About Kris Cahill

Born and raised in Chicago, IL, I’ve been an artist all my life. Over the years, I’ve grown in my understanding of what being an artist means to me. Coming from a creative family, I grew up with a lot of permission and encouragement to invent things and to make art, since I was a small child. 

As an artist and designer, I've enjoyed wearing many hats, and working in different creative fields and media. After graduating with a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, I worked as a modern dance and ballet costume designer, and also started the first of my 3 fashion labels. As a fashion designer, I designed and produced kid's accessories (Konfettikids), and women's clothing and accessories under the labels of Bourgeois Rags and Lemmingwear. Many of my costumes and fashions were created with hand dyed and painted fabrics that I designed and created. Along the way, I worked in film and commercials in the costume and art departments, and then as a photo stylist.

Fashion and textile design have been a lifelong love of mine, since early childhood, but after years of working in this field, I was ready to focus on making paintings. I invented a technique for myself - painting in reverse with acrylic paint on clear vinyl, and went on to make over 1200 paintings in this media. While reverse painting itself isn't exactly a brand new technique, working on vinyl was a discovery I made for myself. I was still using sewing as a technique in my artwork, and would create hand painted vinyl paintings that were sewn into clothing or sculpture. Around this time, I was very much into making wearable art, and my work was featured in a number of fashion shows that featured one of a kind unique wearables.

As the paintings became my focus, around 1993, I started showing them in galleries, art fairs, and other places, and sold quite a lot of original work this way. 

In 1999, everything changed when I took a psychic meditation class that helped me step onto a new path for myself as a teacher, healer, and psychic reader. I've been working in this field since 2000, and currently teach online through ArtoftheSeer.com. The work I've done on myself, learning how to have my energy for me instead of scattered and ungrounded, helped me happily and consciously step onto the path of becoming an abstract artist.

In 2010, I stopped painting (on purpose) because I was building my psychic reading and teaching practice, and wanted to focus on this. I knew I'd always come back to making art again, as far as I was concerned I'd never stopped - I was just working in a new media, the art of the spirit. I worked with thousands of people over these years, giving many readings and healings, and teaching many classes. I had a radio show, a podcast, and a blog. My psychic business is still running strong at KrisCahill.com, and I am still working with individual clients, and writing in my blog. 

Painting came roaring back to me in 2020, the first pandemic year. My style and focus and technique has changed, I no longer work on vinyl. My new pieces are mixed media, including gouache and water colors on paper and board. After happily reacquainting myself with my favorite art supply stores, I was off on a new run of being a painter. It's so good to be back! I combine being psychic with being an artist, in a whole new way for myself.

The work I produce today is a reflection of who I am in my life now. My inspiration is new growth, healing, and magic, an awakening of the spirit. Color is one of the reasons I get out of bed in the morning, it is one of my favorite things. My work is healing for me to make, and my wish is for it to be joyful and healing for others too. Healing can mean, it's fun, happy, emotional, or helps you have an experience you'd like to have. Many of my paintings are about the cyclical nature of change. Conscious change leads to welcome new growth.

The future is not pre-determined. You and I and everyone else has the opportunity to re-imagine and create a new world, a new future, with every breath. I know that my spirit is an artist, and every day is an opportunity to create artfully. What will I choose to create in this moment?

The work you see on this site is a mix of new and older pieces. I sell originals, when available, through this website: KrisCahillArt.com. You can follow me at @kriscahillart on IG, and YouTube.

Thank you so much for stopping by and taking a look! Please reach out if you have any questions about my work.

Kris