christina
 

I was born in Stockholm, Sweden in 1969, and spent the first half of my life living in Europe and Asia. I graduated from Parsons School of Design in New York City with a BFA in Illustration. While I was in New York I met sculptor Linus Coraggio who showed me how to work in steel. Learning how to weld and forge completely changed my focus from editorial illustration and photography to sculpture. Working with metal became my passion. After graduating from college I moved to Seattle, Washington and enrolled in an independent study program in steel sculpture at Pratt Fine Arts. My work became a mixture of mediums, combining steel, glass, paint, photography and found objects.


When I moved to Taos, New Mexico in 1996 I opened my own commercial metal fabrication shop and smithy, Spitfire Forge. To de-mystify metal and empower other women with this medium I started teaching workshops. I have held many local Women’s Welding Workshops since 1996 in addition to annual national courses. Sometimes I flee the cold Taos winters for San Francisco, where I have worked at The Crucible , a metal arts education center in Oakland. I am a member of IATSE Local 480, and get to fabricate a variety of interesting structures for movie sets.

 

Somewhere along the way I found the Circus, and use aerial dance, fire arts and a range of self-made props and constructions to create unique and thought provoking performances. I have choreographed several pieces including "Amortec ", a dance between a woman on stilts and a six legged robot. The sculptural and performative process intersect for me on many levels, as is witnessed through my current obsession, a large scale kinetic sculpture playground,

The Heron Project .