Christina Anderson Art and Science Prize

Christina Anderson, ECS class of 1997, had many interests and talents. She loved biology, especially marine biology and entomology, and literature, especially modernist poetry. Her interests, however, converged in her dedication to the visual arts. As a child, she drew bugs, dogs, and horses.  As a teenager and young adult, she turned to human bodies, cells, and plants. Her high school classmates will likely remember her marine biology-themed bedroom door which she painted.

As an adult, Christina worked in multiple media, including chalk drawings and stained glass. Her images were both realist and fantastic—in a word, surreal in their attention to detail alongside their embellished rendering of life’s many forms. She still found inspiration from poetry, illustrating stories and poems. She made a series of modern stained glass panels that are now displayed in the children’s section at the Westmount Library. These large colourful panels, based on the works of Sir Walter Crane, an English artist and book illustrator, capture her love of the natural world and its creative yet meticulous rendition in literature and art. They demonstrate Christina’s long lasting wonder and respect of our planet, its seasons, and its many creatures. She also developed a unique monogram that she used to sign her work.

During the last few years of her life, Christina’s illness made it difficult for her to leave the house, isolating her from her friends and much of her family. She couldn’t enjoy her favourite foods, nor was she able to exercise much, which as a triathlete, was devastating for her. She was, however, able to immerse herself in her art, and she took much solace in that. She developed a series of children's books to illustrate and teach about the animal kingdom using colour, design and artistic expression. Christina's scientific mind was always fascinated by viruses and diseases, and this pandemic would undoubtedly have fuelled her artistic creativity in amazing ways.  

We know that Christina would have hoped that all children could find strength and comfort through a curiosity of the natural world and artistic expression.

On April 22, 2020, Christina would have been celebrating her 40th birthday. We - her family and friends - would like to honour her life with the creation of the Christina Anderson Art and Science Prize, awarded to a grade four ECS girl (the year Christina began her ECS studies) who displays great passion for both science and the arts.