ARTIST BIO:

Cris began making art in the mid-1990s, focusing on photography and mixed media, studying fine art at the University of Florida. She went on to pursue a PhD in Anthropology, and currently is a professor and practicing forensic anthropologist.  As a scientist in her everyday life, she has begun to balance this by revisiting art. What has emerged is an aesthetic which unites her seemingly disparate interests in both art and scientific observation: 3D botanical compositions using the traditional tools of specimen display. 

ARTIST STATEMENT:

I collect, organically preserve, and compose each item in my natural portraits, creating an intersection of seasonality and ecosystems. This process of searching for these objects in the world, easily ignored or crushed underfoot, requires that I slow down and pay attention to the environment, which even in an urban space has much to offer: niches of mushrooms hidden under fallen magnolia leaves, collections of moss next to a baseball field, a seed pod spiraling down from a tree. The works created from these objects relishes in the tiny details and whimsical architecture of nature.

SHOWS AND MARKETS:

2022:
Art Market @ The Literary, Champaign IL
Boneyard Arts Festival @ CU Flower House
In the News: Daily Illini

2021:
Made Fest @ Pygmalion
Summer Art Show, @ Blue Dragonfly Allerton Park

2020:
Virtual Misfit Market
Allerton Park Virtual Holliday Showcase
Allerton Park Summer Collaboration Art Series
Revelry Market, Imbibe Urbana

2019:
8 to Create 2019, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Boneyard Arts Festival @ Checkered Moon
Revelry Market, Imbibe Urbana
Myco Exhibit, Ivy House Gallery
Friday Night Live Artist Feature, Café Kopi
Allerton Park’s Summer Concert Series
Urbana’s Downtown Get Down
Crystal Lake Park Art Fair

2017-18:
Hopscotch Bakery + Market
Mistletoe Market, Imbibe Urbana

In the news:
8 to create