About
Irja Bodén (b. Kiruna, Sweden) is an artist and ceramicist based in NY’s Hudson Valley. She received a BFA in Visual Arts from SUNY Potsdam, magna cum laude, and a BA in Social Science from Lund University, Sweden. Bodén is a 2021 Artist Resource Trust Fund grant recipient from the Berkshire Taconic Foundation. She has been an artist-in-residence at Mass MoCA Studios, and Vermont Studio Center. Recent exhibitions include Fractured Light (Amos Eno Gallery, NYC, NY); Radius 50 (Woodstock Artists Association & Museum, NY); Embody (Ely Center of Contemporary Art, New Haven, CT) and En Vacker Utställning (Konstmuseet, Kiruna, Sweden).
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STATEMENT
Transforming the malleable into the permanent is a process that echoes our lives. We all begin as potential, reflecting what we see. My process in sculpture alludes to this process.
I frequently use stacking as a means of spatial arrangement. My ceramics have textured surfaces, and I work with various marking methods through surface treatment of raw clay and glazes, to build textures that resemble personal iconography, terrain, and memory. These patterns and forms unite other layers to reference time, nature, and domestic interiors. Multiple firings suggest the passage of time. I pack forms inside them with an assemblage aesthetic as a gathering of objects, some broken, some worn, some mistaken, and some perfectly fine.
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SELECTED SOLO & TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2022 New Works, Two-person show, Courthouse Gallery, Lake George, NY (forthcoming)
2021 Irja Bodén: Untitled (“Blah, blah, blah"), Smallbany Gallery, Albany, NY
2021 Irja Bodén: Fractured Light, Amos Eno Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2021 Irja Bodén: Virtual Solo, Ely Center for Contemporary Art, New Haven, CT
2017 Interwoven, Two-person show, Roxbury Arts Group: Walt Meade Gallery, Roxbury, NY
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2021 Radius 5o, Woodstock Artists Association & Museum (WAAM), NY
2021 Embody, Ely Center for Contemporary Art, New Haven, CT
2020 The Immigrant Artist Biennial, Here Together! New York
2020 New Folk: Hudson Valley Artists, Dorsky Museum, SUNY New Paltz
2020 The Longest Distance, Three-person Exhibit, Amos Eno Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
2019 En Vacker Utställning, Konstmuseet i Norr, Kiruna, Sweden
2018 Land and Sea, Main Street Arts Gallery, Clifton Springs, NY
2018 Contemporary Landscape, Roxbury Art Group: Walter Mead Gallery, Roxbury, NY
REPRESENTATION
White Columns Curated Artist Registry
Foundworks Artist Registry
Amos Eno Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
EDUCATION
Bachelor of Fine Arts, visual arts, magna cum laude, 2006, SUNY Potsdam, NY
Bachelor of Arts, social science, 1987, Lund University, Sweden
RESIDENCIES - AWARDS - PUBLICATIONS
2021 MASS MoCA, Studios at MASS MoCA Residency, North Adams, MA
2021 Artist Resource Trust Fund, Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation
2021 Interview in Ever Emerging Magazine (@ever.emerging)
2021 IG Review at International Art Magazine (@intartag)
2021 Interview in conjunction of Fractured Light exhibit, Amos Eno Gallery
2020 The Immigrant Artist Biennial Award
2020 The Immigrant Artist Biennial, Catalogue
2020 Ever.Emerging Magazine. First Issue, women 45+
2018, 2017 Vermont Studio Center, Residency and Artist’s Grant, Johnson, VT
2017 Public Art Fellowship, New York State Council of the Arts, NY
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Contact Irja Bodén at ibartstudio17 [@] gmail
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