Artist Christina Spann considers art a conversation or a symphony.
“There is this multi-sensory physical dialogue with the various art media within my reach, and often feels like I am conducting a symphony,” Spann said.
Spann’s abstract paintings are in a four-person exhibit called “Four Takes” at the K. Newby Gallery and Sculpture Garden in Tubac. Running through Friday, Jan. 3, the show intends to unite four voices that challenge, inspire and redefine the boundaries of perception.
She has six pieces featured in the exhibit, including “Mélange 1, 2, 3 and 4,” installed together as a quadriptych.
“My paintings lay bare the breadth and depth of human emotion, sometimes thunderous and sometimes subtle,” Spann said.
“Applications of paint, brush and line create two- and three-dimensional depictions of my soul responding to nature. A tension is created between the quiet, close-up drawings and the bold abstract forms that float in and out of a single space, resulting in an expressive yet precarious balance.”
She also exhibits her work in Tucson where she has three paintings on display in the lobby gallery of the Miraval Resort.
Spann grew up in Texas until the age of 6, when her family moved to Scottsdale, “back in the day when there were Apache tears in the alleyways.” She called her time at Coronado High School as the “yearbook queen who did everything.”
“I was the lead dancer, the art person. I was in parades,” she said. “I had a fabulous upbringing, even though we had zero money. Our father died in a plane crash. It was a long time ago. I had a really supportive, happy upbringing. I was told to just do my best.
“When my dad passed, my mother got her master’s degree in math and took care of us. I have great siblings. We all supported each other.”
She earned a BFA in fine arts drawing and painting from ASU (1975) and master’s work in printmaking from UC Santa Barbara. She began her career as a painter and art teacher.
“I moved to San Francisco and was painting these surrealistic architecture paintings in my 20s,” Spann said.
“I was highly involved with the arts scene in San Francisco. But then, the career thing came up: Are you going to keep doing art as a side job or waitress all your life?”
After exhibiting paintings in galleries and teaching, she discovered glass arts, formed a company, and for the next 23 years Lightspann Illumination Design produced decorative handmade glass and metal light fixtures for restaurants, hotels, casinos and high-end residential clients.
“My design illustration drawings were the primary marketing tools to procuring these projects,” Spann said.
“The transference of line and form into art-making is natural to me, so after selling Lightspann, I returned to that focus. In making fluid and fiery marks, sometimes using nature as a guidepost, my artwork has evolved into abstract emotional expression. It feels musical to me, like jazz; improvising and depicting movement in unexpected directions by layering, erasing and exposing a composition.
“When I sold my company to Hammerton Studio Lighting in Utah, I started painting again, drawing again, small pieces, large pieces and just understanding how great it is that I still have that talent,” she recalled.
“When it came to abstraction, I’ve been doing that on and off for about 30 years. It comes from within. Drawing something that’s realistic, I did that for so many years. It didn’t interest me anymore. I wanted to keep it fresh.”
“Four Takes” is one of those ways in which she can do that.
“I think it’s great for Tubac and for Arizona, just to have something that’s really fresh,” she said.
“Four Takes”
WHEN: Daily through Friday, Jan. 3
WHERE: K. Newby Gallery and Sculpture Garden, 15 Tubac Road, Tubac
COST: Free admission
INFO: pumphousestudios.com
