About the Artist

Chris Apel

Chris Apel was born in Cambridge Massachusetts, and graduated from Rockford College with a BFA. While she travels to Ravello frequently, she lives in Virginia with her husband and cats.

Throughout her career Chris has been captivated by intimate picturesque scenes and the study of the human form. Over 20 years ago she was entranced by the warmth and vibrancy of Italy. She returns most years to capture on canvas the faded elegance of once proud villas; the intricate textures of ancient architecture; and the dazzling floral displays cascading from windows or proliferating in secret gardens.

With her dramatic use of light and periodic use of grisaille to achieve depth and detail reminiscent of the Old Masters, she has brought to life Venetian Villas, picturesque hill towns, the Tuscan countryside and the dolce vita that is Italia.  For the past three years, however, she has been painting scenes of Ravello, a medieval hill town, not far from Naples, that overlooks the Amalfi Coast.

When asked why she finds Ravello so artistically inspiring, she says, “It’s everything.  The breathtaking views of the Mediterranean coastline.  The villas.  The manicured gardens.  The mix of Romaneque, Gothic and Moorish architecture.  The flowers.  The grottoes.  With its colors, contrast, texture, subject matter, and perspective, Ravello is an artist’s dream:  a marvelous interplay of natural and man-made beauty, light and shadow, just waiting to be caught on canvas.”

In 2011 she and her husband co-produced, Discovering Ravello,  a booklet that describes the history of Ravello, its principal attractions, and the magical spell that it has cast upon composers like Richard Wagner and Edvard Grieg, writers like Andre Gide and D. H. Lawrence, artists like Escher and Miro, and famous celebrities like Greta Garbo and Jackie Kennedy.

Chris has studied with Danni Dawson, the internationally known portrait and still life artist and Robert Liberace, the acclaimed classical figure and portrait painter.

Awards. In June 1996 Chris earned the second place award for two-dimentional art in the Fifth Annual North America Summer Invitational juried prize show at the Perry House Galleries in Alexandria, Virginia. In the same show she won The People's choice award. In 2007 she was juried into the Butler Institute of American Art's 72nd Annual exhibition in Youngstown Ohio.