STEREOSKOP
“WHILE YOU ARE SLEEPING” - CHRISTINA BOTHWELL
by Fatima Njoja2025
“The essence of vulnerability is the fundamental inspiration in Bothwell's work, which engages a great deal with the body, its three-dimensionality and the transgression of any boundaries and possibilities of metamorphosis. All of these motifs come together again in her "While you are Sleeping" piece, created in 2007. Inspired by the artist's own vita, by the feeling of a lucid dreaming state of suspension in sleep during her pregnancy (5). Bothwell manifests this elusive state of sentiment in a material mix of colorless and white glass and fired Raku ceramics (2).
For Christina Bothwell ”(..) glass is an ideal vehicle to express the balance of life and spirit. In the one sense, glass is solid and heavy. But when glass is illuminated, it is transparent and fluid.” (4).
Not only the material shows a duality, but also the scene we are regarding - another body emerges from the sleeping woman lying on the floor, a body that also stands out due to the material used. The sleeping form, embodied by ceramics, while the spirit is mirrored by translucent glass (5).
According to Bothwell, it is one's own search for the 'true self', the 'fleeting sense of something more' (5). In the dream-like state whilst sleeping or the midst of its withdrawal, in which reality and fantasy become blurred, the search for meaning and longing of the sleeping woman is left to the eyes of the audience.
"While you are Sleeping" (2007) is one of Bothwell's own dearest works and is influenced by her greatest inspiration, which is dreaming (7).
"I have always been drawn to the ineffable-to the meaning that lies beneath the appearance of things. For me, glass is an ideal vehicle to express the balance of life and spirit. In my work, I like to explore the idea that we are more than just our physical bodies. I use glass to try and articulate what the non-physical is, that infinite quality of our spirit."
(1) Bothwell, C. (2023) ‘BIO’, Christina Bothwell | Glass & Ceramic Sculptor, 30 December. Available at: https://christinabothwell.com/bio-2/ (Accessed: 30 December 2023).
(2) Bothwell, C. (2007) While You Are Sleeping [Colorless and white glass; cast; pit-fired raku ceramic.]. Available at: https://glasscollection.cmog.org/objects/38886/while-you-are-sleeping (Accessed: 30 December 2023).
(3) DailyArt (2023) While You Are Sleeping by Christina Bothwell via DailyArt mobile app. Available at: https://www.getdailyart.com/en/23050/christina-bothwell/while-you-are-sleeping (Accessed: 30 December 2023).
(4) Fellowship of PAFA.org (n.d.) Christina Bothwell, FPAFA. Available at: https://www.fellowshipgallery.org/copy-of-esai-alfredo-2 (Accessed: 30 December 2023).
(5) Lovelace, J. (2014) Divining Her Mediums, American Craft Council. Available at: https://www.craftcouncil.org/magazine/article/divining-her-mediums (Accessed: 30 December 2023).
(6) Riedel, M. (2012) Oral history interview with Christina Bothwell [The Nanette L. Laitman Documentation Project for Craft and Decorative Arts in America]. The Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Available at: www.aaa.si.edu/askus.
(7) Salvator, F. (2019) Christina Bothwell - Coeval Magazine, COEVAL. Available at: https://www.coeval-magazine.com/coeval/christina-bothwell (Accessed: 30 December 2023).