Chris Kressy, Life as Art

About this exhibition

Museum Exhibition Dates: September 25 – October 23, 2018

Exhibition Locations: Museum of the White Mountains, Main Gallery

Opening Reception: September 25, from 5-7pm

Curatorial Team: Thomas Driscoll, Cynthia Cutting Robinson

Celebrating the local artist’s life with a selection of the meditative, and vibrant paintings by Christopher Kressy (1936-2016). A color-filled feast that will enrich and inspire. An active faculty member at PSC/PSU from 1968 to his retirement in 1998, Kressy coordinated the painting program, served as department chair and was instrumental in the creation of the BFA studio degree. He was admired and respected by his students for his quiet demeanor and thoughtful guidance. He viewed his studio work, teaching, spiritual practice and life in general as opportunities for creative expression and did not draw distinctions between them as separate components of his being.

Co-Curator Statement

Christopher Kressy was an active faculty member at PSC/PSU from 1968-1998, when he retired. Chris coordinated the painting program, served as department chair and was instrumental in the creation of the BFA studio degree. He was admired and respected by his students for his quiet demeanor and thoughtful guidance. He viewed his studio work, teaching, spiritual practice and life in general as opportunities for creative expression and did not draw distinctions between them as separate components of his being.

When Cynthia Robinson and I first discussed this exhibit with Chris’ wife Edie, our initial idea was to do a mini-retrospective, creating a survey of Chris’ various phases of creativity, representing drawings, prints and paintings. Once we began the process of going through the work, that idea quickly dissipated. I had known Chris from the time I was a student at Plymouth State and although I was very aware that he was prolific and disciplined about his studio life, I had no idea of exactly how prolific he was until we actually started to go through the work. The quantity of Chris’ output was incredibly impressive, but also overwhelming. To mount such an exhibit would require a venue much larger than the Museum of the White Mountains. Although we were not able to be comprehensive in what we selected, we did choose work from different moments and phases of Chris’ career, which we hope will give the viewer some sense of the progression of his thinking and creative output.

As we looked through drawers of drawings, paintings and prints, and went through many stacks and boxes of paintings, several things became very evident. First, Chris was passionate about and joyful in his use of color. He studied it carefully his entire life and in doing so was able to use it to its fullest and most expressive potential. He primarily used it as a positive force, but even in some of the darker pieces, the underlying resonance of his command of color comes through.

Second, Chris explored the human figure as a subject for most of his career. One of his early teachers was Philip Pearlstein, the well-known figure painter. Chris learned to masterfully paint the human body, acknowledging Pearlstein’s influence, then evolving the work to make it into a more personal statement. He departed from the figure for several years during his geometric abstract “Bridge” series, but returned to it in his later abstract work. Although I was aware of figurative references within his abstractions, the lineage of that as a primary subject was not evident until we saw the many phases of his work as a whole.

Finally, Chris painted to paint. He passionately believed that making art is a path toward personal growth, self-discovery and spiritual and intellectual enlightenment. That was his motivation. Although he successfully exhibited in a range of venues, including the Walter Wickiser Gallery in NYC, he actually thought of it as a pressure that distracted him from being in the studio, particularly in his later years. This became increasingly evident when we went through his work and found many hundreds of pieces that had never been exhibited and had never even left his studio, most of them probably never seen by anyone other than his immediate family and close friends.

As co-curators, Cynthia and I have attempted to convey, through our selections, a general sense of Chris Kressy’s creative spirit. His joy of color, curious mind and unlimited capacity for invention and discovery are evident in individual works as well as in the exhibit as a whole. We hope that each viewer will see the interconnected ideas that we found, as well as find some personal connections of their own.

Tom Driscoll, Co-curator

Exhibition Shots (use arrows to scroll gallery, click to enlarge)

Quotes (click names to read)

Christopher Kressy

The inventive imagery of my painting arises out of reflection and recollections of nature. Pictorial forms emerge unpredicted as I progress toward simplification. I do not make careful studies in preparation for specific paintings. Drawing with paint, however, is a major aspect of my work. There evolves a surprising diversity of color and mass as I continue to make drawing and painting one. I paint directly on small stretched canvases on the wall. As internal structures begin to emerge through a constant process of addition and subtraction of paint, there develops variations of density and viscosity resulting in subtle surfaces of thick and thin. Each painting is completed in a single prolonged session and I leave the studio only when the work is finished.

Anderson Kressy

Christopher Newcomb Kressy dedicated much of his life to the exploration of the duality of life and spirit. Painting was his primary medium of exploration, using it as a vehicle to investigate the invisible essence of the universe and how it manifests as form. His paintings exhibit an evolution of this path, from the depiction of physical forms, to ever more abstract depictions influenced less and less by his conceptual mind. His exploration of duality eventually led him to Eastern philosophy, and in particular Taoism and the practice of meditation and Tai Chi. His growing awareness of the relationship between form and formless migrated into his paintings, evidencing his evolutionary path. Chris’ work in both the physical and spiritual realms during his lifetime will continue to impact those who knew him as friend, professor, artist, musician, philosopher, husband father, and grandfather.

He was a long time resident of Campton, New Hampshire, lived in an old farm house over half his life, where he produced an abundant body of art work, and taught painting at Plymouth State University.

Sally Condon

If we are blessed we meet a few people in life who are pivotal to our lives and make a profound impact on our path. Professor Christopher Kressy was one of these people for me. I was in my mid 30’s and living in Holderness, NH in the 1980’s. I decided to take a painting course at the then Plymouth State College. I had no art background, just a curiosity and a desire to play with paint.
I remember Chris began our first class with a reading from the Tao of Pooh. Coming from a science background I thought this was a totally strange, wonderful way to begin Painting 101. It only got better from there. Chris somehow encouraged our strengths and inspired us to reach into ourselves to find what needed to be expressed. Looking back, I don’t know quite how he did this. Yes he was uncannily intuitive, perceptive, and created a very supportive space in which to create, yet there was something else. I think of it as the gift he passed on to me.
Because of Chris and the other wonderful professors in the Art Department, I continued on in Art. Today I am 67 years old and still painting in New Mexico. Though I had no idea then, I now know that our Art is always ahead of us, our teacher. It has the wonderful ability to make visible our potential and to touch our emotions so we recognize life’s beauty and interconnection.
Thank you Christopher Kressy. I will be at your opening in spirit as I know you will be.

Barbara Newsom

As he must have done for so many who came to him, Chris opened up a new door for me: I could never have thought of trying to paint without his help. Now I am reminded of him every day on every wall in this house. Each painting I have done that was worth a frame has Chris’ name all over it – his remonstrance’s, his approvals, his allowances, his recommendations to change it or ‘wipe it’. Letters from him have stayed as neatly piled on my worktable for reference and study as they were written in his neat, artful hand.

…a superb teacher, never imposing, always encouraging, ever sensible to who and what each of his students was. He had that rare gift.

Barbara Newsom, July 13, 2017