About the Artist

Artist's Bio

Artist's Statement

Awards and Achievements

Exhibitions

Experience

Education

Memberships

Artist's Bio
Gwendolyn Holbrow grew up all over the United States, attending ten different schools and nine colleges and universities. She later lived in Germany for nine years. Despite dropping out of high school, college, graduate school and medical school, she managed to earn a diploma and two bachelor’s degrees, one of which is in art. In addition to being a sculptor and painter, she is an award-winning arts writer, an art teacher, a trained classical singer and the mother of four children. She was not allowed to have her own Barbie doll as a child, and she has filled out way too many forms (see the Universal Application).

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Artist's Statement
Like Semtex, Barbie packs a lot of power into a few ounces of plastic. I am a Barbiologist, taking samples back to my lab to test her qualities, both physical and philosophical. What happens if I take her apart and recombine her in new ways? Add more Barbies? Add Ken? Make her bigger? Put her in a new environment?

Through these experiments, I explore my culture and myself. How am I like her? How am I not? Do I have any of her power? Do I want it? Can I reduce or increase it? Change its direction? What does it mean to be female in America today? Will my society punish me for transgressing boundaries, or will it appreciate new freedom from old limits? I want to expand the definitions of Barbie, of the Self, and of women and our roles.

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Awards and Achievements

·     Best of Show for sculpture Queen Kong, Cambridge Art Association National Prize Show, Robert Fitzpatrick, Pritzker Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art - Chicago, juror; Cambridge, MA, 2004

·     Gold Medal for special exhibit The Root-Children (Die Wurzelkinder), New England Flower Show, Boston, MA, 2004

·     Artist’s Valentine Grant Competition winner, Nick Capasso, juror, Groton, MA, 2003

·     Listed in Who’s Who of American Women, 2002-3 and 2004-5 editions

·     Silver Medal for special exhibit The Queen’s Croquet-Grounds, New England Flower Show, Boston, MA, 2002

·     Juror’s Choice Award for acoustic sculpture Gravity Chimes, Cambridge Art Association SOUND juried show,  2001

·     Cheryl di Mento Memorial Art History Essay Award for Louise Bourgeois, Framingham State College, 2001

·     Distinguished Artist, Concord Art Association, 2001

·     First prize for tabletop fountain Keep It Clean, Concord Art Association Members’ Juried Show II, 2000

·     Second prize for oil painting Anna in a Green Dress, Mass Bay Community College Exhibit and Competition, 2000

·     Second prize for oil painting The Burl, Framingham Artist’s Guild Annual Fall Exhibit, 1999

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Exhibitions

·     Cambridge Art Association National Prize Show, juried, Cambridge, MA, 2004

·     New England Flower Show Special Exhibit, Massachusetts Horticulture Society, Boston, MA, 2004

·     The Human Condition; co-chaired this juried show, Cambridge Art Association, Cambridge, MA, 2004

·     Members Juried Exhibition I, Concord Art Association, Concord, MA, 2004

·     New American Crafts & Small Originals, Concord Art Association, Concord, MA. 2003

·     Winter Sale, Danforth Museum of Art, Framingham, MA, 2003

·     Pushing the Envelope, juried show, Cambridge Art Association, Cambridge, MA, 2003

·     Frances M. Roddy Open Competition, juried show, Concord Art Association, Concord, MA, 2003

·     Spring Sale, Danforth Museum of Art, Framingham, MA, 2003

·     Spectral Works, Cambridge Art Association’s University Place Gallery, three-person show, Cambridge, MA, 2002

·     Second Annual Middlesex Beat Open Studios, Middlesex County, MA, 2002

·     Fiber Arts Invitational, Mazmanian Gallery, Framingham, MA, 2002

·     Continuing Education Annual Exhibit, Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, MA, 2002

·     Individual Concerns, Gallery of Social/Political Art, juried show, Boston, MA, 2002

·     New England Flower Show, Boston, MA, 2002

·     Works On Paper, Juried Show, Cambridge Art Association, Cambridge, MA, 2002

·     Stepping Into An Uncertain World, Boott Gallery, Boott Mills Cotton Museum, Lowell, MA, 2002

·     Members Juried Exhibition II, Concord Art Association, Concord, MA, 2002

·     Artomat, Whitney Museum of American Art and the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, NY, 2002

·     Wonders on Wood, Cambridge Art Association, Cambridge, MA, 2001

·     Annual Holiday Sale, Danforth Museum School, Framingham, MA, 2001

·     Boston Harbor Show, Museum of the USS Constitution, Juried Show, Boston, MA, 2001

