James C. Christensen’s
Family of Artists

“I never pressured my children to get into art,” says James Christensen. “I didn’t discourage them, but it’s not an easy life. You don’t go into it for money. Art has to be something you’ve got to do.”While his children were growing up, “everybody in the family did art.They always had lots of art supplies and great projects for school—how many fourth-graders had access to a 150-marker set?”

As they matured, Cassandra, James’ oldest daughter, and Emily, the youngest, began to pursue painting.They both majored in art at Brigham Young University, where their father was a professor. But Cassandra and Emily credit him with more than just an impressive array of art supplies. “It wasn’t just the markers,” says Cassandra. “We grew up being able to translate our experiences into metaphors and images. Our dad was a tremendous influence. One of the greatest gifts he gave us was the idea that life can be interpreted artistically.”

And while James, Cassandra and Emily may interpret life visually, their actual styles vary. “Our work is very different,” says James. “As we examine life and filter it through our personalities and imaginations, our individual concerns emerge. Our visions and metaphors are different because we’re in different stages of life.We each approach life with whimsy, with magic and with metaphor, but at a unique place in time.”