Christa Donner is an artist who investigates the multispecies body as a site for conflict and adaptation. Using drawing, sound, and small-press publications, she creates projects that are immersive and community-centered.
Her work is exhibited widely, including projects for the NTU Centre for Contemporary Art (Singapore), the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (Berlin); the Museum Bellerive (Zurich); BankArt NYK (Yokohama) and at galleries, museums, and nature preserves throughout the United States.
Donner teaches courses in drawing and creative research through the Five College Consortium in Western Massachusetts, and is currently a visiting artist at the Smith College MacLeish Field Station. In 2012, Donner launched Cultural ReProducers, an evolving collaborative platform providing skillsharing and visibility for the complex work of artists raising children.
Services Offered Include:
Workshops
I lead a number of workshops, both online and in person including:
>>Cultural ReProducers: Making it What We Need
A generative workshop for artist-parents, considering alternate models for living, making, and making a living as artists.
>>Multisensory Deep Mapping
Introduces the concept of Deep Mapping as a form of creative research. Through a series of ecological and sensory exercises, we will begin a multi-layered representation of place from shared noticing and knowledge.
>>Dear Human
Want to creatively connect with your local ecosystem? This intergenerational workshop invites participants to imagine the sensory worlds of other creatures, introducing basic sound recording and written prompts to create messages from plants and animals in your own multispecies community.
Artist Talks about my practice. Depending on the audience these talks may focus on creative research, art and nature, and/or art + parenthood.
Creative Coaching
I have mentored artists at many levels for more than fifteen years at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, through a range of low-residency MFA programs, and as a visiting artist in the Thrive Together Network “Crit Crew” for artist-parents. I specialize in creative research across a range of media, especially artists raising kids and artists adapting to chronic health challenges.
Public Sound Art
I design sound projects in natural spaces with little to no physical footprint, using small speakers, trail markers, and/or printed maps to activate immersive messages through visitors' smartphones.
