Today we’d like to introduce you to Christina Galagarza
Christina, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I’ve been making art my entire life. After I went to art school, I pursued many other creative pursuits to pay the bills.
My artistic journey began anew in January 2020 with a practical focus: flowers for commercial commissions. Working from a spare bedroom/office space in a Philadelphia rental home, I quickly realized that oil painting, my first love, was incompatible with the carpeted space.
Driven by necessity, I briefly transitioned to digital art, followed by a year of watercolor and acrylic experimentation inspired by my digital work. In my favorite flow, I am absorbed in distortion, and the nuances of mark-making, and I yearned for the tangible quality of oil paint.
In 2021, I reclaimed the basement space in my childhood home, making it a more suitable environment for oil painting. My aging parents were delighted to have me back doing what I had always loved. That year, I created numerous oil paintings of wedding flower bouquets, a commission service that filled me with excitement and hope.
Unfortunately, my marriage began to crumble towards the end of the year, culminating in a divorce the following year. Despite my efforts to continue the service, my heart was heavy, and my motivation waned. By the end of summer 2023, I had lost all interest in preserving wedding flower bouquets and began reevaluating my intentions for art-making.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Struggling to let go of a motif I had embraced for a few years, I yearned to return to figurative art, a foundational element of my artistic expression since I was 14. This transition is current as I navigate the tension between the familiar and the new.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’ve been making art my entire life. I’m a painter, collector, jewelry maker, and object maker. The materials I choose for each project embody the spirit or vibe of my subjects: flowers, people, and heart-centered reactions to love stories, community, collective action, and nature. My physical environment informs the execution of each project, and my private practice is poetic, cathartic, necessary to my well-being, and emotionally uplifting for my audience and art collectors.
At this stage, I am most passionate about creating an enriching environment for others to get started or continue their creative exploration casually and playfully. LOLA New Hope serves as that space on the New Hope Arts campus.
Interested in a private art session or a fun group workshop? Let’s set up a time to talk!
[email protected]
@christinagalagarza_art
What were you like growing up?
Awkward, horse girl, teen bop lover, trend follower, boy crazy, art > dinner kind of teenager
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.christinagalagarza.com
- Instagram: @christinagalagarza_art
