artists include Egon Schiele, Gustav Klimpt, Man Ray, Rothko, Milton Avery, Edward
Gorey, Andy Warhol, Cindy Sherman, Paul Castor, Edward Steichen, Julia Margaret Cameron, Diane Arbus,
and locals Erin Norlin, Kamala Dolphin-Kingsley, Tory Franklin, Jaq Chartier, Tomiko Jones, Jenna Colby,
Beatrice Billard, Faryn Davis, Saya Moriyasu, Jenny Zwick, Sara Lanzillotta, Cassandria Blackmore, and
Claire Johnson. I’m more visual than literary, hence the television addiction, but when I do read it’s
Ernest Hemmingway, Milan Kundera, David Sedaris, or random biographies. I do NOT read People or Us. I
don’t. Someone left like 30 of them at my house. They are NOT mine. Um, really.
So, I’ll end my bio with a never ending question I get and also pay homage to my favorite material to
work with - Glitter. Had Mariah’s film never come out, I would embrace the ‘glitter girl’ nickname that
had started, but now, it’s not going to happen. Why do I use it? Well, I hate to tell you that there
is no intellectual or even interesting answer for you. It’s sparkly. Take me shopping and you’ll see.
If it’s sparkly, makes noise, or moves, I will pay attention to it and that’s why you don’t want to go
shopping with me unless you have all damn day.
It seems like I’ve answered any and all questions there could be about myself, but if there’s still one
more you’re dying to know you can now go to my new website and type away.
Thanks,
Chrissa-
ChrissaStar Studios
8814 15th Avenue NE
Seattle, WA 98115
tel 206 407 6914
chrissastar@yahoo.com
All images © 2006 ChrissaStar LLC
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