Christine So
Christine So
Oakland, CA, United States
About Christine So
I am a native of San Francisco, California now living in the woods on the sunny side of the bay in Oakland. My work has recurring themes of plants, woods, dawn, sunlight, new chances and new beginnings. Morning is a metaphor and nature is a balm. The outdoors, my own garden, the woods and hiking trails are a comfort. They are pure, constant and unfazed by our human dramas. Nature reminds us the simplest of lessons: that not everything of value or beauty can be bought. Trees, branches and leaves- their symmetry and asymmetry, their patterns and translucence - fascinate me. For two years as a child, my vision gradually worsened to where I could no longer see the leaves on trees or anything from a distance. By the time I was 10, it was clear I needed glasses. I have a sharp memory of walking out of the optometrist’s with my new glasses on and what astonished me were the thousands of separate leaves on each tree, each one shivering in the breeze and glowing in the sunlight. I don’t know how many years I hadn’t been able to see that sight. To this day, the sun glowing behind leaves either in early morning or late afternoon is still one of the most beautiful things to me, arresting in the way a sunrise or a sunset is to others. It reminds me our eyesight is a gift, and neither good health nor long life are guaranteed. With my years of experience in printmaking, I often try to transfer effects from printmaking to my paintings or cyanotypes. I mimic aquatints’ soft tonal gradations in my multiple-exposure cyanotypes and pile layer over layer as one does in making multiple-plate block prints and monoprints. I cycle back and forth from one medium to another. This energizes me and sparks fresh ideas of things to try. I am endlessly curious. Nothing excites me more than coming up with a new technique. The one constant in my art is I will continue to explore new media, merge different media and try alternative ways of using a familiar medium as long as I’m making art. I have worked in ten different mediums, but my newest is cyanotypes, an alternative 19th century photographic process. Cyanotypes use light-sensitive chemicals to create an image on paper without a camera. It’s like printmaking without a printing press or a plate. It's a bit like a hybrid of an x-ray and monoprint with some watercolor painting thrown in. I invent ways to manipulate the silhouettes as they are slowly forming. After applying light-sensitive cyanotype emulsion to watercolor paper, I alter the shades of blue exposing some parts of the paper to sunlight less time than other parts. I create multiple exposures of a branch moving it around in measured amounts and re-exposing it, creating an effect similar to multiple plate block prints or etchings. I achieve painterly effects by placing wet objects on the photosensitive paper I have dried, or when I place dry objects on the still wet photosensitive paper. I also “paint” on treated paper with water while it’s in sunlight blurring edges of shapes to where they resemble watercolor paintings. I might bleach a blue print yellow. Or I may print a new layer of blue over a previous yellow “toned” print, making shades of green. I have more than one interest and theme in my art: injustice, corruption and the destruction of our planet are among them. Artists, like everyone, are affected by the world around them. I donate proceeds from my art sales to nonprofits. I feel compelled to make political pieces as I live new history daily. Many of these are cyanotypes. Eight of my political cyanotypes about immigrants were exhibited in Venice, Italy in a mural of pieces from over 100 printmakers. The show, ImMigration, was displayed October 2019 at the Scuola Internazionale di Grafica. My cyanotypes, etchings, aquatints, block prints, monotypes, oil and acrylic paintings, stone, clay and bronze sculptures are in private collections in the U.S., the U.K., Spain, France, Germany, Ireland and Australia. https://www.instagram.com/christinesogallery/
Education:
Institut Méditerranéen d'Etudes Françaises
Montpellier, France
California College of the Arts,
Oakland, California
Facultad de Bellas Artes: Universidad La Complutense,
Madrid, Spain
San Francisco State University, California
Bachelor's in Spanish,
Master's in English
Events:
Publications:
"The Hand Magazine"
July 2020
issue #29
Events:
February 29, 2020
Oakland Technical High School Annual Auction
Oakland California
Fall 2019 Sale Lamorinda Arts Alliance
October 5
Lafayette, California
September 22, 2019
Lafayette Art & Wine Festival
Lafayette, California
July 10, 2019 "Conversations Through Art," an event organized by the North Carolina nonprofit Empathy Through Art which uses art to spark conversations about how to make our communities more dementia friendly. My donated painting about Lewy Bodies Dementia was displayed.
2019 East Bay Open Studios, Oakland, Ca
Exhibitions:
June - August 2020
Oakland Art Association Summer 2020 Online Show
Oakland, California
April-May 2020
Facing Contemporary Issues
The Tides Galleries
San Francisco, California
April 2020
The Ground Upon Which We Stand
Abrams Claghorn Gallery
Albany, California
March - June 2020
Aspen Surgery Center Exhibition
John Muir Hospital
Walnut Creek, California
January - February 2020
Garden of Life (solo show)
Workstation West
Berkeley, California
January 2020
ImMigration 2
Self Help Graphics and Art
Los Angeles, California
January 2020
Annual Members Exhibition
Berkeley Art Center
Berkeley, California
October - December 2019
The Affordable Art Show
Village Theatre Art Gallery
Danville, California
October 2019
ImMigration
Gallery of Scuola Internazionale di Grafica
Venice, Italy
August 2019
Aqueous
Las Laguna Gallery
Laguna Beach, CA
July- September 2019
Imagined
ArtVale Gallery
Oakland, California
July-August 2019
Works on Paper
Webster Arts
St. Louis, Missouri
July-August 2019
Into the Blue
Village Theatre Art Gallery
Livermore, California
June 2019
A Warm Palette
Lindsay Dirkx Brown Gallery
San Ramon, California
June-August 2019
2019 Members’ Show
Richmond Art Center
Richmond, California
May 2019
Looking Out My Back Door
Main Street Arts
Martinez, California
May-June 2019
Coastal
Art Works Downtown gallery
San Rafael, California
April 2019
Art of Mind
Imurj
Raleigh, North Carolina