Description

Fantasies of the Sea-open edition by James Christensen Framed Consignment Image Size: 14″w x 21 1/2″h. Framed as shown from a private consignment. Published: July 2001

A regal lady and her entourage glide through the shadowy depths of the ocean floor. She is adorned with elegant ornaments of the sea – her crown a gorgeous calico shell and her sceptor topped with a delicate, spiralled conch. Fittingly, she rides a lion-fish, a noble denizen of this marine jungle. Below her rides the court exchequer. Mounted on a puffer fish, he wears the smug expression of high authority – despite the fact that some sand dollars have slipped from his belt and stream behind him. A hunchbacked court jester astride a clownfish gives us s knowing look. The precession is led by a well-armored knight bravely carrying a spiny-conch shield and riding his steed – a spiny lobster – ready to do battle with any adversary. Mermaids float dreamily in the background, a moray eel glides furtively along the ocean floor.

Inspired by the world’s myths, fables and tales of imagination, James C. Christensen’s work adds up to more than a beautiful – if sometimes “curious” looking work of art. Having taught art professionally for over 20 years, he thought of the world as his classroom. His hope is that through whatever he creates — be it a porcelain, fine art print or book — he can convey a message, inspiration or a simple laugh. He believes that teaching people to use their imagination helps us find solutions to sooth the stresses of everyday life-or get a little lift to help us keep going. In short: all things are possible when you share Christensen’s philosophy that “Believing is Seeing.”

Christensen was born in 1942 and raised in Culver City, California. He studied painting at Brigham Young University and, for a while, the University of California at Los Angeles before finishing his formal education at BYU. Since then, he has had one-man shows in the West and the Northeast and his work is prized in collections throughout the U.S. and Europe.

Christensen has also won all the professional art honors the World Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention can bestow, as well as multiple Chesley Awards from the Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists. Christensen has been designated as a “Utah Art Treasure,” one of Utah’s Top 100 Artists by the Springville Museum of Art and received the Governor’s Award for Art awarded by the Utah Arts Council recognizing the significance of Christensen’s artwork to Utah’s cultural communities. He was inducted into the U.S. Art magazine’s Hall of Fame and is an Honored Alumnus at Brigham Young University for his contributions to fine art and education. James and his wife Carole were co-chairs on the Mormon Arts Foundation. He was a frequent guest lecturer at Brigham Young University, and has also given workshops to large companies and organizations on the subject of creative thinking, including the California Art Educator’s Association, Hallmark and Intermountain Health Care.

In addition to his fine art limited editions on paper and canvas, Christensen’s work can be found in five acclaimed books and a series of interactive journals and in three dimensions in porcelain and hand-crafted limited-edition bronze sculptures.