Costumiére Christian Joy Hultquist first established her name when she collaborated with Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ lead singer, Karen O to design her stage costumes, and she has never looked back. Christian was born in Marion, Iowa in 1973, the second oldest of six children to Connie and Jim Hultquist. Her parents had their own challenges raising a family while each spending time in the prison system. Her mother became a ‘born again Christian’ and so instilled a religious upbringing to her children. She was creative, teaching them to be resourceful using DIY—a skill Christian would later adopt in her craft. Connie was also a writer, and her father a singer. Coming from a poor background, Christian soon learned that she needed to make her own way and, while she excelled at sport in school, she had no academic ambitions. Instead she decided to make her own way and is entirely self taught—aside from one year studying photography, she had no training to become an artist or costume designer. Once she left Iowa and headed east to Chicago, her world began to open up and she spent time in Europe before, at the age of 24, realizing her future was destined to be in New York. It was there that she worked in retail and made the most of networking, which paid off, and it wasn’t long before she met Karen O, herself a burgeoning artist. Thus began a partnership that would showcase her work on stage, and give her the name recognition she needed to establish herself in the industry. Consequently, international success followed. Christian’s work has been exhibited in The Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the Mode Museum in Hasselt, Belgium and The Museum of Art and Design in New York City. She has also held her first solo show at the AVA Gallery in New York. Christian’s work has been featured across all major publications, including The New York Times, Time Magazine, Vogue, Vanity Fair, The Guardian, Billboard, Spin and Rolling Stone. Her next show will be in September 2023 at a new gallery space in New York alongside her husband, the actor and artist, Jason Grisell.

Host: Chris Stafford
Follow @theaartpodcast on Instagram
Email: hollowellstudios@gmail.com

Christian's website: https://www.christianjoy.us.com/
Instagram: @christianjoycostumes

Christian's favorite women artists:
Melissa Godoy Nieto
Alex Murray-Leslie
Julia @ioulex
Mariangela Lopez
Caroline McAuliffe
Janelle Rabbott
Naomi Sarah Clark
Rachel Nelson
Michelle Im
Camilla Carper
Cammi Climaco

Christian’s Playlist:
Our Lips Are Sealed: Fun Boy 3
Here Come the Warm Jets: Brian Eno
Night Shift: The Commodores
Art Star: Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Only You- Yaz
Sinead O’Connor- Jump In the River
Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou: The Homeless Wanderer
Gaby Les Soul Men:
Oh Maloya Kronos Quartet: Oh mother the handsome man tortures me