Serra Victoria Bothwell Fels
Serra Victoria Bothwell Fels talking about her solo at John Michael Kohler Arts Center.
SERRA VICTORIA BOTHWELL FELS (b. 1982, Tennessee)
Serra Victoria Bothwell Fels works with mundane expectations of space and subverts them into the unexpected and out-of-ordinary. Where are there seams between the real and the un-real? How does one become the other? Fascinated with ruptures and growths, Bothwell Fels approaches sites-of-change both in body and land. Where dissected illustrations of erupting volcanoes and lactating breasts look very similar, by her hands wood and plaster morphs into new expressions of such swellings.
Bothwell Fels earned her MFA from Columbia University (2016). She has exhibited internationally with a presentation at the Palais de Tokyo, Paris in 2013. With her collective Rabid Hands, she builds installations in unexpected spaces including a former convent, an empty snow-machine warehouse, and an abandoned secret society hall. She holds a BA in Social Psychology from Stanford.
BORN 1982, TENNESSEE
LIVES AND WORKS IN BROOKLYN
EDUCATION
- 2016
MFA in Visual Arts, Columbia University, New York
- 2005
BA in Social Psychology, minor in Political Science, Stanford University, California
MUSEUM & INSTITUTIONAL EXHIBITIONS
- 2020
Myths of Perpetual Growth, Richard and Dolly Maass Gallery, Purchase College
- 2019
BEAUTY SURPLUS, Kohler Museum, Wisconsin (solo)
- 2018
Alchemy, BRIC, New York; Curator: Elizabeth Ferrer
- 2017
Contemplative Practice, Sun Valley Center for the Arts, Idaho, USA; Curator: Courtney Gilbert
Twenty Seventeen (Wisconsin), University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh, USA (solo)- 2013
Concert Hall, Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Curator: Jean Barberis
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
- 2018
Bad Boundaries, Catinca Tabacaru, New York
- 2017
Twenty Seventeen (Time Square), SPRING/BREAK Art Show; Curators: Raphael Guilbert & Catinca Tabacaru
- 2016
a DEFECT // to DEFECT, Catinca Tabacaru, New York
- 2013
You Are Here/Here You Are, FLA Gallery, Gainesville, USA
- 2012
Between You and The Mountains, Parse Gallery, New Orleans, USA
SITE-SPECIFIC COMMISSIONS
- 2014
Crystal Cavern (Still Growing), Pioneer Works, Brooklyn
Outgrowths, Facebook, Menlo Park, California
Radio Ceiling, The Clocktower Gallery at Pioneer Works, Brooklyn- 2013
Snack Shack, Empire Drive-In, New York Hall of Science, Queens, NY
- 2012
Charlie Ang for Boatel, Inhabitable installations on boats, Marina 59, Far Rockaway, NY
- 2011
Two houses for Music Box, Installations + orchestra performance, New Orleans Airlift, LA; Organized by Swoon
EXHIBITIONS WITH COLLABORATORS
- 2013
Crystal Cavern, Installation, with sounds by VnessWolfCHild, Sky High Gallery, Milwaukee
Society of Pythagoras, Installation in abandoned secret society Hall, with Rabid Hands Collective, Hidden City Festival, Philadelphia- 2012
Crystal Cavern (An Experiment), Installation, with music by VnessWolfCHild and 3D soundscape by Terence Caulkins, Clocktower Gallery, New York
- 2011
Regency Hotel, True/False Film Festival, with Rabid Hands Collective, Columbia, USA
Vodopoi, Interactive labyrinth of installations in snowmobile warehouse, with Rabid Hands Collective, Detroit
Sequence of Waves, Interactive installations in former convent, with Rabid Hands Collective, Brooklyn
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
- 2020
Infinity/Infinity/Perfect Vision, C for Courtside, Knoxville, TN
- 2017
UPROOT, Smack Mellon, Brooklyn
Braid, Balash Artist Space, Brooklyn
Friend of a friend, Pump Projects, Austin- 2015
Devotion, Catinca Tabacaru, New York, curators: William Corwin & Catinca Tabacaru
- 2014
The Bushwick 500, English Kills Gallery, Brooklyn
Decade of Decadence, Cinders Gallery, New York
Grand Opening, Superchief Gallery, Los Angeles- 2013
Uncharted Waters, Reverse Gallery, Brooklyn
Headscapes, Headscapes Warehouse, Queens, USA
Drawable, FLA Gallery, Gainesville, USA
Braddock Tiles, Superchief Gallery and The Anita Shapolsky Foundation, New York
Showpaper, Retrospective, The Market Hotel, Brooklyn- 2012
Rewilding FLA, FLA Gallery, Gainesville, USA
To The Stars On The Wings Of An Eel, Gowanus Ballroom, Brooklyn- 2011
A Light In The Basement, Showpaper, Brooklyn
Art + Architecture, Gowanus Ballroom, Brooklyn
AWARDS
- 2019
NYFA Architecture/Environmental Structures/Design finalist
Purchase Collage Windgate Artist Fellowship- 2018
Peter S Reed Foundation Award
- 2016
Windgate Artist Fellowship
Nominated, The Dedalus Foundation MFA Fellowship- 2014
Sculpture Center, New York (Featured Artist)
Cinders Gallery, New York (Artist of the Month)
RESIDENCIES
- 2018
John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Wisconsin
- 2017
Anderson Ranch, Snowmass Village, Colorado
AZ West, Joshua Tree, California- 2016
Mildred’s Lane, Beach Lake, Pennsylvania
Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, Vermont
Black Mountain School (Taught “No-Math Architecture”), Black Mountain, North Carolina- 2015
Institute for Investigative Living with Andrea Zittel and James Trainer, Joshua Tree, California
- 2014
Facebook Analog Research Lab, Menlo Park, California
- 2012
Clocktower Gallery, New York
Boatel, Marina 59, Far Rockaway, New York- 2011
Rabid Hands Collective, self-created residency at an empty snowmachine warehouse, Detroit
Parse Gallery, New Orleans
Music Box and New Orleans Airlift, New Orleans