Chrissie Richards (b.1961) is a contemporary visual artist. She was born in Essex, and lives and works in Brightlingsea on the Essex coast.
Chrissie makes art to capture memories and moments in time.
Chrissie is particularly interested in the intersection of past, present and future and how all our experiences are stitched together to make us who we are. Memory and experience are recalled and expressed by leaving a visual history of how the work was made. Her work is often multi layered and highly textured which represents the rich tapestry of her life and experience.
A strong belief in the importance and value of creativity underpins her practice. The work is firmly rooted in the formal qualities of art making with a particular emphasis on composition and colour.
Following ten years of art making and exhibiting, Chrissie formalised her education by studying at Colchester School of Art and achieved a 1st class BA (hons) in Fine Art in summer 2024.
Chrissie has been running art workshops since 2019 both in person and online.
Chrissie is an artist in residence at Brightlingsea Lido and on the committee of Colchester Art Society.
Recent work
In recent months I have found myself returning to figures and abstract still life. These are still influenced by what surrounds me, my collection of ceramics and people watching. One change to the figures is the abstraction of the faces, previously I have meticulously painted the details of the face to capture the likeness, this doesn’t interest me so much at the moment. This work is all about colour, shapes and composition, the fundamental building blocks of painting that I like. I hope you like them too.
Notable exhibitions include:
2024 – The Art Hut Brightlingsea – Through the Window – Solo Exhibition
2023 – Henry Moore Foundation – Conversation to Creation
2022 – St Albans Museum – The Art of Grieving
2021 & 2020 – Holt Festival, Holt, Norfolk – John Hurt Art Prize – shortlisted
2020 – The Gibberd Gallery, Harlow Open 2020 – winner Best in show
2018 & 2017 – Mall Galleries, London – Society of Women Artists
Awards and Grants
In 2020 Chrissie was awarded Best in Show at the Gibberd Gallery’s annual Open Exhibition for ‘Just the Three of Us’.
‘Just the three of us’
mixed media on board
20 x 20 cm – 2020
In 2024 Chrissie received a grant from the Essex County Council Arts and Cultural Fund, this will enable her to run five workshops and create ten artworks that will be permanently displayed outside Brightlingsea Lido. You can read more about the project here.
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