Christina Bothwell
Artist Statement
In my work I am drawn to the processes of birth, death, and renewal. What lies below the surface fascinates me and I try to capture the qualities of the “unseen” that express the sense of wonder that I feel in my daily existence. I am attracted to glass because it can do everything that other sculptural media can; in addition, it offers an inner space and transmits light.
My subject matter includes babies, animals, and children as they embody the essence of vulnerability that is the underlying theme in my work. Currently I am exploring metamorphosis as a topic, and have been incorporating figures within figures in my pieces. Within each glass figure there is a smaller figure seen through the surface of the glass.
I think of these pieces as souls, each being pregnant with their own potential, giving birth to new, improved versions of themselves.
Biography
Christina Bothwell went to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts for painting. She is self taught with glass, and ceramics. She lives on a farm in rural Pennsylvania with her three children and her husband. Her work is represented by Heller Gallery in New York City, Imago Gallery, California, Habatat Gallery in Michigan, and Obsolete Gallery, California. Her work is in the public collections of the Shanghai Museum of Glass in China, the Fuller Craft Museum, Massachusetts, the Tutsek-Stiftung Foundation (Munich Germany,) the Mobile Museum of Art (Alabama), the Racine Museum (Wisconsin), the Corning Glass Museum (New York), Palm Springs Museum (California), the Lowe Art Museum (Florida), and the Smithsonian Museum of Art’s Archives of American Art, Oral History Collection (Washington, DC). She has received grants from the Virginia Groot Foundation (first place (2008)), the Pollock/Krasner Foundation (1994), the Greenshields Foundation, Quebec, Canada(1985 & 2002), the Ruth Chenven Foundation, New York, (1997) and the Elizabeth Foundation, in New York (1996).
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2011 POWER IN EACH STEP, Obsolete Gallery, Venice, CA
2010 LANDSCAPE WITHIN, Echt Gallery, Chicago, IL
2009 TRANSITORY PRESENCE, E Avery Draper Showcase, Delaware Center
for the Contemporary Arts, Wilmington, Delaware
Exhibition travels to Heller Gallery, New York, NY
2008 THE DREAM WELL, Habatat Chicago Gallery, Illinois
2007-2008 INVISIBLE REALITIES, Exhibition travels to Southern Ohio Museum, Portsmouth, OH, Ohio Craft Museum, Columbus, Ohio,
Heller Gallery, New York, NY, 32 page full color catalogue available
2005 BETWEEN FASCINATION AND FEAR: Mixed Media Sculpture,
Heller Gallery, New York, NY
BELOW THE SURFACE, Habatat Gallery Chicago, Illinois
2004 L’Eclat du Verre Gallery, Paris, France
2003 LUCID DREAMING, Habatat Galleries, Chicago, Illinois,
2002 John Elder Gallery, New York City, NY
1999 I REMEMBER YOUR VOICE, Elliot Smith Gallery, Saint Louis, Missouri
HIDDEN IN FULL VIEW, Susan Cummins Gallery, Mill Valley, California
SCREEN MEMORIES, Clay Studio, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
DOGS, Robert Kidd Gallery, Birmingham, Michigan
1997 LIVING WITH GHOSTS, Radix Gallery, New York, NY
1996 WHEN DOLLS GROW OLD, K & E Gallery, New York, NY
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITION
2012 Perturbations, Le Musee Febre, France
2011 Strong Presence, Hodgell Gallery, Sarasota, FL
In The Name of Love, Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung Foundation, Germany
Fresh Figurines, A New Look at a Historical Art Form, Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA
2010 See Through, Islip Art Museum, Long Island, NY
2012 Perturbations, Le Musee Febre, France
2011 Strong Presence, Hodgell Gallery, Sarasota, FL
Fresh Figurines, A New Look at a Historical Art Form, Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA
Regards Complices, Musee Languedocien, Montpelier, France
Anything But Clear, Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis, Tennessee
Glass Uprising, Swanson Reed Gallery, Zephyr Gallery, Louisville, KY
Matters of Size, Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA
2009 Visages, Rockford Art Museum, Chicago, IL,
Narratives in Contemporary Glass, Art Gallery,Highland Park, IL
Rising Stars, Wheaton Arts and Cultural Center, Millville, NJ
2007 The Art of Glass from Galle to Chihuly, Newark Museum, Newark, NJ
2010 See Through, Islip Art Museum, Long Island, NY
2006 Poetic Expressions of Mortality, Figurative Ceramics, Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, Al, Montgomery Museum of Art, Montgomery, Al
Life Insight. The Human Experience, Kentucky Museum of Art, KY.
