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Artist Statement:
Abstract sculpture by GChris
is what he terms "progressive
art" and is mission-driven.
Progressive art is art with a
purpose and artist as
advocate. "Art as advocacy;
advocacy as art."
The call to artists and people
generally is to embrace both
art and advocacy, use their
synergy, and advance...
Further Information
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Artist Exhibitions:
Coming Soon!
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Artist Galleries:
GChris Sculpture
Studio/Gallery
4327 Clagett Road
University Park, MD 20782
Website: www.GChris.com
Email: GChris@GChris.com
Phone: 301 318 3760
...
Further Information
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Artist Reviews:
Coming Soon!
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Collections:
Coming Soon!
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Commissions:
Coming Soon!
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Gary Chris Christopherson Biography:
| Biographical information for Gary Chris Christopherson can be found below. The artist may choose what information to display. Sometimes the artist chooses not to display personal information to the general public. |
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Age
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63
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| Gender |
Male
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| Status |
Single
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| Children |
99
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| Religion |
not provided |
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| Education |
Graduate Degree |
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| Hobbies / Interests |
Hiking, kayaking, cooking, mentoring artists and progressive activists. |
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| Favorite Artistic Medium |
Sculpture Mixed
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| Favorite Arthistory Movement |
Abstract Art - (1910 - )
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| Favorite Visual Artist |
Alexander Calder
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| Favorite Work of Art |
Many, many sculptures created since 1910
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| Biggest Artistic Inspiration |
The creativity, motion, interaction and fun associated with Calder's mobiles and stabiles. |
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| Why Did You Become An Artist |
To create art that people of all ages would enjoy seeing and interacting with and that drive positive, progressive change and build a thriving future. |
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| Your Personal Biography |
Gary “Chris” Christopherson
My work as a sculptor began when I was a student at the University of Wisconsin and I was asked by my former wife to assist her on an art class project involving the creation of a Calder-like mobile. From that time forward, I created abstract sculpture under the signature “GChris” as a part-time venture. I am a self-taught sculptor who has developed his skills, techniques and concepts through many years of experimentation. As the years passed and my skills greatly increased, I created my own website – www.GChris.com – as a means to expose more people to the developing body of sculpture. Within the past year, I retired from my full-time health career (see below), devoted full-time to creating sculpture, and opened my own GChris Sculpture Studio/Gallery in Georgetown (DC).
My primary artistic influence was Alexander Calder but then I moved in a different direction. My “media” focus was on the use of “natural” materials (copper metal and American walnut) as the primary media for the sculptures. Copper is used in many forms and takes each work through a living process. The woods are primarily American hardwoods -- mostly American black walnut -- with contrasts provided by exotic African and South American woods.
Again departing from Calder’s work, my “conceptual” focus was on creating sculpture that emphasized themes of being and becoming and how human beings can maximize their potential as individuals, as groups and families, as nations and as members of the global community. My most recent work has also focused on “progressive art” and is heavily mission-driven. Progressive art is art with a purpose and artist as advocate. 'Art as advocacy; advocacy as art.' Toward these ends, the sculptures help drive toward a positive progressive vision of the future. They portray strong driving forces. Progressive art supports the continuous striving for knowledge, spirit and higher being with full recognition this is an inevitable, unending, inspiring and liberating human enterprise. To achieve the vision, they also help explore threats of vulnerability, conflict, and chaos.
To create the progressive art, the mobiles and stabiles are created from the most basic of elements. Lines represent beginning, negative, or threat. Curves represent change, transition, or evolution. Circles represent being, wholeness, or, at times, nothingness. When these basic elements join and are in motion as sculpture, they make a strong optimistic expression of the human condition and of human potential functioning in peace on and with the earth.
Over the years, I have created well over 150 sculptures (see www.GChris.com ) with dimensions ranging from a few inches to 12 feet and larger. The sculptures are to be interacted with and 'gently touched'. Some make sounds when moved by wind or people; some remain silent. Some move physically; some move conceptually. All generate shadows, a second image.
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Throughout my non-career, I have worked on national policy issues and on health and human service systems, models, reform and management and on reducing vulnerability in America and beyond, including as:
• Senior Advisor to Chief Operating Officer, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, DHHS
• Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary and Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, DoD
• Senior Fellow and Scholar-in-Residence, Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences
• Fellow, National Academy for Public Administration
• Associate Director, Presidential Personnel, Executive Office of the President, White House
• Chief Information Officer, Veterans Health Administration, VA
• Senior Advisor to Under Secretary, Veterans Health Administration, VA
• Director of Health Legislation, House Select Committee on Aging, U.S. House of Representatives
• Deputy Director, Quality Improvement Group, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, DHHS
• Senior Advisor to Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, DoD
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In the early ‘70s, I received my Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science (1970) and Master’s Degree in Urban and Regional Planning (1974) from the University of Wisconsin - Madison. During 1981-83, I did doctoral work in health policy and management at the John Hopkins University School of Public Health.
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