Early years
Christie's first stage set was Connecticutt Yankee in King Arthur's Court in middle school. She was putting together an art portfolio for an adult art school when world famous Bugs Bunny creator Chuck Jones visited her home--her parents made her show him her portfolio--to help her improve, he drew all over her portfolio entries showing her how to make them better and funnier. He added Coyote in a Model T chasing Road Runner to her landscape of the Grand Canyon. Regretably her take away was not to learn from him, instead she concluded that, though Jones liked her work, she believed she'd never be as great great an artist as Chuck Jones, so gave up 'fine art.' (He was a the height of his creative career, she was an idiot to compare herself and not listen to him.)
- Designed school sets
- Used babysitting money to pay for 3 Europe trips in high school
- Chuck Jones-famous animator-changed her life course
College and Grad School
Barnes was offered $129 for a design she did in set design class at Mount Holyoke College, although an English major. She resumed sketching set designs, usually for Shakespeare plays--especially after she got an apprenticeship in directing at the Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford and London.
She worked up to be producer and writer for the advertising company MMA in London, launching Budweiser in the UK, etc, writing advertising shows, art directing videos, speech writing. She worked as assistant director with husband Peter Barnes on theatre and television productions.
Wanting to mix Art and writing, Barnes got a Master Degree (Honors) from City of London University in Arts Criticism.
- BA Mount Holyoke College
- Apprentice Director Royal Shakespeare Company
- Advertising Executive
- MA Honors City of London University-Art Criticism
Next...
She decided to return to art, when sitting in on the making of the music 8Money for Nothing by Dire Straits at Framestore London---one of the earliest uses of CG animation.
She was hooked, she could potentially create a whole animated movie herself...She learned SoftImage but got an early pre-release copy of the computer animation software Lightwave. She actually did the first Lightwave created movie footage ever (beating Star Trek)--38 seconds of a Victorian factory interior for BBC's Hard Times.
She continued to work with husband Peter Barnes while beta testing CG motion capture software and training animators
- Newtek Lightwave
- Polhemus Motion Capture
- 1st Lightwave CG film footage
- Husband writer Peter Barnes
Concept CG artist
Barnes did a lot of previsualizing movie effects and sets for American TV and films.
Producers needed to learn about this new production tool.
She helped interpret bids for the NBC Merlin. She showed how to animate Pinnochio for a feature film. She created concept CG for8 Noah's Ark and Moby Dick for big budget miniseries to guide for producers. Etc. She designed CG sets for a fantasy film project of Irvin Kershner (Empire Strikes Back) that he was working on at the time of his death. Her own film projects were pitched in Hollywood by Oscar-winning producer Martin Poll. But Barnes abruptly stopped her CG work with the birth of her daughter, followed by triplets.
- Concept CG for NBC & ABC
- Oscar Winner Martin Poll pitched her CG movies in LA
- Developed CG film projects
- Stopped CG work on the birth of daughter then triplets
Family and New Career
Husband Peter Barnes died when the triplets were one and daughter Leela. Two years later, Christie moved the family back to the US and wrote a blog Paranoid Parents Guide about how to worry about the right things, not everything. A publisher called and asked her to write a book---starting a new career. The book was acclaimed in the national press, the NY Times, NPR, ABC News, etc. She continued to paint murals, paintings, creating CG sets and characters. With the triplets heading to college, Barnes had time to resume painting and launch that new career.
- Paranoid Parents Guide
- Paranoid Parents books
- What Every Parent Needs to Know About College Admissions
- Resumed painting
Two careers
Barnes, with post MA certification in career planning, does speak to parents, educators at national conventions and to Congress. She has appeared in the New York Times, Forbes, Readers Digest, NPR, ABC News.
Her college guide has been bought in bulk--500 copies per order-- by school districts across the US, for high schoolers.
Her art is selling, she has won awards, she is painting commission and has international recognition.
- College book a reference in school districts
- Recognition for books and art
- Paintings and commissions
- Raw files include