CHRISTINE WALKER, MFA, MA, is a visual artist and author of the novel "Tap Dancing at the Bluebird," an epic story of love and friendship celebrating dance and second chances across a century of cultural change in America. Her paternal grandmother's diaries, portraying a loving, resilient family during the Great Depression in Kansas City, inspired Christine to begin the narrative there. The story takes off across the Southwest to California, New York, and back to Kansas City, and spans decades from 1932 to 2020. Christine explores themes that provoke her as a writer and reader: multi-generational family and friendships; love, loss, and forgiveness; movement, music, and memory; choice and circumstance; a purposeful life in the arts; longevity: and gaining understanding of the human condition through the lens of history. She lives in Sonoma County, California, where she paints, writes, teaches writing, and is an aspiring line dancer.
Christine exhibits her paintings in public and private collections. As a creative consultant in strategic visioning for organizations and individuals, she uses visual thinking tools to help people envision and realize missions and intentions. Her interdisciplinary career includes communications and graphic design, dance stage design, illustration, and songwriting.
She is the author and artist of "A Painter's Garden: Cultivating the Creative Life," a narrative nonfiction about creative process, accompanied by her paintings of the garden.
She is the illustrator, co-author, and lyricist with her partner musician/composer Dennis Hysom of "Wooleycat's Musical Theater," an award-winning children's book with song CD.
Christine holds an MFA in Writing and Literature in Fiction from Bennington College, an MA in Creative Arts Interdisciplinary from San Francisco State University, and a BFA from the University of Kansas.
ABOUT "TAP DANCING AT THE BLUEBIRD"…
"Tap Dancing at the Bluebird" is an epic novel about lives intertwined, unraveled, and re-woven, driven by the power of dance that shapes and transforms personal histories.”
—Kimi Okada, Tony Award-nominated Choreographer
"Beautifully rendered, 'Tap Dancing at the Bluebird' is a heartfelt evocation of time, place and family with prose that shimmers and characters that resonate across the generations.
—Ken Wells, author of "Meely LaBauve" and "Swamped!"
“Kip and Mattie’s story crosses time and distance to weave a beautiful and deeply moving portrait of both a nation in flux and of personal resilience.”
— Sheri T. Joseph, author of "Edge of the Known World"
ABOUT "A PAINTER'S GARDEN: CULTIVATING THE CREATIVE LIFE"...*
"Intelligent, evocative, elegant, and articulate...The parallels between lessons in the garden, the studio, and life ring true."—Eleanor Coppola, filmmaker, artist, author
ABOUT "WOOLEYCAT'S MUSICAL THEATER"...
Film Advisory Board Award for Excellence, Parent’s Choice Gold Award-winning music, Telly Award-winning character and songs, Booksense Top Ten Recommendation.
*"A Painter's Garden: Cultivating the Creative Life" was originally published by Warner Books and is now distributed by Compozarts.
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