Meet Christine Bush Roman

Today we’d like to introduce you to Christine Bush Roman. 

Hi Christine, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Willingness to dedicate your time and energy to the practice of art is the only difference between artists and everyone else. Most people discover as children that expressing yourself through color and shape is wonderfully empowering and satisfying. To be a creator, you don’t need to be born with special talents, you simply need to begin creating, and that is how I became an artist. I wasn’t very good when I began, but I have always loved storytelling and was very drawn to the physical and intuitive process of painting. I exhibited my work with a gallery for the first time when I was eighteen and decided I never wanted to stop creating. I studied art in college and went on to get my Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Georgia. I am very fortunate for art be a part of my daily life and be able to share my work with a wider audience. 

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Being an artist takes a great deal of practice, perseverance, and an acceptance that rejection will be a part of the journey. The rejection can get you down, but over time you develop a pretty thick skin. It’s not always easy or straightforward to navigate how to exhibit your work, approach galleries, and keep yourself from becoming a literal starving artist. Sometimes I had to take jobs I did not want to do to pay the bills. I also encountered hurdles in my career when I became a mother. I battled severe postpartum depression and worried I would never be able to be the kind of artist I was before becoming a parent. In the first years of parenting, I was forced to turn down some opportunities because I couldn’t balance parenting a high-needs child and giving adequate attention to my career. I was eventually able to funnel some of those struggles into my work, which was really cathartic. It is still a complicated balancing act, and I don’t always perform it perfectly, but after almost a decade into parenting it is getting easier. I have learned to accept that every struggle and hurdle adds more depth to my work. 

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am an artist and writer, and I enjoy inventing new ways to express narratives. My mixed media paintings are a visual map of mental worlds. I am interested in how one’s internal world intersects with the requirements and expectations of society. Thorough this lens I explore themes of neurodiversity, womanhood, and human bonds with nature. I use traditional water-based drawing and painting materials, but also incorporate collaged papers and textiles into my work. In my studio, you will find trays of deconstructed drawings, handmade paper, and pictures pilfered from old books that will be used for collage. I am fascinated by the abundance of geometric shapes in nature and like to play with metaphors comparing natural geometry to how the human mind works. Each of my paintings is unique and contains its own narrative, but my style is unified by a distinctive approach to color and mark-making. Over the past decade, I have started to combine the storytelling aspect of my work with the written word. I began by writing stories and narratives to accompany each painting, but this expanded into long-form stories. Last year I completed my first novel and am planning publication in 2022. 

We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
When the pandemic hit and we first had the lockdown in Charleston, a big solo exhibition that I had been working towards for over a year was cancelled. Like many artists, I faced the disappointment of wondering how the pandemic would change the art world. Selling work online and virtual galleries have become much more prominent, and I have since participated in a few online-only exhibitions. It has been fascinating to watch the art world pivot so quickly. Like most people, the pandemic has primarily been a lesson in acceptance, adaptation, and resilience. 

Pricing:

• artworks $40 to $3000+

Contact Info:

• Email: christinebushroman@gmail.com
• Website: www.christinebushroman.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christinebushroman/
• Other: https://themillergallery.com/collections/christine-bush-roman