Kristin Cronic | Artist from Jacksonville, Florida

Kristin Rae Cronic

b. 1988 | Jacksonville, Florida | (904)655-3320 | kristincronicfineart@gmail.com

Statement

I create large scale gestural paintings in response to places that invite comfort and rest. My work is a return to intuition after years spent inside high-structure, and sometimes controlling, environments. Most often, nature and interior spaces are jumping off points. The live oaks of my birthplace, uprooted tree carcasses , and rock formations magnify the immense and fleeting emotional weight to which I am responding. Interior spaces offer shelter and variety, and facilitate rest needed to depart, once again, on personal journeys that form my worldview.

My process layers contour drawing, fluid acrylic washes, and intuitive oil markmaking. Painting gesturally requires I trust myself; the marks are evidence of movement. The scale of my work demands spatial commitment, which acts as a declaration of physical and emotional space, something I often resist occupying outside the studio.

I approach color with a restrained palette and in the making, shake it off balance with unexpected hues. Compositions push toward extreme perspective, creating confrontational angles with the forms. Personally specific titles open the interpretations into more universal themes.

My practice is rooted in principles of alla prima life painting, but pushes beyond strict observational rules in favor of intuitive markmaking, playfulness, and perceptual honesty. My work references the female abstract expressionists of the 1940’s, in particular Joan Mitchell, who liberated the landscape into emotion and color. Contemporary influences include pioneering women painters: Jenny Saville’s maternal figures, who hold unrelenting candidness and take up space. Cecily Brown’s emotional interior spaces changed the way I think about an energetic scene surrounding the viewer. Rose Wylie’s canvasses own a childlike presence and embrace fearless whimsicality.

I tend to hide from the parts of myself that are hardest to hold. I paint in order to stand in the spectrum of those things without judgment.

Biography

Born and raised in Jacksonville, FL, Kristin began her artistic journey at night while serving as an officer in the United States Navy. While experiencing the confinement of living on a ship at sea months at a time, Kristin yearned for a feeling of freedom, space, and rootedness. In response, she turned to plants and earth forms as a primary source of inspiration. Their wild indifference was a boon to her personal self discovery within an institution that demanded the sublimation of the self to the great whole.

She received her MFA in Visual Art from Jacksonville University in 2022 and currently lives and works in Jacksonville, FL with her husband and three children. She teaches at Jacksonville University as a Drawing Professor. She is represented by Stellers Gallery (Jacksonville) .

Recent solo exhibitions include the National Veterans Memorial and Museum, the United States Pentagon, and the United States Naval Academy Museum. Recent group shows include Pocket Utopia in NY, NY, the U.S. Embassy in Brussels, Belgium, and Number Inc’s 2024 “Art of the South” group exhibition at Stoveworks Gallery in Chattanooga, TN. She was a recipient of the Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville Individual Artist Grant Recipient for the 2024-2025 cycle. And in November, 2025, she illustrated the Google Doodle for Veterans Day.

Study:

MFA in Visual Art, Jacksonville University, 2022

BS in Naval Architecture, United States Naval Academy, 2011

Select Solo and 2 Person Exhibitions:

2026 “skin\bones” (Solo Exhibition). Touche Gallery. January 2026. Jacksonville, Florida.

2024 Pocket Utopia, New York, NY. (Two Person Exhibition) Show with Alyssa E. Fanning, Curated by Austin Thomas. June 17-July 14, 2024.

2023 A Midshipman’s Journey (Solo Exhibition), National Veterans Memorial Museum, April-November 2023. Columbus, OH.

2022 “Beyond A Midshipman’s Journey” (Solo Exhibition), United States Pentagon, September 2022-2023

2021 “A Midshipman’s Journey” (Solo Exhibition), United States Naval Academy Museum, 2021-2023. Annapolis, MD.

2021 “Coastal Forest,” (Two Person Exhibition) with Theresa Rycaszewski, Beaches Museum. Fall 2021-Spring 2022. Jacksonville, FL.

2019 “Canopies,” Part 1. (Solo Exhibition) St. Johns Cathedral, April 2019, Jacksonville, FL.

2019 “Canopies,” Part 2. (Solo Exhibition) Jewish Community Alliance,, June 2019, Jacksonville, FL.

Select Group Exhibitions:

2026 “No Dead Artists” (Group Exhibition). Ferrara Showman Gallery. Juried by Matthew Showman, Jonathan Ferrara, Tomas Moreno, and Sarah Bishop. New Orleans, LA. September-October, 2026. Exhibition Information.

2026 “Physique” (Group Exhibition). Kai Lin Art, juror Luke Hamilton. Atlanta, GA. July-September, 2026.

2026 “A Multi-Scalar Habitat” (Group Exhibition). Curated and arranged by Austin Thomas ofPocket Utopia.Peep Space Gallery, Tarrytown, NY. February-April 2026.

2026 Faculty Biennial Exhibition (Group Exhibition). Alexander Brest Gallery at Jacksonville University. November 2025- January 2026. Jacksonville, Florida.

2025 “Mother:Nature,” (Three Person Exhibition) Lorenzo Swinton Gallery. Curated by Lorenzo Swinton. October, 2025. Clarkesville, Tennessee.

2025 Fall Exhibition (Three Person Exhibition), Thrasher Horne Center. August - December, 2025. Orange Park, Florida.

2025 Women Arts Exchange (Group Exhibition), April 2025. Jacksonville, Fl.

2024 “Art of the South” (Group Exhibition), Stove Work Gallery and Number:Inc Magazine. Chattanooga, TN. August 16- Sept 28.

2024 Jacksonville University Faculty Biennial (Group Exhibition), Alexander Brest Gallery. Fall 2024. Jacksonville, FL..

2021 MFA “In the Works”, Group Show, Alexander Brest Gallery. August 2021. Jacksonville, FL.

Awards and Grants:

2024 Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville Individual Artist Grant Recipient.https://culturalcouncil.org/grantmaking/ccgj-grant-programs/artist-grants

Commissions, Collections, and Collaborations:

2026 Placed at U.S. Embassy in Brussels, Belgium. Initially acquired for “Democracy exhibition”, Art in Embassies, with the United States Naval Academy, 2023.

2026 Baptist Healthplace Silverleaf. Saint Johns, FL.

2026 Baptist Healthplace Seven Pines. Jacksonville, FL. 2026.

2025 Veterans Day Google Doodle Selected Artist. Featured November 11, 2025.https://doodles.google/doodle/veterans-day-2025/

2025 Gables Riverwalk, Fort Lauderdale, FL. Curated by ATP.art. Ft. Lauderdale, FL.. Project Information.