“I nearly lost my shoes in the mud and had to veer off into a grove of trees,” she recalls. “I was grumbling about my soggy feet. When I looked up and saw the juvenile cow skull, it was a true ‘aha’ moment.”

That unexpected discovery, on the very day she had decided to try beading a skull, became the starting point for a body of work that now fills the walls of The Alley Gallery. “It felt like pure serendipity, a quiet gift from the universe,” Christine says. “Wet feet seemed like a very small price to pay.”

Christine, who has been coming to Steamboat as a veterinarian for the past 20 years, brings a deeply personal perspective to her art. Over two decades of caring for animals in this community have shaped not only her professional life, but her creative one as well. Her beaded skulls are not just visual objects, but acts of recognition – each one rooted in the life of the animal it once belonged to.

“I understood from an early age that life and death are very close neighbors,” she says. “My work as a veterinarian solidifies that understanding … my greatest motivation in this work is to honor the life of the animal.”

That intention is especially evident in pieces like one she calls the “Love Moose.” The animal was harvested to feed a local family, but because it lacked antlers, it wasn’t considered a trophy. For Christine, that only deepened its significance.

“I remember feeling, viscerally, that she was just as deserving of admiration and reverence as any bull moose,” she says. “That feeling became the foundation for the design, my way of honoring her life and affirming her worth.”

In January, Christine reached out to The Alley Gallery to share her work. The response was immediate. When she stepped into the space, she fell in love with its warmth and intimacy and knew it was the right fit for her pieces, a place where their stories could be experienced up close.

At The Alley Gallery, Christine hopes viewers look beyond the unexpected medium and feel something more immediate.

“I hope people notice the beauty of the skulls first, that something about them tugs at their heartstrings,” she says. “Every skull I’ve transformed carries a story … my deepest hope is that I’ve honored the life of the animal and invited others to pause, reflect and see beauty where they might not have expected it.”

While she resists naming a single standout piece in the show, Christine says the throughline is clear.

“We all need more love, to express it, to receive it and to embody it,” she says. “If there’s anything that feels especially important right now, it’s gratitude.”

That sense of gratitude extends to the opportunity to share her work in Steamboat – a place she has returned to for 20 years in her role as a veterinarian and now, increasingly, as an artist. From a chance encounter in the mud to a gallery exhibition, Christine’s work continues to evolve, each piece carrying forward a story, and offering it back in a new form.