Today we’d like to introduce you to Christina Prezzemolo.
Hi Christina, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’ve been making art for as long as I can remember. I started painting murals at a really young age, and that naturally grew into a career as a mural artist, portrait painter, and live painter over the last 30 years.
As my work evolved, I fell in love with watercolor and oil painting and became really interested in traditional art processes — making my own paints, pigments, inks, and even handmade paper from natural materials. Lately, I’ve also been exploring collage and mixed media, which has opened up a whole new layer of storytelling in my work.
Teaching art has also become a big part of my journey. I love sharing what I’ve learned while continuing to experiment and grow as an artist myself. Most of my work is inspired by nature, history, and human connection, and I feel like I’m always evolving into the next stage of my creative process.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It definitely hasn’t been a completely smooth road. There were periods where my art career had to take a back seat to my family. When my children were young, I stepped away from pursuing art full-time so I could focus on raising them, although I never stopped creating completely — sometimes it was murals, sometimes smaller paintings, or simply finding little ways to keep creativity in my life.
Later, I became the full-time caretaker for my mother, which was a 24-hour responsibility and took me almost completely away from my art practice for several years. Losing her was one of the hardest experiences of my life emotionally, and returning to art afterward became a huge part of my healing process.
In many ways, creating again helped me reconnect with myself. It reminded me that art isn’t just what I do professionally — it’s also how I process emotion, find peace, and move through difficult experiences. Looking back, even the challenging parts of my journey have deeply shaped the work I create today.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
My work is really centered around the connection between people and nature. Lately, I’ve been focusing a lot on painting people — especially women from mythology and history — who were misunderstood, judged unfairly, or turned into villains when there was much more to their story. I like placing them within natural landscapes and showing them in a more human and connected way.
What makes my work different is that I make a lot of my own materials from nature. I create natural pigments, inks, paints, and handmade paper using plants, minerals, flowers, and other organic materials I collect. In many of my pieces, the actual elements from the environment in the painting are embedded into the paper itself, so the landscape literally becomes part of the artwork.
I work in watercolor, oil, collage, and mixed media, and I’m always experimenting and learning new processes. I think what I’m most proud of is that the work feels very layered and personal — not just painted images, but pieces that physically carry parts of the story and the natural world inside them.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
One of my favorite childhood memories is going to Cloth World and Rags with my mother to pick out supplies for different art and sewing projects. We were always bringing home fabrics, embroidery thread, patterns, or little craft kits. Then we’d sit around the table together making handmade dolls, doing embroidery projects, and she taught me how to crochet.
Looking back, I think that’s really where my love for creating by hand began — not just making art, but learning that creating things could be part of everyday life, family, and connection.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://christinaprezzemolocrowley.wordpress.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christinaprezzemolo
