When Christina Norlin moved to Arizona in 1974 she was a teenager from Chicago, a young artist who had already explored many mediums. She brought sketchbooks filled with drawings, denim jackets covered in elaborate embroidery, and sterling silver pendants on leather cords. Chris finished high school on a small private campus just north of Tucson, then traveled north to Flagstaff on the shifting tide of Northern Arizona University students. Christina came as a student, but her spirit took root in the creative bedrock of the Southwest and she decided to stay.
Like many artists, after earning her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree Chris had to work outside her field to pay the bills. She stayed on as Lead Groundskeeper for the NAU North Campus, planting concrete enclosure gardens with tulip and hyacinth that reminded her of her home in the Midwest. Chris worked
CHRISTINA NORLIN’S RAVENS