An Interview with Christina Hargraves
Christina was brought up near Haltwhistle in a hill farming family, and from an early age wanted nothing more than to work in the family business rearing sheep and cattle. Christina did not enjoy school but remember’s being advised to study art at university by her art teacher.
Christina did go back into farming with her sister and parents for a while rather than university, before life took over. She got married and had kids. Although sketching and drawing were a habit she enjoyed nothing further really happened until after both her children had grown and gone to university.
She remember’s wondering if she would still be able to do start a course in art. After going to an open day intending on signing up for a part-time course she came away a full time student on an interior design course. All her project work received distinctions and after the intended year had passed she was asked to stay on to be an assistant to the lecturer Tony Passara - a well known highly talented designer from the north east. Private interior design commissions followed but Christina felt that the interior design aspect involved a lot of sourcing materials and not enough putting art on the wall!
A short break followed before a friend recommended she try an art & design course at Newton Rigg college. After going to the open day she signed up again as a full time student and excelled in all of her projects. This time the course was more general and covered many different aspects and mediums which also included a little painting as well.
Christina enjoyed it so much she ended up doing a follow on year. On leaving she purchased some materials and just got stuck in to painting. She had become a member of an art group called ‘Art etc’ during college and which she is still in today. In their first exhibition she remembers both of her pictures selling within the first 10 minutes, and she feels this is what gave her a real kick start.
Since then she has not looked back, at the moment you can see Christina’s work at the Castle Framing Gallery in Brampton, Cumbria, as well as at Lanercost Tea rooms, Lanercost Priory and The Forge at Allendale. You can also see her work at various events throughout the year in Cumbria and the North East which she advertises on her website.
We are pleased to be able to offer a selection of Christina’s beautiful floral prints from our website www.castle-picture-framing.co.uk , you can see all of her work on her own website.