Kristen Fissell is a Coast Guard veteran and visual artist with main disciplines in sculpture and painting. Kristen’s sculptural works explore themes from her time in service such as gender, hierarchical power structures, and her love of the sea as she uses materials including old uniforms, marine lines, and navigation reference manuals to create large scale mixed-media works.

Kristen’s paintings are vibrant, colorful, playful, and often include elements of surrealism and repetition. Kristen is currently inspired by San Francisco’s architecture and all the unique local pockets of magic, wonder, and character that make up the Bay Area. In between working at the Asian Art Museum as an art handler and preparator, Kristen is experimenting more with collage (the action of painting with paper) and manipulating fabric with her sewing machine.