Greetings,
In my earliest memories, I wanted to be an artist. I am fortunate to have an incredibly supportive family who has helped me to achieve that goal. I also am grateful to my professors and mentors at Columbus State University and The University of South Carolina. It was from them that I gained a sense of focus and discovered a profound love for teaching.
My love for painting came early in life. I work in a range of materials including acrylic, oil, encaustic, and egg tempera. Though the majority of the body of work on this site is acrylic and oil.
My educational background is a mixture of both traditional studio practices and contemporary digital media. Digital media practices include digital painting, digital illustration, and 3d modeling. I also employ additive and subtractive manufacturing techniques within my studio practice.
Thanks for visiting,
Christie Cannon
BIOGRAPHY
Christine Cannon was born and raised in LaGrange, Georgia. She attended Columbus State University where she earned a BFA in Studio Art. Later, she attended the University of South Carolina where she earned an MFA in Studio Art with an emphasis in Painting. She teaches a number of traditional studio courses as well as digital media at Chattahoochee Valley Community College, where she also serves as the Chair of the Fine Arts and Social Science Department.
A child of the early eighties, her first artistic influences were those of Saturday morning cartoons and comics books. These influences still carry through her work. She grew up loving pop culture, science fiction, and fantasy books and films. Some of her lifelong favorites are Star Wars, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Cat’s Cradle, Ghost in the Shell, Slaughter House Five, The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, and (most obviously) Futurama. As her formal art education progressed her pop culture influences mingled with a love of medieval manuscript painting, Pacific North-western art, ukiyo-e prints, and so much more. It is a narrative that she is still unwinding.
ABOUT THE WORK
Over a decade ago I started a long series of paintings and drawings featuring robots. Over time my work split into two separate bodies that follow aspects of the same concept. These robots are a vehicle for the exploration of my own existential needs and desires. I am fascinated by the idea of artificial intelligence, and while it remains in the realm of science fiction, it is a clear possibility that one day it may venture over to the real world in the same way that, photography, wrist communicators (smart watches), video chatting, and space exploration have done. With our own world changing so rapidly, I see a direct correlation between our own lives and the notion of intelligence born into a world of existence with a need for belonging, identity, and purpose.
Each of the portraits has an identity. These identities are formed through both expressive features and through the adoption of token items that create a simple impression of a personality. These identities also help develop a sense of belonging. The individuals within each painting fit into tropes and classes of society in a comical and sometimes absurdist way. Each seems to have a place, a purpose, and relationships built around that identity.
The other works that I create are robots that follow a more direct interest in the building of religion and mythology within both past histories and fictional literature. This series was first influenced by Joseph Campbell’s Hero with a Thousand Faces and later by Carl Jung’s writings on Archetypes. I began a series of paintings with the intention of building images which develop an iconographic vocabulary, tells a story, and reflects the visual qualities of religious artworks which give the viewer a sense of the divine. These works are often personally symbolic of ideas, passions, interests, and occasionally references and homages to some of my favorite narratives. I think of these works in the same way one may approach a game, by establishing rules: color palette, format, use of symmetry, and evolving directly from the theme of its predecessor. These rules come from my own interest in manuscript and icon painting. Like the illuminators of the medieval period, I work within set constraints and push the boundary of the work evolving and changing from piece to piece but always playing within the rules.
Thank you,
Christine Cannon
Curriculum Vitae
CV
Education:
Master’s Degree in Fine Arts, Painting and Drawing University of South Carolina, May 2012
Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts, Studio Arts Columbus State University, May 2007
Skills:
Adobe Creative Suite: InDesign, Illustrator, Lightroom, Photoshop, PremierPro
Traditional Drawing, Painting, and Illustration
3D modeling with Autodesk Fusion 360
3D printing and maintenance with Wilson 2 RepRap printers
CNC reductive manufacturing and machine maintenance using Vetric V-Carve Software on Inventables X-Carve
Mold making and casting using urethane, silicon, and polyester resins
Ferrous and non-ferrous metal working
Etching and screen printing
Digital and darkroom photography
Hand built and wheel thrown ceramics
Paint, pastel, glaze manufacturing
Employment:
2015- Current
Fulltime Instructor and Chair of Fine Arts and Social Science Division
Chattahoochee Valley Community College
Sponsor CVCC Art Club
Courses: 2D Composition, Drawing 1, Drawing 2, Painting 1, Painting 2 Digital Photography, Art Appreciation, and Art History.
Additional duties include serving on various committees and assisting with many campus functions.
