Christina Lazara-Schuler

I am formally educated as a Architectural/Structural Draftsperson, with a minor in Graphic Design at Kwantlen University College in Richmond, BC Canada. All of my artistic techniques are primarily self-taught and come from 30+ years of experimentation, a willingness to make mistakes and learn from them, a little reading and a few art retreat workshops.

I have been creative virtually all my life and began my artistic endeavors at the tender age of 2 with my artistic father. Sitting on the floor on a rainy fall day, my much beloved father taught me how to draw with Grumbacher oil pastels. Much to his delight and my mother's shock, I did and WITHOUT the customary scribbling. It was the beginning of a beautiful relationship between me and the act of creating art… It has over the years become my refuge and my greatest form of therapy when the day-to-day rigors of life get me down.

I am often asked what 'medium' I work in. I work with primarily acrylic paint and acrylic mediums combined with vintage ephemera, paper and vintage/contemporary fashion inspired image transfers to create textural, abstract mixed media collages and paintings. My collages are built-up using anywhere from 5-8 layers of vintage papers, paint, mediums, image transfers, ink, stamps and more. Each piece is very layered, has unique and subtle textures, is full of rich color and always seems to have level of intrigue and mystery about them.

In addition to my traditional collage techniques, I also infuse individual pieces with 'street poetry' and the use serendipitous re-working of random words from a page of text to convey the spirit of the artwork. When using 'street poetry', I never quite know what will develop and more often than not, the piece I'm working always brings the 'right' words to light. It's really quite remarkable; the words seem to literally leap out at me. It's a working and creative process that I love and delight in everyday…

Throughout my years, I have always been known as an 'artsy girl' and it's always been my goal to bring a little light and beauty to a space, maybe even your space, everyday.