2005 OUTSIDE THE CENTERS/ON THE EDGE. Exhibition travels to
Kutztown U., Pa College of Art & Design, Lancaster, Erie Art Museum,
Samek Art Gallery, Bucknell U, Lewisberg, Southern Alleghenies
Museum of Art, Loretto, PA
Figurative Art , Arnot Art Museum, NY
2004 1st Biennale International, La Puissance Du Verre dans L’art
Contemporain, Paris, Franc
HSINCHU INT’L GLASS ART EXHIBITION, Hsinchu Museum,Taiwan
SELECTED AWARDS & HONORS
2008 Winner of the Virginia A. Groot Foundation Award for
Excellence in Sculpture, Chicago,Illinois
2003 Grant, Pennsylvania Council for the Arts, Midatlantic Arts Foundation, PA
2002/1985 Grant, Greenshields Foundation, Quebec, Canada
2001 Full Scholarship/ Pilchuk Glass School, Seattle, WA
1997 Grant, Ruth Chenven Foundation, NYC
1996 Grant, Elizabeth Foundation, NYC
1994 Grant, Pollock-Krasner Foundation, NYC
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, AL
Tutsek-Stiftung Foundation, Munich, Germany
SMOG (Shanghai Museum of Glass), Shanghai, China
The Smithsonian Museum of Art’s Archives of American Art,
Oral History Collection
Fuller Craft Museum, MA
Racine Museum, Racine, WI
Corning Glass Museum, NY
Palm Springs Museum, CA
Lowe Art Museum, FL
Candace Groot Collection, IL
ARTICLES & REVIEW
Benjamin Genoccio, Art Review- Where a Close Look Goes Right Through
Corning Museum of Glass, New Glass Review, 33, 2012
New York Times, Long Island Edition, January 8, 2010
In the Name of Love, Eva-Maria Fahrner-Tutsek, Contemporary Glass
Jl Schnabel, Hi Fructose Magazine, the blog, November 6, 2011
Lomuto, Susan, “Christina Bothwell Explores Below the Surface, Daily ArtMuse, February 17, 2011
Corning Museum of Glass, New Glass Review, 32
Archives of American Art: Oral History Collection, Smithsonian Institute, Washington, DC
Corning Museum of Glass, New Glass Review 29
The Glass Quarterly Hot Sheet, 3 Questions for Christina Bothwell, 6/2009
James Yood, Reviews-Christina Bothwell, Glass Quarterly, 9/2005
Benjamin Genoccio, Art Review- Where a Close Look Goes Right Through
New York Times, Long Island Edition, January 8, 2010
Marielle Ernould-Gandouet, Revue Ceramique & Verre Magazine, May 2004
Lee Lawrence, Portfolio Taking Chances, American Style Magazine, 4,2004
Jim Yood, Review, American Craft Magazine, October/November 2003
New Glass Review 23, Neues Glas Magazine, 5, 2002 and 5/2000
D. Dominich Lombardi, “Contemporary Views”, New York Times, 1/27/2002 Maria Porges, American Craft Magazine, 1/2,2002 Up Front,
“Fairy Tale Interpretations”, Ceramics Monthly, 12, 2001 Gallery, American Craft Magazine, August/September/2001
Lee Lawrence, “Born Again”, American Style Magazine, Summer 2001
Lee Lawrence, “The New Craftivists”, New Age Magazine, May/June/2001
Mark Zimmerman, C.Bothwell, Flowers of a Beautiful Nightmare, Performing .Arts Journal, 10/1998
Vic Torre, Christina Bothwell-Living with Ghosts, New York Arts Magazine,
5/9/1997
