KAVANAGH, CORNELIA

PMW GALLERY

KAVANAGH, CORNELIA

As a sculptor, my instinct is to render personal responses to life in form. For years I attempted to find inspiration within the tradition of organic abstraction, carving sculpture in the manner of Arp, Brancusi and Moore. For most of my career, my work has been motivated by the beauty found in nature. Five years ago, however, as an emotional response to the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami of December, 2004 I felt compelled to explore all aspects of nature, including those manifested by epic disaster.

This led to the TSUNAMI PROJECT, a sculptural exhibition based on tsunami waves that attempted to reconcile water’s inherent fluid grace with its horrific capacity for destruction. Exhibited in September, 2006, at Blue Mountain Gallery, the show was favorably reviewed in the December, 2006 issue of SCULPTURE Magazine.

My next sculptural exhibition involving water focused on ice tunnels called moulins that are formed when melt water rushes through glacial crevasses. These Moulin sculptures were previewed at The American Museum of Natural History, during the International Polar Weekend in February 2009. A complete sculptural installation called “ARCTIC ICE MELT: Moulins of My Mind,” was featured at Blue Mountain Gallery the following September.

I am currently in the initial stages of preparing a series of sculptures on foraminifera and other forms of microscopic marine life that are being severely impacted by ocean acidification caused by climate change. Curiously, many of these elemental life forms have appealing sculptural shapes, evocative of Arp, Miro, and other Modernists who have been a constant source of inspiration throughout my career.

