Krista O'Halpin is an artist and designer based in Seattle who works across a wide variety of mediums to communicate and express. Art was her lifelong anchor through a transient difficult childhood, and today, it is her tool for reclamation. Her work unlearns patriarchal constraints of her Southern upbringing while processing deep personal trauma. With a BFA in Visual Communication from SCAD, she embraces herself and her style by pairing her message with moody expressive linework with heavy details, symbolism, and familiar folklore.
Statement
My artwork is about expression, accessibility, and redefining my own voice with confidence. What others consider dark, unsettling, or creepy comes naturally to me, but I intentionally work across a range of styles and mediums from digital to fine art with intentions to meet my audiences where they are to communicate with them.
Nature is my biggest inspiration, which comes from an internal appreciation for its wonder, beauty, horror, ugliness, power, and inability to predict or control. These are things that I also find within myself, so I chose to embrace everything, good and all, just like I do for nature itself. This was an especially important self discovery after I experienced a traumatic event shortly before my first day at SCAD, changing the entire projector of my life.