Christa is autistic and experiences perceptual differences that inform her creative practice. She has chromesthesia, a type of synesthesia in which sound evokes visual perceptions of color, shape, and pattern. This and other sensory encounters can be overwhelming, so she processes the profusion by simplifying and synthesizing her world into a conceptual language of elemental forms.
Christa Stephens grew up on the high plains of eastern New Mexico. After receiving a bachelor’s degree in music and working as a musician for several years, she pursued studies in fine art and graphic design that inspired her to create a unique drafting/painting technique based on her desire to communicate abstract concepts with precision and clarity. This hybrid process, combined with her musical training, evolved into a practice she refers to as “methodical improvisation.”
Christa is autistic and experiences perceptual differences that inform her creative practice. She has chromesthesia, a type of synesthesia in which sound evokes visual perceptions of color, shape, and pattern. This and other sensory encounters can be overwhelming, so she processes the profusion by simplifying and synthesizing her world into a conceptual language of elemental forms. Using her exceptional abilities in visual perception and perceptual reasoning, she focuses her art solely on simple geometric shapes, creating elaborate, hard-edge abstractions that juxtapose a dynamic range of color, line, and form with an unpredictable compositional style.