Change of "Art"
By Emily Gibb
Some artists hone their craft in an act of juvenile rebellion, but Pickerington resident Christy Chen, 33, found her calling because she mimicked her father – a professional artist who died when she was only 15.
She began painting when she was about 10 years old and has yet to stop.
“When it’s in your blood, you almost don’t have a choice,” Chen says of growing up around paints and canvases. “I always dreamed about it when I was little, I just didn’t always know if I would be able to do it.”
At first, art wasn’t Chen’s full time job. She attended the University of Kentucky with an art major, but moved to Ohio before finishing and ended up in a corporate position as a manager with NetJets for 10 years. During this time, however, she was trying to get her work in galleries and different art shows, but it was difficult balancing the two.
But because painting had always been her favorite hobby and a therapeutic outlet, Chen says she eventually realized it was time to end her corporate career and devote time to her art. She left NetJets in 2009 to focus solely on her artwork. The move opened up a huge, creative Pandora ’s Box, as she not only paints, but also creates dolls and jewelry.
“(Working at NetJets) was a fun job the first eight years, but the last two were really stressful, and it’s taxing on your creative side,” Chen says. “Finally, one day I decided life is way too short, so I decided to do (art) full time.”
Now Chen paints at her own leisure. It also gives her more time to spend with her daughters, Cameron, 7, and Avery, 5, and watch them grow up. They inspire her, she says.
Her paintings mainly depict landscapes because of her love of weather, the sky and the colors found in nature. If she wasn’t an artist, she’d be a meteorologist, she says.
“You don’t want to paint something when you’re not in the mood. You can’t just wake up and do it. I always say that art should be inspired and not required,” she says.
If she’s not inspired to paint, then she works on a line of children’s dolls she creates for her online store, the Fuzzy Wuzzy Boutique (www.chengallery.com). She sews the dolls based off drawings made by her daughters. She’s been making pet beds and dog toys for 12 years and still sells those on the side, as well.
Chen wanted to start making children’s toys to create something that couldn’t be found in stores, so she started Fuzzy Wuzzy Boutique in September.
Chen says she loves making dolls and children’s items, and it gives her something to do while her artwork dries.
The name for the dolls comes from a stuffed bear she’s had since childhood, named after a popular children’s poem. Chen receives many e-mails from parents telling her how much their kids love the dolls.
“It makes me happy that all these little kids are happy,” Chen says.
Even though she is raising her daughters in an artistic environment, they seem to gravitate toward painting and drawing on their own, she says. They’ve never taken formal lessons, but they have strong creative sides.
“They’re better than I was when I was young,” Chen says.
Chen’s online store has become her most successful venue for selling her work. Rather than carrying around a large portfolio of her art, keeping it online allows her to only have to carry around her business cards that direct people to the Web site to shop what’s available.
She sells more paintings in Ohio than anywhere else, as people enjoy buying artwork from local artists, Chen says. But she is proud that she has sold paintings in all 50 states, as well as in Canada and Paris. By utilizing the Internet, she’s been able to reach people on a much larger scale.
This self-motivated creativity seems to run in the family. Chen’s father and sisters have also started their own businesses. One owned a flower shop for many years, and organized her own art show in Kentucky last spring that focused on pet portraits. The other creates cartoons and children’s art in Atlanta.
“I have the entrepreneur thing in my blood,” she says.
In addition to showcasing and selling her artwork through her Web site, Chen also has work on display at the Hayley Gallery in New Albany, and participates in fairs throughout the Columbus area.
In her spare time when she’s not making dolls or painting, she creates silver jewelry – mainly earrings and bracelets – that are also sold at the Hayley Gallery.
“I kind of jump around with hobbies,” Chen says. “I like to try everything out to see if I’m good at it.”
Emily Gibb is a contributing writer for Pickerington Magazine.
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