2013 - 2015
Adjunct Instructor, Chattahoochee Valley Community College:
Lead Faculty Coordinator for Visual Communication Media Department, Chattahoochee Valley Community College
Courses: Digital Illustration, Graphics Software Applications, 2-Dimensional Composition, Digital Publishing, Graphic Design, Digital Imaging, Supervised Study of Graphics, Digital Photography, Painting
Freelance Designer and Illustrator
2012
Instructor for the 701 Center for Contemporary Art Youth Comic Workshop
Instructor, Introduction to Painting 210
Graduate Teaching Assistant for David Voros University of South Carolina Painting Department
Graduate Student Assistant for David Voros University of South Carolina Painting Department
2011
Instructor for the 701 Center for Contemporary Art Youth Comic Workshop
Graduate Student Assistant For Pam Bowers Fall Semester 2011
University of South Carolina Painting Department
Graduate Student Assistant For Pam Bowers Spring Semester 2011
University of South Carolina Painting Department
2010
Instructor for the 701 Center for Contemporary Art Youth Comic Workshop
Assistant for David Voros and Pam Bowers International School of Painting, Drawing, and Sculpture, Montecastello di Vibio Umbria, Italy
Graduate Student Assistant for Kathleen Robbins Head lab monitor, University of South Carolina Photography Department
2009
Collation and Bindery Technician at Columbus State University Printing Services
During my time with Columbus State University's Printing Services, I was responsible for post-production finishing. The main aspect of my position was operating the large industrial collation and bindery machine for finishing large press jobs by assembling booklets and catalogs. In addition to this, I ran all other finishing equipment daily. This included: the collator, binder, cutter, creaser, folder, business card trimmer, and padding equipment. I was also responsible for sorting, weighing, and packaging the materials for delivery. I filled all of the copy center jobs including Xerox jobs, perfect binding, coil binding, wire binding, and saddle stitch binding. Besides the technical skills I learned during this position, it also gave me an excellent insight into the practical and functional design for mass production.
Exhibitions
*denotes solo exhibitions
2019
Spare Parts, Arts Around the Square, Cuthbert, GA*
2015
Dragon Con Pop & Surrealist Juried Art Show, Atlanta Georgia
2014
Dragon Con Pop & Surrealist Juried Art Show, Atlanta Georgia
Indie Bits Video Game Design Juried Exhibition. Nickelodeon Theater. Columbia, South Carolina
Graphic Fiction Container Art Show. Columbus State University and Columbus Art Beat Festival. Columbus, Georgia.
2013
Alabama Community College Chancellor’s Exhibition, Juried Show. Second Place, Faculty, Drawing.
2013 Faculty Alumni Exhibition, Columbus State University Illges Gallery. Columbus, Georgia.
4 Artists: Go Your Own Way. Cochran Collection Gallery. LaGrange, Georgia
Artist Collective, Panoply Gallery. Newnan Georgia.
Visual Artist Alliance of Lagrange Collective show, Lagrange Art Museum. Lagrange, Georgia.
Jouissance Sombre, at S & S Art Supply, Columbia, South Carolina*
2012
Consumerism: A Feminist Art Show curated by Pretty Girls: An Artist Collective. Tapp’s Arts Center
Robos, Mythos, Pathos, MFA Thesis Exhibit. McMaster Student Gallery, University of South Carolina*
Something Something Fun, Video Game Exhibition, University of South Carolina Media Arts, McMaster College of Art
2011
Bang Pop Pow-Wow! at S & S Art Supply*
Untitled Group Show, Curated by Lucas Sams, Tapp’s Art Center
2009
University of South Carolina, McMaster School of Art Juried student art show
2007
Senior Exhibition 2007 Illges Gallery, Columbus State University Corn Center for Visual Arts
Columbus State University Juried Student Art Exhibition
Curatorial Projects
2018
2018 Spring Student Art Exhibition, Art & Design. IPAC, Chattahoochee Valley Community College, Phenix City, Alabama.
2018 "Eclectic" Juried and Curated by Chattahoochee Valley Community College Art Club, Second Story, Columbus, Georgia
2018 Fall Student Art Exhibition, Art & Design. IPAC, Chattahoochee Valley Community College, Phenix City, Alabama.
2017
2017 Spring Student Art Exhibition, Art & Design. IPAC, Chattahoochee Valley Community College, Phenix City, Alabama.
2017 Fall Student Art Exhibition, Art & Design. IPAC, Chattahoochee Valley Community College, Phenix City, Alabama.
2016
2016 Spring Student Art Exhibition, Art & Design. IPAC, Chattahoochee Valley Community College, Phenix City, Alabama.
2016 Fall Student Art Exhibition, Art & Design. IPAC, Chattahoochee Valley Community College, Phenix City, Alabama.
2015
2015 Spring Student Art Exhibition, Art & Design. IPAC, Chattahoochee Valley Community College, Phenix City, Alabama.
2015 Fall Student Art Exhibition, Art & Design. IPAC, Chattahoochee Valley Community College, Phenix City, Alabama.
2014
2014 Spring Student Art Exhibition, Art & Design. IPAC, Chattahoochee Valley Community College, Phenix City, Alabama.
2014 Fall Student Art Exhibition, Art & Design. IPAC, Chattahoochee Valley Community College, Phenix City, Alabama.
Pop-up Student Art Show. IPAC, Chattahoochee Valley Community College, Phenix City, Alabama.
2013
Artist Collective, Panoply Gallery. Newnan Georgia.
2013 Student Show, The Art of Design. IPAC, Chattahoochee Valley Community College, Phenix City, Alabama.
Assistant Curatorial Projects
2011
DISEGNO 3: Group Exhibition, Curated by David Voros, McMaster Gallery, University of South Carolina
2010
DISEGNO 2: Group Exhibition, Curated by David Voros, McMaster Student Gallery, University of South Carolina
2010 Faculty Exhibition, Curated by David Voros Cimabue Galleria, e International School of Painting, Drawing, and Sculpture - Montecastello di Vibio Umbria, Italy
2010 Student Exhibition, Curated by David Voros Masaccio Galleria, e International School of Painting, Drawing, and Sculpture - Montecastello di Vibio Umbria, Italy