The winter landscape, First Snowfall, represents an evolution in style and technique developed over the course of her studio art studies.

Christina Jisto '22

Each year, as the Fall semester wraps up and students finish their final exams, Franklin prepares to send out an annual holiday card to members of its community. This year, the card features third-year student Christina Jisto’s artwork.

Holiday Card (2020) by Christina Jisto

Christina studies Visual Communication Arts and Media Studies at Franklin. She submitted her design to a committee back in October and recently found out that the committee chose her piece to feature. Based on a photo that she took on campus, her design portrays a familiar sight from Kaletsch Campus. According to Christina, she wanted to create an image inspired both by the holiday season and the university.

“This was my first submission of any artwork, so it felt really good. It really pushed me to submit artwork to other competitions in the future.” While Christina has been creating art since her childhood, her holiday card submission marked the first time she entered her work into a competition. Now that she has experience doing so, Christina plans to submit more of her work to various competitions in the future.

Christina’s journey into the visual arts started during her childhood. When asked about her interest in visual art, Christina stated that art runs in her family: “I have artistic roots. I got my art skills from my mom and my aunt. I guess it just runs in the family.” Inspired by her family, Christina began drawing with crayons at the age of three. Soon after, she took up traditional illustrating with pen and paper.

Portrait (2020) by Christina Jisto

Her entry to Franklin marked a pivotal point in her journey with the visual arts, as she began to experiment with several new mediums: “I started taking studio courses at Franklin and... that’s when I started experimenting with charcoal, ink, newspaper, and multimedia.” She also took various courses, including photography, that broadened her understanding of studio art.

Today, Christina prefers creating digital art. In 2019, she received a new iPad as a gift. To her surprise, it quickly became her preferred artistic device: “iPad art became more convenient to use because I could just paint on the go. I didn’t have to rely on having paper and a flat surface.” She used her iPad to create Franklin’s 2020 holiday card design.

Design (2020) by Christina Jisto

This year’s holiday card features Christina’s first digital landscape. While she usually creates portraits, Christina wanted to try her hand at something new. In the past few years, Christina’s artistic style has shifted tremendously from cartoon-like images to realistic portraits, which she finds challenging and rewarding.

In the future, Christina plans to utilize her skills as a graphic designer. While her style and skillset continually evolve, Christina said that Franklin’s studio art classes helped improve her technical skills. By taking various courses within the department, she deepened her knowledge and application of blending, color theory, and proportions. Each of these skills helped Christina improve her digital art.