We were lucky to catch up with Chris Tanner recently and have shared our conversation below.

Chris, appreciate you joining us today. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?

I am so grateful that I am an artist and that I can work through all the challenges , memories and dreams of the past present and future through my work as an artist.
Making art for me is somewhere between praying and meditation, it’s an intense but freeing exercise where I am just working through till the end of the session that day sometimes in total quiet ,sometimes with music , but in always feeling like I’ve really done something wonderful with my life at the end of the day.. I can’t imagine what my life would have been like without art making. Since I was a very small child toddler I have always made art. There were times in my life that I stopped making visual ,art and made performance art ,written plays, performed in other people‘s plays, act in films and videos which have been a great part of my art as well as the visual art. But there has always been something wonderful about the stillness in my studio just working for hours on an artwork that fills me like nothing else. I always know deep in my heart that Art will always save me.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

At an early age as a toddler I began drawing and creating art. I always found that working through my memories and dreams of past present and future was a cathartic and satisfying journey for me to take in my life. Making art has always been somewhere between praying and meditation and has been away for me to communicate with the world around me from as long as I can remember. I am a visual artist and a performance artist I have always been an outsider and I have found my strongest confidence and the way to navigate through my life was to make art. I know that Art will always save me

How did you build your audience on social media?

I am a visual artist as well as a performance artist/storyteller, I live in New York City and my mother and brother we’re living in Northern California and I started spending half of my time taking care of my family in California then returning to New York city where my home is. My mother and brother we’re in the last years of their life and so I started interviewing them and putting(mostly my mother‘s interviews) on Instagram and Facebook and found that it was cathartic for her, me and the audience getting their stories out to the public. I am
christannerart on Instagram.
I started telling my own stories of my life in my studio with my paintings in the background . I mixed the stories of my life with my art making process with the audience and found it very rewarding in many ways and another way to talk to my audience through performance and my visual work because you don’t need an art gallery or theater, all you need is your camera on your phone, so I found this a perfect way to get my stories and Art out to the audience without having to raise money to rent a theater or find a gallery to do this for me, I just decided to do it myself and I have found it very rewarding to me and I inspire you to do it for yourself especially in these difficult times to get your stories out to the audience because we can’t make art in a vacuum, and it feels much better to take charge of your own art and life.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

I have found that Greatmovies, mostly old But also knew have been a major inspiration and a way to find what most inspires me in art making and history that I feel close to
To choose what I want to create in my life with my art. At a very early age when I was probably a toddler I first saw the Wizard of Oz and the fantasy color glitter romance and story thrilled me beyond belief and Lead me to other movies and on and on and on and has been a great source for my art making

Contact Info:

• Website: https://christophertannerarts.com
• Instagram: christannerart
• Facebook: Chris Tanner