Chris Kling
Chris states “Being an artist is not just my career. It is an integral part of who I am and is something that I am compelled to do. I work in oil primarily in a traditional manner but with a contemporary flair through color, composition, value, and application of paint. Color sings to me and I try to use its harmony to evoke an emotional connection with others. I love to paint plein air which helps my studio work retain an authenticity that only comes from observation from life. Painting, to me, is reaching out to find the common emotional connection between all of us.”
Ms. Kling earned her BFA in 1979 and since then has received numerous awards from shows for her landscapes and portraiture throughout the southeastern region of the United States and with the Portrait Society of America. She has been honored with back to back “Best of Shows” for landscapes and several awards for her work in festivals and competitions. She has received hundreds of commissions for oil portraits and landscapes and her work is in numerous private and corporate collections in the United States as well as in international collections. Those collections include the paintings of John Peyton, Mayor of Jacksonville, FL and Dr. John Trainer, President of Bolles School. She served as one of the “Florida’s Finest Ambassadors” for the Forgotten Coast en Plein Air 2018 in Apalachicola, and was an Invited Artist the last six years in the New Smyrna Paint Out, Delray Plein Fun Fest 2019, and won Best Seascape in the Lighthouse Plein Air Festival 2019. For several years she has participated in the Lighthouse Plein Air Festival and in 2023 won Best Seaside! Chris was thrilled to be the Cover Artist for the New Smyrna Beach Paint Out 2022. And in 2021 she received the honor of the MartinArts Visual Artist! She teaches occasional workshops in Oil Portraiture, Figurative, and Plein Air in the New Studio for the Visual Arts in Jupiter, and the Lighthouse ArtCenter in Tequesta.
Chris is a member of the Portrait Society of America, American Impressionist Society, Oil Painters of America, NOAPS, Martin Artisans Guild, and Plein Air Palm Beach. Chris has work in several galleries in Florida and you may see her work on Facebook at Chris Kling Studio and at her website, www.chrisklingartist.com . She is represented by Palm City Art and Frame, and Sea Spirits and Lost Gallery in St. Augustine, FL.
Recent National Exhibitions:
- 2019 AIS National Exhibition, Salmagundi Club, NYC, NY
- 2019 OPA Eastern Regional, Beverly McNeil Gallery, Birmingham, AL
- 2020 NOAPS Small Works Best of America, McBride Gallery, Annapolis, MD
- 2020 OPA Juried National Exhibition, RS Hanna Gallery, Fredricksburg, TX
- 2020 NOAPS Best of America Juried National Exhibition, Cutter & Cutter Fine Art, St. Augustine, FL
- 2022 OPA Juried National Exhibition, Steamboat Art Museum, Steamboat Springs, CO
Phone: 772-285-7826
