Happy Holidays!
Sunstein celebrates the gift of creativity with this season’s featured artist, Christine Vaillancourt
Warmest wishes for the New Year
Intellectual property celebrates the gift of creativity all year round at Sunstein.
This holiday season we are delighted to introduce you to our 2021 featured artist, Christine Vaillancourt. Like many of the members of our team, Christine is passionate about architecture and engineering, which is reflected in her work.
We have created a holiday video to share Christine's inspiring story with you. Click here to learn how she is connecting to her family's past, and giving back to Boston through her collaboration with the MBTA.
Growing up in Detroit, Michigan within a family that had deep roots to the automotive and aerospace industries,
Christine was exposed at a young age to the beauty of engineering shapes and forms.
She has a genuine love for architecture and is inspired every time she gazes out of her Fort Point studio window at the developing and expanding landscape of this Boston neighborhood.
Christine was selected by the MBTA to create something special for their new Ball Square Station (expected to open in May 2022), and she just knew this was meant to be. Kismet!
It was her opportunity to join her ancestors and to continue her family’s connection to the transportation industry through her art.
Christine hopes that "integrated public art, such as what the MBTA is promoting, makes rides more enjoyable for people and entices them to want to use public transportation." She is thrilled to help provide an "enjoyable experience for the riders, something that is uplifting and joyful!"
Thank You & Cheers to 2022!
Despite the challenges that 2021 brought, we are grateful that it created opportunities for us to collaborate and tackle situations together that we had not faced before. Our collective knowledge not only delivered outstanding results, but also brought us the joy of working together.
It is my hope that my art, from inside or outside the elevator and on the train platform, will bring joy to the rider and perhaps help them travel (or dance!) on down the tracks to their destination.
About the artist
Vaillancourt was born in Detroit in 1949, where her father, uncle and grandfather designed automobiles and airplanes and where much of her creative inspiration came from at an early age. In addition to industrial design and the transportation industries having a large influence on Vaillancourt's artwork, her mother and aunt always provided a creative atmosphere and supported her artistic dreams.
Vaillancourt received her BAE from UNC Chapel Hill and MAE from Rhode Island School of Design. She taught art in the public schools in Middletown, RI and Newton, MA for a total of 37 years before retiring in 2014 to paint full-time in the Artist Building Cooperative in Boston's Fort Point, where she lives (and creates) with her husband.
Tour Jeté Series 2021
My inspiration for art at Ball Square Station came from the neighborhood’s colorful shingled houses adorned with angular rooflines and railed porches. The result was a series of 45” x 90” paintings, Tour Jeté I, II and III, which provided the imagery for the elevator glass. The work illustrates my style of geometric abstraction with dancing motifs reminiscent of machinery, automation and movement. Two of the paintings are re-created in enamel on the train platform.
I worked closely with General Glass International to fabricate these paintings in glass for the elevator. GGI’s room-size 720 DPI printer digitally jets colored ceramic frit onto the glass surface, which is then baked during the tempering process.
Art @ Sunstein
The Boston Bar Association featured our holiday cards in its publication, "An Expression of Who We Are: Sunstein Raises Holiday Cards to an Art Form."
CREATIVE TEAM:
Designer: Karen Stein, goodgood
Videographer: Casey Preston, White Birch Media
Curator: Andrea Marquit Fine Art & Design
Producer: Kati Ferrante, Sunstein
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