Christine Stoughton

“Living life is about honoring change and recognizing impermanence. That’s why capturing the ephemeral is essential to my art.”

Christine Stoughton is an award-winning artist, art educator, and psychologist. She maintains a studio in Norristown, PA and teaches art aesthetics at the Barnes Foundation and St. Joe’s University and teaches printmaking at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Main Line Art Center, and University of the Arts. She has curated and juried several art exhibits. Her guiding principles come from her experiences as a practicing psychologist and a mother. Eastern philosophy, with its honoring of the simple and its focus on change, also reinforces her point of view. The way plants change their form as they grow, the movement of wind and water, and the rhythm of light and shadow: this is what informs her work. Simple and natural objects are her materials of choice. In prints and sculptures alike, abstracted images seem to move in an undefined environment. While it is often said that there are no new ideas, Christine believes artists hold the power to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary.

How do you define creativity?

“An artist, no matter what their chosen means of expression, must be accutely observantant of all their experiences, both external and internal, then be able to tansform these observations into an actual art object. The goal of their expression is to help themselves, and their viewers, listeners. readers, etc. experience something fresh and new, something they have never experienced before. While it is said their are no new ideas, I believe artists have the power to transform that which is ordinary into something that can be experienced as exstraordinary. If the work is successful in capturing the authenticity of the artist's experience, then it presents the viewer with not only the option of seeing the work as new and fresh, but also opens their senses to fresh perspectives of their everyday experiences.”

What big ideas have propelled your career? 

“The opening words spoken by the professor my freshman year in college in Introduction to Psychology were "So, what is psychology? Is it Art or is it Science? " While I did not realize it at the time, that question helped crystalize my career path which has been the never ending exploration of the intersection of the transformation inherent in the making of art and the development of the human psyche. A never satisfied curiosity about how we learn, how we change, how we can best express ourselves has helped me weave a career path that has been a quilt-like composition of teaching, psychology and art making.
Of equal importance was seeing the movie "A Child Is Waiting" during my junior year in high school. It, and the emphasis on Special Education during the Kennedy years, convinced me to teach children with learning differences and I remain committed to including the teaching of diverse populations as part of my responsibilities at the Barnes.”

Biography:

Christine Stoughton is an artist ,art educator and psychologist. She is an instructor of art aesthetics at the Barnes Foundation and teaches printmaking at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Main Line Art Center, for the Professional Institute of Educators program at the University of the Arts, and at St. Joe's University. She obtained her diploma from PAFA and her Ph.D. from Boston College. She maintains a studio in the Norristown Arts Building, Norristown, Pa.. Her art is quided by the belief that inherent in the making of art is the transformation of a creative impulse into a creative action. In the visual arts this involves a change from the artistic concept to the art object. Her work is strongly motivated by this idea of change, both in the making of the work and in the final image. Eastern philosophy, with its honoring of the simple and its focus on change with mindfulness in the present, is a guiding principle. Her former profession of practicing psychologist and experience of being a mother has reinforced the view that living life is about honoring change and recognizing impermanence. Thus the capturing of the ephemeral is essential to her art. A complete bio, artist statement and images of her work can be found on her website www.christinestoughton.com.