As a child I was always involved in creating, performing and discovering the world around me. I painted, drew snails, made forts out of sheets, and explored the lot behind our San Francisco house with friends as we pretended it was a lost ancient world. Once I even tried to fly off our family porch pretending to be "Superman"! Soon after my parents kept a watchful eye on me making sure that my creativity didn't land me in the hospital.

I was blessed with loving parents and a most creative grandmother who lived two doors away. Every day after school I would visit her and she would make me warm tortillas. Later we danced around her red kitchen floor and sing chants from the old country. I watched her garden, cook, crochet, and saw how she made her world full of creativity. Nana said she had a cure for everything in her garden. She grew medicinal herbs, fruits and vegetables. She was my mentor and kindred spirit to the creative world. Life was and still is just as wonderful as when I was a child.

As a Mexican American, I was surrounded by my family’s rich culture. I learned from every aspect of my Aztec/Mayan culture. Against the backdrop of native chants, I listened to stories of my grandfather riding with Pancho Villa and then retiring to the mountains of Arizona to make peace with life as a sheepherder in his youth. My family taught me to live life with a sense of passion, rapture and surprise, and I have never stopped...

The creative arts have been a constant theme in my professional career as an educator, interior architect, surface designer and fine artist. For several years, I worked in the corporate world for HOK Architects, designing interiors for major corporations. During this time, I was encouraged by my peers to enter a national competition featuring "Future Textile Designers of Tomorrow". To my surprise, I was one of the ten award winners out of 400. The exhibit toured national galleries, museums and was published in design review magazines. The award allowed me to embrace my fine art and design skills on a higher level than before.

After a few years away from the corporate world I re-entered the marketplace again designing men's neckwear for Mulberry Neckwear Company. The transition was smooth. Geometric form, shape, and function are the same principles found in architecture as well as in men's high end neckwear. I was also able to express my fine art skills in the "Art In Neckwear" program, which launched the Jerry Garcia and Grateful Dead neckwear lines. After a few years, I soon found myself working as a textile designer for Pottery Barn/Williams Sonoma.

I now have a studio in Sausalito, California, at the historic Industrial Center Building. Time not spent in my studio is spent at home in my garden. I live in the beautiful San Francisco Bay Area, where most of my inspirations are found both in nature, and architecture. Forms, colors, and patterns are always unfolding new designs for my artwork. I see beauty in a simple weathered garden tool and in the colors of the seasons. I am inspired and transformed everyday by the world that surrounds me.

Cristina Chanteloup