About Krista

Krista graduated in 1994 from The Pennsylvania State University with a Bachelor of Arts focusing on painting and biology. She then studies for two years at an atelier, The Schuler School of Fine Arts, in Baltimore, MD. In 1998, she earned her Master of Arts from the Johns Hopkins University in Medical and Biological Illustration. After establishing herself as a medical illustrator, she returned to painting and studied with painters at The Art League School in Alexandria, VA and completed a yearlong apprenticeship with portrait and landscape painter, Edward Reed. In 2007 she moved to Charlottesville, VA and began showing her work in Virginia and Washington, DC. Her work has entered many private and public collections including the Eleanor D. Wilson Museum at Hollins University, University of Virginia Medical Center, Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Health System, Martha Jefferson Hospital, The Country Club of Virginia, and more. 

Artist Statement

My paintings begin in the woods and meadows near my home in Charlottesville, Virginia. I gather ideas and impressions as I explore, imagining the lives of and among the trees and vines and grasses. I let nature dominate my canvas to demonstrate her power to consume space and continue to prevail all the while protecting and nourishing. I contemplate the symbiotic relationship of the plants and animals and my own relationship and dependence on nature. It's that interconnected web that I try to represent on my canvas with the intention of inspiring a similar curiosity and personal response in my viewer to appreciate the magic and mystery of nature and act on our collective stewardship to protect her.