                     Visit Artist's Web Site: http://www.corneliakavanagh.com/


Helix I Bronze on painted steel base 21 x 35 x 8"	Mother and Child Bronze 6 x 6 x 6" and 5 x 5 x 5"
Opa Bronze on granite base 27 x 10 x 6"	Teluric Form II Bronze 12.5 x 13.5 x 8"
Reclining Figure I Bronze 4.75 x 6.5 x 5.5"	Reclining Figure II Bronze 14 x 19 x 17"
CAREER HIGHLIGHTS In 2005, I was honored to represent the US Virgin Islands at the 51^st INTERNATIONAL ART EXHIBITION – LA BIENNALE DI VENEZIA. Five bronze sculptures from my Shape of Time series were the focal point of an exhibition that brought attention to the Virgin Islands and the seminal treatise on art history written by my father, George Kubler, in 1961. I have also exhibited figurative sculptures in Miami’s Design District during Art Basel Miami Beach, and participated in two OPEN Exhibitions of Sculptures and Installations in Venice-Lido curated under the Auspices of Arte Communications and the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage. Most recently, I installed two sculptures in the Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale-New Haven, New Haven, CT, and four sculptures at Ocean House in Watch Hill, RI. My sculptures have been shown at the Hess Gallery in Chestnut Hill, MA, the Salmagundi Club in New York City, SOFA, Chicago, IL, the Desert Art Collection, Palm Desert, CA, the Gallery of Contemporary Art at Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, CT, the Washington Art Association, Washington, CT, the Abigail Adams Smith Museum, New York, NY, the Discovery Museum in Bridgeport, CT, the Audubon Birdcraft Museum in Fairfield, CT, the Stamford Museum and Nature Center in Stamford, CT, the University of Hartford Museum in Hartford, CT and the Yale Medical School Art Gallery in New Haven, CT. In 2000, I won the Amidor Memorial Award for Stone Sculpture at Art of The Northeast at the Silvermine Guild Arts Center in New Canaan, CT. In 2005, one of my large bronze castings, Vertical Edge Form II, was awarded the first F. Scott Fitzgerald prize by John Hightower at the Port Warwick Art & Sculpture Festival in Newport News, Virginia. Vertical Edge Form II was recently installed in the entry courtyard of the Dwight School in Englewood, New Jersey. I received an AA from Pine Manor College, a BA in Art History from Barnard College and an MA from Columbia University. In 2010 I was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in the Arts from Pine Manor College. Listed in Who’s Who In American Art, I am a member of the Connecticut Women Artists, a member of the National Association of Women Artists and a colleague of the National Sculpture Society. I work out of studios in Norwalk, CT and St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. In addition to Blue Mountain, I am represented by METAKAOS Pte Ltd., 51 Goldhill Plaza, Singapore 308900. To see the full range of my work visit: www.corneliakavanagh.com Selected Biography Exhibitions 2000 Art of the Northeast 2000, Silvermine Guild Arts Center, New Canaan, CT, Award; The Amidor Memorial Award for Stone Sculpture 2000 Connecticut Women Artists, Inc., University of Hartford, CT 1999 Qualita Fine Art, Las Vegas, NV; Curator: Nancy Hoffman 1998 Abigail Adams Smith Museum, New York, NY; Designer: Albert Hadley 1998 Quietude Garden Gallery, East Brunswick, NJ 1997 The Discovery Museum, Bridgeport, CT; "The Five Winners" Annual Exhibition 1997 Artspace- New Work '97, New Haven, CT; Curator: Marian Griffith 1996 Recent Work by Cornelia Kubler Kavanagh, Parish-Hadley Associates, New York, NY 1996 The Discovery Museum, Bridgeport, CT, Award; Best Sculpture 1996 Connecticut Women Artists Inc., New Haven CT 1996 Southport Garden Festival, Southport, CT; Designer: Albert Hadley 1995 Five From Connecticut, Norwalk Community College, Norwalk, CT 1995 Sanctuary Audubon Birdcraft Museum, Fairfield, CT 1994 Connecticut Women Artists Inc., New Haven, CT 1993 Connecticut Women Artists Inc., New Haven CT 1992 22nd Annual Art Competition, Stamford Museum and Nature Center, Stamford, CT 1991 Art Asia, Hong Kong Convention Center; Gallery: New Art Centre, London Selected Private Collections Barry and Carole Foreman, Potomac, MD Albert Hadley, New York, NY William and Judy Holding, Darien, CT Lynelle Jones, Norwalk, CT Elizabeth Kubler, Hamden, CT Richard and Kathy Leventhal, Tenafly, NJ Herman and Sue Merinoff, Lake Success, NY Alexandra Merrill, St. George, ME Alec and Drika Purves, New Haven, CT Clint and Susan Rodenberg, New York, NY lvy Rosequist, San Francisco, CA Larry and Camille Ruvo, Las Vegas, NV Deborah Tobin, Guilford, CT Robert and Barbara Wells, Darien, CT Christiaan Wernink, Ithaca, NY Guusje Wernink, New Canaan, CT Nisha Zenoff, Menlo Park, CA Selected Commissions Kirshenbaum Bond & Partakers New York, NY Lancaster Vineyards, Healdsburg, CA Richard and Kathy Leventhal, Tenafly, NJ Long Wharf Theater, New Haven, CT Annual Mary Hunter Wolf Award Bibliography Who's Who of American Women 2000 The Norwalk Hour, 5/11/00, Betty Tyler Art New England, January 1998, Michael Rush New Haven Advocate, 11/13/97, Hank Hoffman Darien News-Review, 7/31/97, Karri Williams The Norwalk Hour, 9/5/97, Barbara Bangster Architectural Digest, September 1996 Westport Minuteman, 3/7/96 Westport News, 7/10/96 Fairfield Citizen-News, 7/19/96 The New York Times, 9/24/95, Vivian Raynor Wilton News, 9/16/95, Louise Lancaster-Keim Connecticut Post, 9/24/95, Phyllls A.S. Boros Fairfield Citizen-News, 11/25/95, Nancy Lilley Greenwich News, 10/8/92 Darien News-Review, 11/21/91 Education B.A. History of Art, Barnard College, NY M.A. Art and Education, Columbia University, NY Anderson Ranch Center, Aspen, CO Brookfield Craft Center, Brookfield, CT Creative Arts Workshop, New Haven, CT Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, Deer Isle, ME