Artist’s Reception for Christine Sullivan. Felt: Unraveling Social Norms, Friday Oct 13, 5-7pm at Aurelia Gallery, 414 Canyon Road, Santa Fe

Wool felt converted into a canvas for screen printing; with layers and added felt shapes, she pushes the boundaries of this versatile material, creating pieces that challenge conventional thinking.

Christine Sullivan is a New Mexico-based artist.

After a long career as the owner of a graphic design practice in NYC, working with clients like Guggenheim Museum and Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, she now lives in Santa Fe. Here, she dedicates herself wholeheartedly to the pursuit of her multi-disciplinary, conceptual craft.

In 2022, Sullivan exhibited “Choice” in Albuquerque as part of the “Soul of a Nation” billboard project by Save Art Space. Earlier that year, she created “Hope Dies Last,” an art installation in Santa Fe’s Railyard, paying homage to Studs Terkel, the social justice advocate.

In 2020-21, Sullivan received a grant from the City of Santa Fe for “Felt During COVID,” a community art project showcased at the Public Library gallery, with proceeds from a virtual auction benefiting the Navajo Nation COVID Response Fund.

In 2020, her work “Flowers Grow Out of Dark Moments—Corita Kent” graced a billboard outside SITE Santa Fe as part of the museum’s “2020 Silver Linings” project. Sullivan’s art continues to evolve, leaving a lasting impact on our cultural landscape.

ARTIST’S STATEMENT

Christine Sullivan, a multidisciplinary and conceptual artist, uses wool felt to transcend its humble origins and become a vehicle for challenging, subverting, and reimagining the most entrenched societal norms and icons.

Sullivan blends the tactile warmth of felt with the power of visual language. Through paint, screenprint, and fiber, she invites viewers to engage in a dialogue that confronts established paradigms and exposes them to fresh perspectives. Sullivan revels in the quirky, the crafty, and the unconventional reputation of felt, using it as a vehicle to highlight the grandiose messaging found in religious, political, and corporate realms.

Her felt abstract geometric creations, inspired by her earlier hard-edge paintings, play with past and present and rigid and supple. Often these works are the reimagining of ubiquitous symbols and logos that have ingrained themselves into the fabric of our daily existence. They are deconstructed, shedding their familiar meanings and acquiring a new, enigmatic allure that beguiles and enchants.

Consider, for instance, a shape that traces its origins to the iconic McDonald’s golden arches—an emblematic symbol of fast food and consumer culture. In Sullivan’s reinterpretation, this symbol transcends its original connotations, inviting the viewer to traverse uncharted realms of interpretation. The viewer is compelled to engage with this familiar yet enigmatic motif, rendering its significance deeply personal and intriguing.

Furthermore, Sullivan often converts wool felt into a canvas for screen printing. With layers and added felt shapes, she pushes the boundaries of this versatile material, creating thought-provoking pieces that challenge conventional thinking.

RESUME:

EDUCATION

Art Students League of New York

Diversity, Inclusion and Activism with Boyce Cummings Non-Objective, Painting, Color and Design with James Little

Art Center College of Design, Continuing Ed, Pasadena, CA Studies in Computer Graphics and Graphic Design

UCLA Continuing Ed, Los Angeles, CA

Studies in Graphic Design and Design Production

British Design & Art Direction, London, UK Conceptual Portfolio Workshop

State University of New York at Albany B.A., English Literature and Studio Art

Fashion Institute of Technology, NYC A.A.S, Advertising and Communications

ART

2022 Save Art Space, Soul of a Nation billboard exhibition, Albuquerque, NM

2022 The Art Students League of NY, Diversity, Inclusion and Activism Student Salon 2022 Railyard Park, Santa Fe, NM, Hope Dies Last public art installation

PRESS: Pasatiempo/Santa Fe New Mexican, Christine Sullivan at the Railyard Park by Michael Abatemarco

2022 Santa Fe Main Public Library Gallery, Felt During COVID exhibition PRESS: KRQE TV, Santa Fe art show features peoples’ COVID experience

2021 PechaKucha, Felt Words, Center for Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe, NM

2021 O’Hanlon Center for the Arts, Mill Valley, CA, Women Artists Making Their Mark

Strange Daily: May We Be Well

2020 City of Santa Fe Culture Connects Grant, Felt During COVID project

PRESS: Pasatiempo/Santa Fe New Mexican How They Felt: Felt During COVID by Jennifer Levin; Santa Fe Reporter Felt That by Alex De Vore;

Pasatiempo A Banner Time: DIY Felt Art at the Santa Fe Library by Jason Strykowski

2020

SITE Santa Fe, Silver Linings billboard project

Flowers Grow Out of Dark Moments/Corita Kent

2019

New Mexico Arts, Railyard District and future site of Art Vladem Contemporary You Are Here/Estas Aqui temporary exhibit

DESIGN

2001 – 2019 Creative Director and Founder of CSTUDIODESIGN, NYC cstudiodesign.com

CLIENTS: The Museum of Indian Arts + Culture, Santa Fe, NM; Guggenheim Museum; The New Press, independent publishers; Lower Manhattan Cultural Council; NY State Council on the Arts; National Lawyers Guild; The Armory Show; UN Women; Kim Center for Social Balance; Code for Social Good; DDB Advertising and others

2019 Adjunct Professor, Electronic Design+Multimedia, The City College of New York Portfolio Design for Graduating Seniors

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