Chris Wolston

Chris Wolston is an American designer and artist based in Brooklyn, New York. His playfully fabricated work - which spans furniture, lighting, seating and accessories - combines traditional techniques and materials with a wry, contemporary realism, arriving at an entirely original postmodern aesthetic.
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Wolston’s interest in non-Western artmaking traditions was fomented at the Kokrobitey Institute, in Accra, Ghana, where he studied before receiving his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2009. In 2013, he was awarded a Fulbright grant to study in Colombia, where he solidified his distinctive technique. Invigorated by his exposure, Wolston opened a second studio in Medellin to continue his collaboration with local artisans.

From neon sconces to terracotta vessels, his work is bound by genre or form; his Fetish Lights Collection for Sight Unseen’s OFFSITE show in 2015, for example, was borne out of studies for handmade cookware, and combines clear and multi-colored tubular glass and other materials into a series of otherworldly, organic sculptures.

Wolston made his Design Miami debut in 2017 with his sand-cast aluminum Body series. His work has been shown at Hand Job Gallery, Bongo Bongo, New York, NY; Collective Design, New York, NY; OFFSITE; Burning Down the House, New York, NY; Museum of American Glass, Creativity Ascertained in New Jersey; Museo de Antioquia, El Barro Tiene Voz, Medellin, Colombia; Plecto Gallery, ESPACIO, Medellin, Colombia; Plecto Gallery, Strange Commonplace, Medellin, Colombia; K-ARTS, Cherry Blossom Live Event by Jocelyne Prince, Seoul, South Korea; The Gowanus Studio Space, Jell-O Mold Competition in Brooklyn, NY; and Glass Art Association of Canada (GAAC) Conference, Sonata de Verre, Montreal, Canada, among others.

 
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C.V.

Education

2013   University of Antioquia, Medellin, Colombia, Fulbright Research Fellow
2009   Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island, Bachelor of Fine Arts, Glass
2008   Kokrobitey Institute, Accra, GHANA
2005   The Wheeler School, Providence, Rhode Island

Awards & Residencies

2015   The American Design Hot List
2014   Fulbright Research Fellow, Colombia, “Methods of Production in Colombian Material Culture”
2013   The Corning Museum of Glass, New Glass Review 34, Jurors’ Choice Selection, USA
2012   Creative Glass Center of America Fellow, Millville, New Jersey
2012   Campos de Gutiérrez, Medellin, Colombia, Artist in Residence
2007   Haystack School of Craft, Deer Isle, Maine Experimental Work with Hot Glass”

Select Exhibitions & Performances

2018   Design Miami/ Basel, The Future Perfect, Basel, Switzerland
2017   Design Miami, The Future Perfect, Miami, Florida
2017   Fisher Parrish Gallery, The Paperweight Show, New York, New York
2017   Patrick Parrish Gallery, Garden Party, New York, New York
2017   R & Company, Our Flag, New York, New York
2016   Design Miami, Patrick Parrish Gallery, Miami, Florida
2016   Hand Job Gallery, Bongo Bongo, New York, New York
2016   Collective Design, New York, New York
2016   99¢ Plus, The Lamp Show, New York, New York
2015   City Bird Gallery, Jonald Dudd, New York, New York
2015   OFFSITE, Burning Down the House, New York, New York
2015   Museum of American Glass, Creativity Ascertained, New Jersey
2015   Work Release, Aglow, Norfolk, Virginia
2014   Museo de Antioquia, El Barro Tiene Voz, Medellin, Colombia
2014   Plecto Gallery, ESPACIO, Medellin, Colombia
2014   OFFSITE, Dream Motel, New York, New York
2014   Museum of American Glass, NJ350: Through the Lens of Glass, New Jersey,
2014   Paul Bardwell Contemporary Gallery, Mediations I, Medellin, Colombia
2014   Plecto Gallery, Strange Commonplace, Medellin, Colombia
2013   Palacio de la Cultura, Wax, Wane, Medellin, Colombia
2013   43rd (Inter) National Salon of Artists, Bailata Queer, Medellin, Colombia
2013   Chazan Gallery, Hope/Angell, Providence, Rhode Island
2013   Centro Cultural de la Facultad de Artes de la Universidad de Antioquia, You Can Dig a Hole in the Air, Medellin, Colombia
2013   NOHO Next, Hotel Ahn Nam, A Collaboration with Misha Kahn, New York, New York
2013   Plazarte, Launching of Espiga Curatorial Project, Medellin, Colombia
2012   Plazarte, The House is Set in its Own Park, Medellin, Colombia
2011   K-ARTS, Cherry Blossom Live Event by Jocelyne Prince, Seoul, South Korea
2011   The Gowanus Studio Space, Jell-O Mold Competition, Brooklyn, New York
2010   Glass Art Association of Canada (GAAC) Conference, Sonata de Verre, Montreal, Canada
2010   PS122, Vaginal Davis is Speaking From the Diaphragm, New York, New York
2010   Woods Gerry Gallery, RISD Glass Department Triennial, Providence, Rhode Island
2009   Toledo Museum of Art, Cirque de Verre, Toledo, Ohio
2009   Goggle Works Center for the Arts, Cirque de Verre, Reading, Pennsylvania
2009   Corning Museum of Glass, Cabin Fever 2300°, Corning, New York

Teaching, Lectures, Juries

2016 Rhode Island School of Design, Visiting Artist – Glass