Zanne Christensen
Zanne was born in the "open spaces" of the Northern Midwest. This sense of space permeates her work, as well as her appreciation of nature as an inspirational source. She spent much of her childhood alternately canoeing, camping, and studying dance. This variety of life is very important to her, and has compelled her to explore from Alaska to the Yucatan in search of ever wilder color palettes. Her pieces are inventive with an unusual texture here, an unexpected angle there; she enjoys having the viewer take an active part in the imagining process. Zanne's dance experience keeps returning through her visual art, as each piece has a deep feeling of motion. She observes, "Now I dance through my fingertips." Zanne's work is in private collections throughout the world: Europe, Asia, Australia, and the U.S.
Coastal Environments
People looking at my most recent work are often asking
what "kind" of art it is. What's the name of the "ism". I think the art
speaks on it's own, but for those who want a label, I'm most comfortable
with "environmental expressionism". The work springs from my deep love
of nature and hours spent immersing in it, locally. To me there is no
comparison to the richness of color, and there are infinite compositions.
The variety is especially striking in Northern California. The pieces
are an expression of an inner shift I've experienced when I'm in a particular
place on a particular day. I always have a clear memory - an emotional
diary page - of what started the painting. For example, some days the
sky will dissolve into the sea, or a yellow rock face will be softened
by shots of late afternoon orange light on pale green lichens...
