Carol has professional experience working with diverse populations of homeless, mentally and physically challenged, and street-involved youth and adults in inner- city communities. She has also taught at the university level. Collaborative projects with various social service organizations adhere to her belief that integration between people of various life experiences and learning differences, ages, and ethnicities builds community spirit. A visual artist, exhibiting since 1989, she holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Vancouver’s Emily Carr University of Art + Design. Her graduate installation of two hand-made artist-books, photography, and research materials, was exhibited in two solo shows and formed part of travelling exhibition. This body of work paid tribute to some of the incredible women who have made, or are continuing to make important contributions to BC herstory. In 2010, her project was acquired by the University of Victoria, Libraries and Special Collections.
Her Master’s in Education thesis focused on the social benefits of establishing community art programs, and art education as social intervention for inner city teens. In 1999, she set up a free after-school photojournalism program for inner-city teens, which continues to be a presence in Vancouver. Awarded a Government of Canada contract, she began working with incarcerated teens at a correctional institution. Awarded a Doctor in Philosophy in 2011, her research on juvenile offenders and the role of art as education in correctional facilities, was first published in 2018 by Routledge, New York, NY and Oxfordshire, OX. Issued in paperback in 2019, Juvenile Justice and Expressive Arts: Creative Disruptions through Art Programs for and with Teens in a Correctional Institution, is sold Internationally.
She has worked collaboratively on the design and painting of 9 murals, and art projects in Montreal, Vancouver, and Victoria. Represented by a Vancouver gallery, her paintings have been staged on sets for the Vancouver film industry; acquired by Vancouver restaurants, and in private collections in Montreal, Vancouver, and Vancouver Island. Recent 2023 paintings explore the use of texture, carborundum prints, and other materials.
Chroma Zone Studios was established in 2001, and she continues to advocate for social justice and community regeneration through her work as an artist and expressive arts educator.
Contact: chromazonestudio@gmail.com
CROSS, Carol
