{"id":88,"date":"2025-01-06T05:13:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-06T12:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/?p=88"},"modified":"2025-01-06T05:13:00","modified_gmt":"2025-01-06T12:13:00","slug":"ceramics-and-glass-merge-in-christina-bothwells-transformative-sculptures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/?p=88","title":{"rendered":"Ceramics and Glass Merge in Christina Bothwell\u2019s Transformative Sculptures"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Ceramics<\/p>\n

When Christina Bothwell<\/a> was younger, her primary focus was making the best work she was capable of. \u201cNow, it occurs to me that I am part of a continuum,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s the feeling I have when I am making stuff that is the important thing\u2014the process\u2026 That\u2019s what we do as artists, right? Lay the groundwork for the next generation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bothwell often collaborates with her husband, Robert Bender, who adds wood elements to her dreamlike glass and ceramic pieces (previously<\/a>). She applies botanical details and other small features in oil paint, creating a mixed-media world of ethereal figures and spiritual, interspecies interactions.<\/p>\n

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\u201cJourney\u201d (2021), cast glass and ceramic, 26 x 17 x 16 inches<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Recently, Bothwell experienced a sudden health issue that threw her off her axis and derailed her studio practice. She says, \u201cI felt disconnected from my creativity, and it even seemed pointless to make art at all, like, \u2018Why bother?’\u201d Eventually, though, she realized how much she missed being in the studio and how playing around with materials enlivened her mind and spirit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese days, I feel keenly that it is a privilege just to make art, to see and be moved by beauty,\u201d Bothwell says. She began working on a series of seashell sculptures with figures nestled inside them, which were deeply personal, metaphorical visions of emerging from one\u2019s own safety zone to experience the unknown of the wider world. She sculpts each shell out of beeswax, eventually casting them in glass. The figures, on the other hand, are made from raku<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bothwell is currently working on sculptures that encourage letting go of the past and making space for new ideas, focusing on themes of ease, change, and courage. Explore more on the artist\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\u201cGirl in Pink\u201d (2024), cast glass and ceramic, 10 x 5 x 4 inches<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Collaboration with Robert Bender, \u201cStrange Angel #3,\u201d cast glass, ceramic, hand-painted details, wood wings, and antique wood puppet hands, 26 x 15 x 6 inches<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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\u201cSometimes I Dream the Strangest Things\u201d (2022), cast glass, ceramic, and hand-painted details<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Collaboration with Robert Bender, \u201cAntlers\u201d (2023), cast glass, hand-painted detail, and hand carved wood, 40 x 28 x 15 inches<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"
\u201cGirl in Conch Shell\u201d (2024), cast glass and ceramic, 10 x 4 x 4 inches<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Collaboration with Robert Bender, \u201cGirl with Pink Bow,\u201d (2024), kiln-formed cast glass and ceramic, 18 x 14 x 10 inches<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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\u201cWilderness\u201d (2024), cast glass, ceramic, found objects, wood, and hand-painted details, 38 inches tall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Collaboration with Robert Bender, \u201cMurmuration\u201d (2022), cast glass, 46 x 12 x 12 inches<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Detail of \u201cMurmuration\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member<\/a> today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Ceramics and Glass Merge in Christina Bothwell\u2019s Transformative Sculptures<\/a> appeared first on Colossal<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Christina Bothwell was younger, her primary focus was making the best work she was capable of. \u201cNow, it occurs to me that I am part of a continuum,\u201d she…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rss"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=88"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=88"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=88"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=88"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}