About

Melissa McChristian

I majored in Fine Arts at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. After graduating in 2010 with a Bachelors in Fine Art. after college I went on a path of self discovery and healing through art making.

My work/life balance was tricky. I worked on my creative skills using collage, printmaking, and portraiture to find a new way to express myself. After my son was diagnosed with AML M7 in 2014, I started painting and drawing portraits of friends, families, pets and loved ones we had met at the hospital, who have since passed. Eventually, I decided to look inward after the loss of my son in 2016. Focusing on art as Therapy, desperately grasping to anything creative to get me through. By using materials in unconventional ways I was able to express my overwhelming feelings of grief. This allowed me to work without boundaries or limitations. Nothing mattered except surviving, self expression and creating.

My current work is explosive and provocative. I find a balance between colors, telling a vibrant story of anger and life. The movement from the brush strokes and kinetic energy pulls the viewer in with curiousity. Conflicting materials create the most intriguing results. Experimentation is how we learn new things, and because of this, I am constantly evolving as an artist.

For me, controversy isn’t about instigation, but rather, a way to arrest your audience. It’s a way to plant a little bit of desire in their hearts; a yearning to come take a closer look and learn more about themselves through art.