AACG - Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass

Christina Bothwell

Artist Statement:

In my work I try to capture the qualities of the "unseen" that express the sense of wonder that I feel in my daily existence. I have always been fascinated with the spirit world and the idea that we are more than just our physical bodies. I am not a conventionally religious person, but there are aspects of spirituality that I try to incorporate into my work. The Quakers believe that when we are born, we come from God. While we are here, we all have that light inside us, and when we die we go back to that Source from where we came.

It occurred to me that by working simultaneously with the mediums of glass and ceramic, I could express the idea that we can go beyond our physical self and connect with something greater. I am attracted to glass because it offers an inner space and transmits light. I love using pit fired clay because of its ability to appear worn, ancient, and timeless - it feels alive to me. Working with the two materials allows me to suggest both the physical and non-physical realms, in one piece. By using clay and glass together I address the world of dreams, the possibility of an afterlife, and the spiritual realms. I often paint on the surfaces of my sculptures with oil paints in order to add an extra layer of narrative to the pieces. 

About Christina Bothwell

In her art, Christina Bothwell mines a fertile subconscious landscape and gives material form to emotions that lie beneath the surface. A lifelong lucid dreamer, she explores a mystical terrain many of us choose not to travel. Curators and critics have hailed her as a gifted storyteller creating fairy tales for grown-ups and her sculptures have been called “uncanny” and “the surreal stuff of dreams, memories, and the spirit world.” They are the 3-dimensional equivalent of figurative language expression, and affect viewers in unusually vivid ways. 

Sometimes taking human form, with bodies cast from glass and heads frequently sculpted from clay, Christina’s sculptures often have poses and facial expressions that result in an enigmatic doll-like appearance. They sometimes carry the lyrical imagery of birds, butterflies and flowers painted on their outer surfaces. Her subjects, however, are not restricted to human form; they can also be otherworldly creatures composed of a pastiche of sculpted glass and clay elements combined with fragments of dolls, found objects and carved wooden elements. Some host images of babies or human faces within their glass bodies, suggesting the sculpture’s inner spirit.

Christina's work, while displaying a guileless personal style that may seem the product of an autodidact, is in fact grounded in her formal academic training as a painter.  She studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts under renowned painter and printmaker Will Barnet (1911-2012), who called her “the most interesting student I ever taught.” Her creative impulses eventually took her beyond the 2-dimensional surface, and she began experimenting with ceramic and then glass sculpting. Using techniques which have been largely self-taught, she creates a wide range of work from tiny hand-sized pieces to impressively scaled sculptures that can free-stand 38 inches tall and require two strong adults to lift.

Following art school, this former urbanite and her husband, Robert Bender, resettled in rural Stillwater, Pennsylvania to raise their three children and make art. Their home and her studio are on a farm which offers an intimacy with nature that is reflected in her work. Her gently haunting objects convey subliminal messages hinting at the various forces at work in the natural world. Many view her as a guide whose sculptures are signposts along a path that leads to a place of hope and potential redemption or rebirth. 

Works by Christina Bothwell are included in 15 museum and public collections. She has been honored repeatedly with grants, scholarships and awards as well as frequently being the subject of magazine and newspaper articles. She was featured on the PBS television series Craft in America.

Her solo exhibition Screen Memories is currently on display in the Robert Lehman Gallery at UrbanGlass, Brooklyn, NY – through September 12th.

Click here for an artist's resume.

Click here for a video of Bothwell.

Acknowledgment of Gallery:
We are grateful to Heller Gallery for providing the Artist of the Month.