BY JANET BERNOSKY, Eastern Shore Post —
Storytelling through art has been a passion for Chincoteague resident Christine Goldbeck for as long as she can remember.
As a child, she could spend hours a day drawing, often creating her own illustrated storybooks to give as gifts to friends and relatives “using colored pencils, cheap watercolors, or crayons,” Goldbeck said.
Her preferred media, as she has evolved as an artist, now favor oils and pastels.
It was through her storybooks, however, that she began to comingle art with her other lifelong passion, writing.
For the third consecutive year, Christine is participating in the Plein Air Art Show and Sale,
sponsored by the Chincoteague Cultural Alliance.
“En plein air” is a French term that translates to “in the open air,” and refers to a still-popular style of painting outdoors that first became famous with French Impressionists in the 19th century.
This is the event’s 21st year, always held during the second week in September. More than 60 artists, mainly from the Southern and Mid-Atlantic states, gather for the event, painting scenes of outdoor life on Chincoteague and neighboring Assateague Island.
Growing up, Goldbeck continued to draw, paint, and write in Schuylkill County, Penn., and for a time, on a farm near Laurel, Miss., when her mother remarried.
“My mom sent me back to my dad in Pennsylvania because I was a bit headstrong as a teen,” she said, a move which shaped her life.
A few years later, when Goldbeck found herself on her own at 18, she needed a job and turned to writing.
While taking college classes, she also began working part time for local newspapers, beat reporting and covering breaking-news stories as a journalist by day, while bartending at night to make ends meet.
Later, when she wanted to finish her college degree as a single mother to a daughter, art eventually won out.
In 2002, Goldbeck earned a bachelor of arts degree in women’s studies and history from Vermont’s Goddard College, mainly online.
Immediately upon graduation, Goldbeck enrolled in graduate school at Goddard, earning a master of fine arts degree in interdisciplinary arts in 2005.
For her final project, Goldbeck created a hypertext novel that married photography, fine art, and creative writing online with links that took the reader through several plot twists and possible endings.
Eventually, Goldbeck moved to Harrisburg, Pa. working in various positions within the state House of Representatives before retiring as executive director of the House Urban Affairs Committee a few years ago.
Meanwhile, she also opened her own gallery in nearby Middletown, called Arts on Union, which she operated from 1989 to 2018.
These days, Goldbeck finds herself living on Chincoteague with her partner Keith Gillespie, a retired Pennsylvania state legislator, her two German Short-Haired Pointers, various feline companions, her herd of goats that follow her around like puppies, and her four Chincoteague ponies.
Currently, Goldbeck manages the Chincoteague Pony Center for owner Denise Crosson. In the near future, Goldbeck plans to pull in her love of art to offer private lessons and to host adult paint parties on site.
Locally, her art is available at the Pony Center’s retail shop and at Flying Fish Gallery on Main Street, Chincoteague.
