Graphic Design Lawrenceville Nj New Jersey

Transplanted artist helps grow Lawrenceville's art scene | Style ...

BY PAT SUMMERS NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Portrait of an artist who’s got it together: Christina Peckham, of Lawrenceville, N.J. A graphic designer and painter, Peckham has been part of the art scene since the mid 90s, but her knowing ways suggest a much longer time.

Both smilingly articulate and marketing savvy, she still manages to suggest the girl next door. Which may be just right in the small town of Lawrenceville, variously known as Lawrence Township and Lawrence – anyway, it lies between Princeton and Trenton.

A transplant from her hometown of Philadelphia, Peckham has lived in Lawrence for almost four years with her husband, John Lambdin, and their son and daughter, 7 and 3.

Although she delightedly took possession of a driveway and garage – parking space never dreamed of in the city – she initially missed Philly’s museums and galleries. For all practical purposes, there was no such thing in Lawrence.

She gradually moved back into painting, which is now her primary focus. But that design expertise wasn’t wasted; her artist’s statement accurately claims a combination of “simplicity of design, intensity of color.”

As her painting “journey” began, she moved from hard-edged floral images to softer landscapes, motivated in part by a trip to Ireland. Commissions have affected her choice of subject too – one gift for a gardener featured tomatoes, lettuce and Brussels sprouts in unusual combination.

Peckham fancies triptychs (images rendered on three painted panels), which to her suggest looking through a window. Through her windows, a viewer might see landscapes from Ireland to Colorado, or inter-connected still lifes.

A fine art graduate of Skidmore College with a minor in psychology (“It always fascinated me”), Peckham first worked in graphic design for advertising. She earned a master’s in art therapy from Hahnemann University, which at the time was the first such program in the country. (It’s since been absorbed by Drexel University.)

For a while after her grad studies, she worked at a nursing home, discovering that “art could reach the spirit of people” with Alzheimer’s and other dementias, despite other losses they may have experienced.

It turned out that Peckham wasn’t the only artist in Lawrence, nor the only one wishing for more of an art scene. Others in town, artists and residents alike, were of the same mind.

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