Canadian painter, Chris Willcox was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario. She earned degrees from the Ontario College of Art and Design, University of Guelph and earned her MFA from Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey. She moved to the Twin Cities in 2000, to accept a position at Macalester College in St. Paul, where she is a tenured professor and Chair of the Art department. Her work has been shown at galleries in the US and Canada. She is the recipient of numerous grants including Ontario Arts Council Grants, and a Minnesota State Arts Board Grant.