Christopher Shellhammer Gallery
Page 5 History
This website is under www.christophershellhammergallery.com and www.oilpaintingsites.com
HISTORY
Early in Life:
Artist Christopher Shellhammer was born on Feb. 5th, 1962. in Pennsylvania.
In kindergarten years, since he was self taught in painting hundreds of watercolor paintings on leftover white cardboard which holds the instant handiwipe rag that were popular in the 60’s and 70’s. After so much watercolor paintings he has done and with this going on, his family decided to get him the oil set in the Christmas of 1973. He sold numerous paintings at the local hospital year round exhibition for fund raising and had several national shows across America included that he landed first place in portrait competition at Pittsburgh Center for the Art in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1980 before entering college.
Later in Teen Life:
During the high school days he was helped by a friend Art Professor Jeanne Conner since there was no art program available at the high school to prepare to enter the college level. He was accepted to Carnegie-Mellon University, his father’s alma mater and graduated in 1984 with B.F.A. degree in Metalwork and minor in Painting. During the college days, he received several top of the class achievement and monetary award in freshman, junior and senior year in academic and Art. Addition to this, his first prized national recognition show was the following year after graduation, the “Prospective Artists” (only 7 artists were invited to this show from the whole city of Pittsburgh) at the Pittsburgh Plan for Art in Oakland, PA in 1985.
Hit hard still by the domino effect from recession of 1982, living in the red rust belt region, his mother suggested him to go into medical field since he had medical drawing research background. At first, he worked various job as freelance artist, on call teacher and cleaning floor then entered into the nursing home and hospital care full time for four years while pursuing the metalwork, painting and exhibiting hundreds of his works locally and regional states area.
Later and travel experience:
In the beginning of the year of 1990, he decided to pursue his metalwork for more experience in precious metal in silver and gold. He landed a job as a metal polisher exclusively for Paloma Picasso’s bracelet for one company then moved up from company to company into becoming a diamond setter and senior jeweler well into early year of 2000. Along with this career, he opened his first art and jewelry gallery in 1997 until it was too much involvement running it and not producing his own work, it closed in 2000 but put it online in 2003 on various websites included his own for painting and sculpture suggested by friends especially his oldest brother. He pauses from this practice of doing jewelry to free up more time to do something far out experience relating to the art as in inspiration precisely for painting. Before 2003, he studied computer for web knowledge and online exhibition for two years so he can travel to the unknown world outside of United States of America without having to stay in one place to exhibit his work and this is the purpose of doing this online shows in which is unlimited and always open 356 days a year. He still continues exclusively doing full time painting, exhibiting world wide in galleries and mostly online exhibitions and traveling especially to Far East of the world as in Japan, Taiwan, Guam, China and Philippines in which he founded as his second home since 2003.
The history and up to several prime articles of the Artist can be found in the permanent collection and record at the Main Museum Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, go to the link and click here,
For the history of the shows and exhibitions is available upon request. See brief descriptions below.
1) Four solo (one man) shows.
2) Twenty individual group shows.
3) Over two hundreds and forty-eight months of monthly group shows and exhibitions in all the galleries since 1980.
Other relating profession: Temporary installment as an Anatomy/Drawing Instructor under Cletus Anderson, Dean of Pittsburgh Costume and Set Designers at Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA. 1990.
I would like to give special thanks to the following current and past partners for my work as an artist along with the important supporters in general during and from three decades:
American Heart Association, (commercial)
Art in America, magazine, New York.
Artscan
Blue Sky Gallery (now as Blue Sky Art Consultants).PA.
CNN, Cable News Network, www.cnn.com
Concept Art Gallery, PA.
Cohlear Implant ( fundraising), Pittsburgh, PA.
Carnegie Library, Pittsburgh, PA.
Carnegie-Mellon University, PA.
Carnegie Museum of Art, PA.
Carson Street Gallery, PA.
Hasting Street Ballroom, Detroit, MI.
In Pittsburgh, magazine. PA.
Internet Art Resources
K Space Art Studios/Gallery, Christi, Texas.
Nassau County Museum of Art, New York.
National Commission for Culture and the Arts, Philippines.(website)
Northbrook Gallery/Library, Chicago. Ill.
Panza Gallery, PA.
Pittsburgh Plan for the Art, PA.
Pittsburgh Center for the Art, PA.
Pittsburgh Magazine, PA.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/past Pittsburgh Press, PA.
Shadyside Arts Festival, PA.
Tangent Gallery, Detroit, MI.
Three Rivers Arts Festival, PA.
Truth4dogs, http://www.dogs4dogs.com
Women Breast Cancer Society, PA.
Matthew Shepard Foundation, www.matthewshepard.org
Variety of AIDS foundations.
And many to count for.
Deep special thanks to the country of the Philippines.
Maraming Salamat (Thank you very much).
To all the clients and corporations in the world in which several hundreds of works are collected and sold outside of the United States are splendid and wonderful. I give them the vast amount of heart warming gratitude and appreciation for supporting my work in a rightful manner.
