Wednesday, October 29 @ 5:00 – 6:15pm
Elvehjem L160
FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Kirstin Willders (she/her) is a multi-disciplinary artist and teaching-artist. Her work utilizes architectural structure and functional objects as physical surrogates to subvert social structures, binary systems, and normative ideals through a queer, femme lens. Her work employs coded language and queer cultural lexicon to create sculptural installations with one foot in historical foundations and another facing towards utopia. Originally trained in wheel-thrown, functional pottery, her studio practice is rooted in clay and expands into sculpture, glass, light, and mixed materials that create a distinct visual vernacular.
Born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Willders received a BFA in ceramics and a BA in art history from Kent State University, Kent, Ohio, in 2012. She went on to earn an MA in Italian Renaissance Art History from Syracuse University’s Graduate Program in Renaissance Art, Florence, Italy, in 2017. In 2020 she graduated from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in New York with an MFA in ceramic art. The same year, she was awarded the International Sculpture Center’s Outstanding Student Achievement in Contemporary Sculpture Award.
Willders has completed residencies at C.R.E.T.A. Rome, Italy, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Houston, Texas, the American Museum of Ceramic Art, Pomona, California, the Museum of Neon Art, Glendale, California, Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, Edgecomb, Maine, and the Morgan Art of Papermaking Conservatory in Cleveland, Ohio. Her work has been shown nationally and internationally; Recent Midwest regional shows include Dream Clinic Project Space, ROY G. BIV Gallery, OTE Arts Gallery, Curated Storefront, and 934 Gallery, among others.
Willders is currently based in Columbus, Ohio, and is a full-time Associated Faculty Lecturer and Assistant Area Coordinator in ceramics at The Ohio State University. kirstinwillders.com