Kite Flyer Art

"With everything in me, I believe that art is entirely relational. My greatest desire is to depict humanity in a way that would make us reconsider how we interact with everyday life. We spend every moment of our lives entangled in a world around us.  Art should serve the purpose of causing us to pause, view something abstracted from the “every-day,” and then return us to those entangled lives to evaluate what we’ve just seen in relation to the world."  --Christina Steele
 

I am honored to have my sister-in-law, Christina Steele, as the first feature artist for the Hearts in the Arts page.  Her work truly moves the spirit and echoes through the soul.   I asked her when she first started getting interested in art and she could not think of a time that creating has not been woven through her very being. She might just wither away if she wasn't allowed to create anymore, surely from lack of artistic oxygen.  She recalls, "My mom couldn't throw anything away.  I used to pull the Pringles cans out of the trash and then justify their residence in my art box, to be repurposed in the future as part of a project.  It drove her absolutely crazy!" 

Christina was born in 1985 and grew up in Colorado.  Her art became more disciplined and intentional around the age of twelve.  She encountered and struggled through several difficult life-changing events, which led to numerous religious ventures, but none so dramatically altering as the grace of the Gospel.  Her art no longer depicted her ache, but now rejoices in the exchange for freedom.  Her freedom is her flight.  Her flight is symbolized in Kite Flyer Art. 

"Kite Flyer Art was birthed out of an early childhood desire to fly. I was never more right with the world than when I dreamt of flying or felt a strong gust of wind rip under the thin plastic wings of my kite to send it soaring."  Christina's pieces are significantly symbolic and she tends to focus on depth and context.  She describes herself as a sort of creative chameleon and absorbs her surroundings and environment, in turn, her work often features a quote, passage, or excerpt from some other artist.  Every part of her testimony can be seen in her brush strokes and ink lines.  From her most recent canvas to her earliest sketchbooks, they all tell a sequential story. "I was driven to use art as a conduit to communicate a relationship I had with the Lord that had gone to the very depths of who I was and brought life. Brought flight."  

You can see Christina's graphite, ink, oil, and acrylic fine art on her Etsy page, Kite Flyer Art.  Stop by to take a peek at her latest endeavor in fiber arts, dying and painting up-cycled ballet pointe shoes.  Trust me, you'll want to see these beauties, both her mother and I agree that they are  much more elegant than Pringles cans!