ARTIST BIO
Christine Tischio, the artist behind TurnstyleART, was born and raised in central New Jersey. She attended Montclair State University where she graduated in 2008 with her Bachelor’s Degree in Art Education. Christine was a full time Art teacher at Clinton Elementary School in Maplewood, NJ for 10 years, where she shared her love of art with thousands of students from Kindergarten to 5th grade. Over the last 8 years, she has developed a small business and has sold her artwork at local stores (in Jersey City, NJ as well as Philadelphia, PA), markets and online under the name TurnstyleART. She has also had her artwork featured in a documentary film entitled, “REUSE! Documentary”, as well as in an article on HGTV.com, and has appeared in an episode of HGTV’s Flea Market Flip television show.
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In Christine’s art she has explored woodburning, screenprinting, glass etching, painting and collage. While she enjoys all forms of art, Christine’s true passion lies with her envelope collages. With the help of family, friends and coworkers, she has collected over 10,000 security envelopes and created over 300 collages. Subjects range from still lifes, sugar skulls, cartoon characters and even recreations of famous paintings. While the subject is always changing, her method stays the same. Christine’s goal through these colorful collages is to help the viewer find beauty in the little things, things that go unnoticed, things that are thrown away every day; to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary.
ARTIST STATEMENT
As an artist, it is my goal to encourage others to find beauty in the discarded. I choose to work with recycled materials to create not only a work of art, but to share my passion for creative reuse and sustainability. I work with recycled security envelopes as my medium of choice-- they often go unnoticed, flood our mailboxes daily and contribute to a larger, worldwide waste issue-- but they also have unique and interesting designs inside that provide unlimited possibilities to become something beautiful. Each of my envelope collages is thoughtfully drawn, cut and arranged using these intricately patterned papers. The visual textures of the envelopes against the flat, graphic pen work, create a juxtaposition that encourages viewers to take a closer look at the artwork, as well as what they throw away.