Christopher Ashantey

Christopher is one of nine children born into the Ashantey family, in the coastal Southern California town of San Pedro.  At the age of five, Christopher's family moved to a farm in rural Kansas.

At that early age, Christopher was awed by the wonder of nature.  After moving back to California at the age of ten, he began to spontaneously draw and paint.  His gift was recognized by the California Institute of the Arts (A Walt Disney School), which offered him a scholarship from which he earned his Bachelor of Fines Arts degree.  Then enrolling in the University of California at Irvine he received his Master of Fine Arts degree.   To broaden his spectrum he moved to Dakar Senegal, West Africa to study.

The fusion of Christopher's ancestral legacy, handed down from his great-grandfather, the first African member of his family to set foot on American soil, often spoken of by his grandfather, along with the additional words of knowledge he imparted allowed Christopher to bridge the gap between his Western education and His African Art experience.  Art has always been a part of Christopher's life.  The ability to create is a gift and a blessing from God available to everyone.  Some share as artists and others as recipients of the gift.

The works of Ashantey are published internationally by Bruce McGaw Graphics, New York and the California Institute of Arts, Valencia California.