Women in Business: CAC Founder Christine Gebauer
Thank you to Cottage Hill Magazine for featuring Celestial Art Curation founder, and Elmhurst native, Christine Gebauer for the Women in Business feature in the February/March 2025 issue. Read the full article below.
Christine Gebauer for Cottage Hill Magazine February/March 2025
Written in the Stars: Hinsdale Gallery Delivers Artful Curation and Community
By Tracy Boyd
Photography by Tony Favarula
“I’m a big believer in all that you cannot see,” says artist Christine Gebauer, reflecting on one of her moody, textural paintings on canvas. Its layers build, intensify and settle into something new. “The things we go through in life help us with our ultimate goal which is spiritual evolution. All the life we’ve lived makes us a more beautiful version of ourselves.”
As the owner of Celestial Art Curation in Hinsdale, Gebauer’s creative spirit is on full display. Her vision and appreciation for art as a connecting force grew from moments of challenge and clarity into a space that is both approachable and inspiring. For Gebauer, art is as much about the unspoken emotion as it is about realizing your True North.
Celestial Art Curation founder & artist Christine Gebauer.
Gebauer grew up in Elmhurst with an intrinsic love of the arts, dipping into classes at the Elmhurst Art Museum after school. She received her degree in education from Illinois State and taught art amongst other elective courses at Schaumberg area schools, before departing during the financial crisis.
In Chicago, her creative heart shifted to retail and Gebauer started her own online boutique in 2010, curating cothing she discovered from designers at the Merchandise Mart. She gathered valuable experience, sourcing a collection that met her own stylish standards, while anticipating consumer trends.
“Buying is a little bit art and science,” she says. “Sometimes your gut will tell you what to do, but it’s always based on an informed intuition.”
After enrolling in a buyer apprenticeship with Sears Holdings and learning the metrics side of the business, Gebauer took a role as an inventory planner and national cosmetics buyer with Ulta in 2016. She quickly picked up on the movement of the market and the influx of new beauty influencers, finding success in the calculated risk of buying.
Artwork featured by artist Lauren Ottley.
When she had her first son, Gebauer took time off for family. After her second was born, the family moved to Hinsdale. Over those years, she felt a powerful shift, propelled in part by a health scare that led to a near-death experience. Her call to create something new came from a moment of realization. Through many layers of healing, journaling and meditation, Gebauer fought back to gain a new sense of self and a clearer sense of purpose.
“Life’s so short and I realized I didn’t want to waste any time. I simply wasn’t done and I think it was that strong will that brought me back,” says Gebauer, channeling an urgency to follow her heart. “There’s a greater fear in not doing the things that I’m here to do than in feelings of failure or embarrassment.”
“There’s a greater fear in not doing the things that I’m here to do than in feelings of failure or embarrassment.”
As Gebauer sought new direction through meditation, she felt a spiritual awakening and a very clear vision that called her back to art. In 2022, as her children slept, she picked up a paintbrush and dialed into a Lagrange Art League Zoom class.
“It was essentially a license to try again,” she says of the one-on-one session on landscape painting with acrylics. For an art show that followed, she recreated a photograph from her city days. The tattered wing of a butterfly stood in beautiful contrast against the weathered brick backdrop of their old Logan Square home. The painting was called Resilience.
Gebauer, a self-described perfectionist, hesitated to explore abstract style at first, but with the encouragement of her husband, she uncovered an artform that left her feeling reinvigorated.
“With abstracts, I embrace the imperfect,” she says, pointing to how interwoven the lessons of art and motherhood can ultimately be. “Painting for me feels like a remembering. It intuitively feels right. You’re creating with a divine force and I just go along with it.”
“Painting for me feels like a remembering. It intuitively feels right. You’re creating with a divine force and I just go along with it.”
The energy that came from creating art gave Gebauer a new sense of direction, but it wasn’t until friends started to notice her talent that Gebauer’s art career took off. It was Diana Wagenbach, interior designer and owner of Hinsdale’s Studio W, that found the works of art while redecorating Gebauer’s home and immediately encouraged her to explore commissions. The validation and opportunity she received from her network grew steadily.
In June 2023, after attending a local gallery event, Gebauer again felt inspiration. She was lit up from connecting with fellow artists and felt a strong desire to grow that community locally. With a natural buyer’s instinct, she launched Celestial Art Curation to get art in more hands and homes. The business started as a membership concept, where works were available on loan with the opportunity to rediscover and redesign with fresh pieces.
“People started to associate me with art and they would come to me when they needed art, whether it was mine or someone else’s,” she says of the evolution of her art dealership. “Even though I had this art for loan program, that’s not what the customers wanted. They wanted me to help them find art for their homes to purchase.”
Christine Gebauer with artwork by CAC represented artist Lauren Ottley.
From its inception, Celestial Curation has been about making art accessible, and part of that is the sourcing experience. Gebauer launched a uniquely transparent website, listing the price of each work and a roster of artists in one place. She smartly identified a prime opportunity for emerging talent, while offering art at approachable price points.
“I’m connecting people who need art with people who create art. It’s a win-win for everyone”
“I’m connecting people who need art with people who create art. It’s a win-win for everyone,” says Gebauer, whose cultivated close relationships with artists like Jen Diver, Lauren Ottley and Elle Aiche. “All of these little stars are shining in small ways, but when we group them together, they shine bright.”
The galaxy of talent is strong in the Hinsdale area and in May 2024, through friends and fate, Celestial Art Curation found its new home. Gebauer’s desire to cultivate culture and community came to life in a gallery space that purposefully sets clients at ease. From the moment you walk up the art-filled stairwell into the brightly lit gallery, it’s interactive and approachable. Smaller, shoppable art pieces, perfect for desktops, bookshelves and gifting sit alongside striking exhibitions. The atmosphere is cheerful, inspiring and ideal for first-timers and seasoned collectors alike.
“This gallery felt like my baby until I opened its doors. Then, I had this epiphany that it’s not mine, it’s ours,” she says. “I created this for the community. It’s shared ownership and I really take that responsibility seriously.”
Celestial Art Curation Gallery is open every Wednesday for coffee and conversation.
Every Wednesday, the gallery is open for coffee and conversation. Artists linger and customers engage deeply with the work. Events, including very personal exhibits like Lauren Ottley’s upcoming tribute to her friend and regular artist talks make Celestial Art Curation seem like a smaller universe. Gebauer feels compelled to lift up new artists, especially women, and provide resume-building opportunities that lend them growth through exposure. By following her purpose, she’s helping others realize the same.”
