Coffee isn’t just for drinkisng! Each and every wedding package from Chloe Virginia Photography includes a complimentary, original coffee portrait painted by local artist Chris Hagebak. Families can always purchase coffee portraits as well! Below is a little about Chris!
Chris Hagebak is an award-winning generalist artist who specializes in portraiture. He has become internationally known for his coffee portraits, which are extraordinarily popular and have been exhibited worldwide. Chris has had numerous museum and gallery exhibitions, including both group and solo exhibits. He has exhibited four times at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum and twice at the National Art Center Tokyo. He was the featured artist at a portraiture exhibition at LaGrange Art Museum in 2016, and his coffee portraiture was featured at the Metropolitan Pavilion in New York in 2017 and 2019. In 2018, he exhibited at the London Coffee Festival, and he worked closely with exhibition organizers for the TAE2019 exhibition in Edinburgh, Scotland, where one of his coffee portraits was also featured. He will be exhibiting at the “Art for All” Sumi-e Exhibition and the Salon Blanc International Exhibition of Contemporary Art at the National Art Center Tokyo in 2020. Other upcoming exhibitions include the London Coffee Festival 2020, the TAE20 exhibition in Myrtle Beach, and the Watercolor Art Society Houston Exhibition in 2020. His work hangs in galleries and homes in 25 nations worldwide.
Although primarily known for his watercolour and coffee portraiture, Chris works in a variety of media, including oil, acrylic, sumi-e, sculpture, printmaking, stained glass, ceramics, batik, and other fabric arts. His work has been used as cover art for two books and several monthly periodicals. He is also a respected art restorer who has worked with museums and private collectors to restore works by such well-known artists as Warhol, Dodd, Rockmore, Braque, and Gilot. He has also done restoration work for the British Museum in London.
In October 2014, Chris was called upon to teach art at an orphanage in rural Zambia in southern Africa. Children from neighbouring villages walked miles to the orphanage to learn art techniques; on his first full day at the orphanage, Chris taught 215 Zambian children, most of whom had never before been exposed to art.
Chris makes his home in LaGrange, Georgia, where he is manager of 809 Gallery of Art, a gallery specializing in commissioned work and art education. He has served as manager of 809 Gallery for twelve years.
