2017
Best known for the jewelry and figurative sculptures based on a range of pharmaceutical drugs that garnered her widespread notoriety in the late 1990s, prolific artist Colleen Wolstenholme has also created abstract drawings and other works over the years that continue to stimulate dialogue and attract attention.
Born in 1963 in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Wolstenholme became interested in visual arts while studying fashion design at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. After earning her bachelor’s degree in fine arts in 1986, she continued her studies and received her master’s degree from the State University of New York at New Paltz in 1992, where she specialized in metal and jewelry arts.
Throughout the 1990s and into the 2000s, Wolstenholme worked with a range of mediums such as jewelry, sculpture, digital collage, painting and embroidery to create art that served as social criticism. Beginning in the mid-1990s, she made oversized plaster-cast sculptures and silver or gold jewelry that took the form of antidepressant pills and capsules in order to address several issues, including the fact that drugs are prescribed at disproportionate rates to women versus men, that the healthcare industry is overly reliant on prescribing drugs, and that anyone in treatment and on a course of medication is generally made to feel less healthy than those who aren’t. Wolstenholme’s provocative work made headlines in the Guardian, the Los Angeles Times and Psychology Today.
Wolstenholme’s art has also seen her unpacking her interest in the human brain. This is demonstrated in such abstract sculptures as Deviant Grid, the “Matrix Index” series and Spatial Anomaly in which she depicts the brain’s neurons. In her “Hyperobjects” series, Wolstenholme also focuses on systems that “humans have little power over but control and constrain us.” These include figurative drawings and abstract drawings of wind patterns, titled with geographical coordinates.
Wolstenholme’s art is part of the permanent collections of the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and the Confederation Centre Art Gallery in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.
On 1stDibs, find a range of Colleen Wolstenholme sculptures, drawings and watercolor paintings.
Untitled Pendant (Amitriptyline) Silver Sculpture, Contemporary, 2010+
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
I have been taking impressions of pills and creating a pill archive where pills are cast in silver and/or gold since 1995. At that time I was given pills as an answer to something th...
Silver
Untitled Silver Pendant Sculpture, Contemporary, Circa 2010, Excellent
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
I have been taking impressions of pills and creating a pill archive where pills are cast in silver and/or gold since 1995. At that time I was given pills as an answer to something th...
Silver
Untitled Pendant (Adderall) Silver Sculpture, Contemporary, 2010+
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
I have been taking impressions of pills and creating a pill archive where pills are cast in silver and/or gold since 1995. At that time I was given pills as an answer to something th...
Silver
Untitled Pendant 2083 V - Allopurinol, Contemporary Silver Sculpture
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
I have been taking impressions of pills and creating a pill archive where pills are cast in silver and/or gold since 1995. At that time I was given pills as an answer to something th...
Silver
Untitled Silver Pendant Sculpture, Contemporary, Circa 2010, Excellent
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
I have been taking impressions of pills and creating a pill archive where pills are cast in silver and/or gold since 1995. At that time I was given pills as an answer to something th...
Silver
Untitled Silver Pendant Sculpture, Contemporary, Circa 2010, Excellent
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
I have been taking impressions of pills and creating a pill archive where pills are cast in silver and/or gold since 1995. At that time I was given pills as an answer to something th...
Silver
Sterling Silver Pendant, Modigliani, Handmade, Italy
By K-OVER
Located in Firenze, IT
The “Modigliani” pendant is part of our jewelry line “Homage to the ancestors”, inspired by famous oeuvres of great artists. All our sterling silver pieces of jewelry are handmade: i...
Sterling Silver
Sterling Silver Pendant, Matisse, Handmade, Italy
By K-OVER
Located in Firenze, IT
The “Matisse” pendant is part of our jewelry line “Homage to the ancestors”, inspired by famous oeuvres of great artists. All our sterling silver pieces of jewelry are handmade: it m...
Sterling Silver
Postmodern Silver Hammered Pendant, Necklace by Marjorie Baer California Design
By Marjorie Baer
Located in San Diego, CA
Great design on this nice pendant with original necklace in silver hammered patinated finish circa 1980s, stamped in the back BAER SF, from San Francisco great California design. The...
Silver
Björn Weckström Necklace "O2X" for Lapponia Sterling Silver Mid Century 1970s
By Björn Weckström for Lapponia
Located in New York, NY
This is the Modernist Necklace "O2X" by Finnish jewelry designer Björn Weckström for Lapponia in Sterling Silver. The classic Mid Century brutalist piece was designed in 1970 for Lapponia Jewelry in Finland. The chain is a link chain in Sterling Silver. The pendant has the undulating brutalist naturalistic forms that characterize the masterworks of Weckstrom and Lapponia. Bjorn Weckstrom's pieces define Scandinavian modernism. They are exquisitely designed and timeless. This classic necklace is one of the greats by a master artisan of the 20th Century. The chain measures 30 inches (77cm). The pendant portion measures 2.3 inches (6 cm) tall and 2 inches (5 cm) wide. Impressed Marks: FINLAND, Manufacturer´s mark Lapponia. Designer name Björn. We have just returned from Finland with a wonderful collection of Finnish MId Century Modernist Jewelry...
Sterling Silver
Sterling Silver Pendant, Dalí, Handmade, Italy
By K-OVER
Located in Firenze, IT
The “Dalí” pendant is part of our jewelry line “Homage to the ancestors”, inspired by famous oeuvres of great artists. Specifically, this pendant represents the well- known painting “The persistence of Memory...
Sterling Silver
Sterling Silver Pendant, Clori, Handmade, Italy
By K-OVER
Located in Firenze, IT
The “Clori” pendant is part of our jewelry line “Homage to the ancestors”, inspired by famous oeuvres of great artists. Specifically, this pendant represents Clori: one of the main c...
Sterling Silver
