Christina Hankins is a fine artist and designer based in Wilsonville, OR. She began her career 20 years ago in southern California painting and drawing images inspired from her daily life which included a family circus of four children, a cat, dog and supportive husband. Christina relocated to Minnesota with her family 18 years ago and recently moved again to the Pacific Northwest.

Lyrical line, layers of color, and narrative content are the basis of Christina Hankins mixed media works on paper rendered in acrylic paint and pastel. Her work focuses on figurative subject matter inspired by nostalgia, travel, and personal observation. Raised in southern California, and influenced by the latin culture in Los Angeles, her themes often reflect the vibrant color and rich heritage she grew up with.

Several years into her art career, Hankins began to think about combining fine art and function and started to visualize a line of artisan leather handbags which she grew into a company she named Urban Gypsy Design. Each bag is thoughtfully designed with an artists eye while keeping wearability and function in mind. Christina creates original lino cut block prints, hand painted pieces, leather cuts and appliqués which she constructs her bags around. All of her bags are designed, cut, and sewn in her studio with the help of an assistant or two and are considered art to wear.

Urban Gypsy Design now encompasses Christina's handbags, fine art and print reproductions

Hankins earned her Bachelors degree in fine art from U.C. Irvine in 1992 and a Masters degree from the Claremont Graduate School in 1994. Christina studied under nationally known artists including Barbara Krueger, Ed Bereal and Judy Baca. She exhibits her work in galleries and in art festivals nationwide.