Christine Knowles

Medium: Pastel Painting

CREATIVE BEGINNINGS. Christine grew up in a family where making art was considered an essential part of a full and happy life. Christine played with painting, ceramics, and sculpture in her grandmother’s vast studio/barn. From early childhood on she visited the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim, and the Metropolitan as places for exploration and refuge. Although art has always been an important part of her life, she became an economist focusing on land use and public policy toward development.

ARTISTIC PATH. After moving to the Columbia River Gorge in the 1990s, Christine combined her passion for preserving the landscape with a serious focus on landscape painting. She devoted many years working en plein air along side other gorge painters working outside recording their their reactions to the awesome environment we live in.  

Christine works primarily in pastel which she loves for its portability, vibrancy, and ease of application. She has studied with some of the best pastel masters in the country, including Albert Handel, Richard McKinley, Stan Sperlak, and Diana Sanford. Christine is a signature member of the NorthWest Pastel Society (which signifies that her paintings have been juried into more than three international pastel shows.) 

INSPIRATION AND PROCESS. Increasingly, Christine’s work is in the studio, creating larger, more contemplative abstract pieces. She thinks of her work as on the edge between reality and abstraction. 

Christine begins with a mood, an idea, and sometimes some music. She applies texture, a few lines and shapes to the surface. Sometimes she uses watercolor or sumi ink. The rest of the process is an interaction between artist and the surface. The work evolves as a dance combining line, shape, and color into a personal statement. Christine claims that “sometimes it’s an experiment that doesn’t make it into a frame, but there is gratification when the color, texture, and composition align in an evocative statement.” 

LIFE AS A GORGE ARTIST. For Christine, art has been an extension of her interest in land use preservation and community involvement. She was a founding member of the Friends of the Gorge Land Trust and the Hood River Waterfront Park Development Committee. She has been a long-term participant and supporter of both Gorge Artists Open Studios and Columbia Center for the Arts. Her home and studio look out on the rocks, foliage and the river that define the Columbia  Gorge.

NOTE. Pastel is a delicate medium and so it is framed under glass. Christine uses anti-reflective, UV protective glass on her work. The glass should be cleaned with an ammonia-free cleaner and a soft cloth.

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