Christina Stagg loved creating art in her 20s, but during her years in the finance industry she didn’t pick up a brush.
‘Then a year ago I stepped back and began creating a painting a month. This exhibition is the output of that rekindling.’
Her return to art came with a clear set of values.
‘As TS Eliot would say, always refer back to the ancient, so I look back to the core principles of the Renaissance, to reimagine the Old Master language in a more modern context. Through allegories my concepts use old methodologies in my own personal style of expressionism and transcendental realism.’
As you would expect, her paintings aren’t created on paper or canvas in oils or watercolours or acrylic, but rather egg tempera on gesso.
‘Gesso is made from chalk and rabbit skin glue. It’s made to a medieval recipe and can destabilise quickly. It’s a recipe like cooking and it can all fall to pieces. I can make my own gesso board but I now have them made in England, though there are very few places that make them. L Cornelissen & Son imports from Italy.
It is so labour-intensive. It takes three hours to mix, 14 coats on the board and then sanding down with varying levels of sandpaper.
‘Egg tempera is made from mixing egg yolk with powdered pigment and white vinegar. They have to be fresh eggs with very yellow yolks. And they have to be chicken eggs.’
Building up the image is key.
‘Verddacio, which means “dirty green” is the underpainting. It’s important to get right because it’s three-quarters of the execution of the painting.’
Christina said she hasn’t heard of any artist in Guernsey using such techniques.
‘In the UK there is David Cranswick, who is a teacher and artist-in-residence at Chowdray Castle. He teaches high-profile clients like Prince Michael of Kent and the Duchess of Rutland. He is a master of Old Master techniques. I attended a few of his workshops in London in my 20s. He taught water gilding with gold leaf – an example of which you can see in the exhibition.’
Immortal Divine is ‘phase one’ in Christina’s return to art.
‘I’ve already done an initial drawing for phase two. It’s one of my allegories. It’s not purely a reference to the Old Masters, it’s going in another direction, using visual metaphors.
‘A big influence is Andrey Remnev, who has a Russian heritage. I refer to my Chinese heritage.
‘My art is quite Christian-based and I’m also interested in philosophy and history. I use what I call a trans-national approach to art. My mother was originally from Hong Kong and my father was English, serving in the British Army. I was born in a war zone, too, when the Troubles were kicking off in Belfast in 1968, and was raised in England.
‘I’m raising a flag for all those countries.’
As well as working on the second phase of her work, Christina is also part of a collective of artists.
‘There are around 20 to 30 of us and we’re working on a project concerning the William Morris windows at St Stephen’s Church. We are from all different areas of art – from poetry to painting – and we hope to exhibit at St Stephen’s.’
Christina Stagg’s Immortal Divine is at Guernsey Chamber of Commerce, Market Buildings until Friday 7 August. Open Monday to Thursday, 9am to 5pm. Entry is from Fountain Street only.
