CHRIS MITTS
Orchid
Chris comes from a photographic and printmaking background. She grew up in Chicago where she received a degree in broadcasting from Columbia College. The city offered many urban photo opportunities, and her day job with WBBM and WFMT allowed her to bring her film camera along. A family move took her to Hawaii, bringing her to the University of Hawaii at Manoa where she burned a lot of film and refined her darkroom experience. From Honolulu she moved to Athens Ga. and began photographing antebellum historic buildings, resulting in some excellent local media commissions. She was a docent & became President at the Georgia Museum of Art
In Chris’s Words
What is it in us, as humans, that drives us to create? Twenty thousand years ago, the walls of the Lascaux Caves became our first gallery. In many ways, our inner selves haven’t changed much since then. I remember purloining my parent’s camera at age 5, sketching a doorway I admired in my neighborhood at 8. Cutting out a design on a linoleum wood block. The need to create is ingrained. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
I spent many years creating B & W and Infrared photography as well as photographically inspired printmaking. When darkroom arts were no longer appreciated, I was adrift. After trying many different things, I found my home in the tactile, organic nature of pastels. I can paint with my fingers and all the colors just seduce me!
It was during this frustrating time of experimentation that I discovered the joys of being a museum docent. If the artists were still living, we were privileged to meet them and hear firsthand how they created. If they were no longer living artists, the curators gave us insights into their work. They shared anecdotes, comparisons, details and even overlooked “mistakes". Often there were sketch books, supplies and studies illustrating the process. Each new exhibit was like a master class. What a joy!
I started doing Plein Air 4 years ago when I moved to Florida and didn’t know anyone or anything about the area. While that’s no longer the case, Plein Air is addictive. I’ve even taken over planning and scheduling our Plein Air dates! I’m influenced by location, color, shape, negative space, my mood and the amount of time I have to create. I never know what will speak to me. Workshops & classes keep me from becoming static. I find my inspiration, start my painting and then the painting takes over. What needs to be included, or removed? Do I have the color balance correct? Are there sufficient true lights and darks? How’s my mark making? My painting becomes a demanding puzzle and it’s all about the painting! It’s especially wonderful when my paintings leave home and find new homes!
I exhibit regularly with Wonder Gardens and Arts Bonita, occasionally with Coco Gallery as well as our Southwest Florida Pastel society. The Telfair Museums store in Savannah stock my 3x3 “mini masterpieces.”I think of the creative process as a river. Sometimes it’s a trickle, sometimes a stream and sometimes, when we’re very, very lucky, a raging torrent!