·     Holiday Sale, Concord Art Association, Juried Show, Concord, MA, 2001

·     Annual Members’ Prize Show, Cambridge Art Association, Juried Show, Cambridge, MA, 2001

·     Fourth Annual Metrowest Juried Art Show, The Center for the Arts in Natick, Natick, MA, 2001

·     First Annual Middlesex Beat Open Studios, Middlesex County, MA, 2001

·     Concerts on the Green, Framingham, MA, 2001

·     New Members’ Show, Cambridge Art Association, Cambridge, MA, 2001

·     Spring/Summer Members’ Show, Juried, The Copley Society, Boston, MA, 2001

·     SOUND, Cambridge Art Association Juried Show, Cambridge, MA, 2001

·     Eleventh Annual Open Invitational Competition and Exhibit, Premier Image Gallery, Ashland, MA, 2001

·     Annual Student Exhibit, Mazmanian Gallery, Framingham, MA, 2001

·     2nd Arches Student Print Exhibition, The Boston Printmakers, Juried Show, Boston, MA, 2001

·     Members Juried Exhibition II For Photography, Crafts, Graphics, etc., Concord Art Association, Concord, MA, 2001

·     Members Juried Exhibition I For Painting & Sculpture, Concord Art Association, Concord, MA, 2001

·     Trees and Other Small Works, Cambridge Art Association, Juried Show, Cambridge, MA, 2000

·     Small Works 2000, The Copley Society, Boston, MA, 2000

·     Framingham Artists’ Guild Annual Winter Exhibit and Competition, Framingham Public Library, Framingham, MA, 2000

·     Southborough Cultural Arts Center Regional Juried Show, Southborough, MA, 2000

·     Mazmanian Gallery 2000 Student Invitational, Framingham, MA, 2000

·     Frances M. Roddy Open Competition: The Meaning in Landscape, Concord Art Association, Concord, MA, 2000

·     Massachusetts/Hokkaido Student Art Exchange Exhibition,  Boston, MA, 2000

·     Concerts on the Green, Framingham, MA, 2000

·     Summer Whimsy, Owen Smith Schuman Gallery, Groton Public Library, Groton, MA, 2000

·     Animalia and Bestiaries: Honoring All Beings, Juried Show, Concord Art Association, Concord, MA, 2000

·     Members’ Juried Exhibition and Sale, Danforth Museum, Framingham, MA, 2000

·     Framingham Tercentennial Country Fair, Framingham, MA, 2000

·     Regional Exhibition, Premier Image Gallery, Ashland, MA, 2000

·     Annual Student Exhibit, Mazmanian Gallery, Framingham, MA, 2000

·     Mass Bay Community College Exhibit and Competition, Wellesley, MA, 2000

·     Painters Running the Gamut, Concord Art Association, Concord, MA, 2000

·     Concord Art Association Members’ Juried Show II, Concord, MA, 2000

·     Framingham Artist’s Guild Annual Fall Exhibit, Framingham Public Library, Framingham, MA, 1999

·     In Celebration of Trees, Juried Show, The Center for the Arts in Natick, Natick, MA, 1999

·     Danforth Museum Members’ Juried Show,  Danforth Museum, Framingham, MA, 1999

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Experience

·     Lecturer on the art, history and meaning of Barbie®

·     Writer for artsMedia magazine, Boston, MA, covering the arts in New England since 2002

·     Instructor of drawing and painting to adults and children at the Danforth Museum Art School, Framingham, MA, since, 2001

·     Writer for Middlesex Beat magazine, Groton, MA, covering the arts in Middlesex County since 2001

·     Freelance graphic design, writing and editing in Frankfurt, Germany, 1990-1998

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Education

·     Children’s Book Illustration with Ilse Plume at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2003

·     Bronze foundry with Charles Jones and Laura Baring-Gould at the Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, 2003

·     Auto-body repair with Jeff Pelletier at Assabet Valley Technical School, Marlborough, 2003

·     Welding and forging with Reid Drum at the Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, 2002

·     Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art and Art History, Framingham State College, Framingham, MA, 2001; studied with John Anderson, Marc Cote and Jim Eng

·     Painting, life drawing and ceramics with Martha Oldham, Michelle Lougee, and Michael Dowling at the Danforth Museum School, Framingham, MA, 1999, 2002

·     Commercial Art, Madison Area Technical College, Madison, Wisconsin, 1986-87

·     Graduate study in Embryology and Medicine, UW-Madison and Medical College of Wisconsin, 1981-83

·     Bachelor of Arts with Honors in Linguistics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1980

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Memberships

·     New England Sculptors Association

·     Cambridge Art Association

·     Concord Art Association

·     Framingham Artist’s Guild

·     Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators

Updated March 22, 2004

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