Kristen Newell

Kristen Newell was born in a small town on the coast of Massachusetts, where from a very early age, she demonstrated a strong propensity for the arts. Important additional inspiration came from her family and from the family of a childhood friend, where Kristen found herself surrounded by the work of Paul Manship, her friend’s grandfather and one of America’s greatest sculptors.

With increased focus on her art, along with winning numerous awards throughout high school, Newell eagerly enrolled in the arts program at University of Vermont and augmented her studies with a valuable year at the Cleveland Institute of Art.

Upon graduation, Newell moved back to Cleveland to begin her art career and started participating in group shows, including River Gallery and the Ohio State Fair. In 2016, she began an internship at BRICK Ceramic + Design Studio, a well-known hub for Cleveland ceramicists. In 2019, she had her first solo exhibition at BRICK, and has since shown work at Gallery U, Abattoir Gallery, Waterloo Arts and WOLFS.

In the spring of 2021, Newell worked with artist Anna Chapman, creating an immersive-themed show at Waterloo Arts, and in 2022, participated in the CAN Triennial of Northeast Ohio, where a work of hers was purchased by the Cleveland Art Association (Carta). In 2023 she created an immersive installation for No Exit Music Ensemble with artist Leila Khoury at Spaces Gallery.

Today, Newell’s primary medium is clay, creating dimensional sculptures and relief tiles, while continuing to paint and work with mixed media. She recently added the art of creating large-scale parade puppets to her bailiwick. Of late, Newell draws inspiration and perspective from a broad swath of subject matter, including biological systems, philosophy, history, psychology, literature, and architecture. As a process artist, her works unfold as conversation between form and content, playing with scale, color, and material to tell stories and convey feeling. Newell also teaches, working within underserved neighborhoods, offering classes in local artistic spaces, as well as working with individuals to facilitate custom ceramics projects.

With my figurative sculpture I hope to achieve connection through a particular sensitivity to the interior experience, to strike a chord with my viewer's subconscious. My preferred medium is clay, I'm drawn to its endless potential and versatility of form, along with its earthly quality and history as a medium for "women's work" spanning back thousands of years. Out of clay, I periodically create female figures as a meditative response to global events related to female autonomy,  and to the long history of objectification in male dominated schools of art. For example, one recurring theme in my work is the myth of Persephone, a story that has evolved from its original form in antiquity through centuries of Greek and Roman retelling. Through this myth I explore the perception of women changing through time, from their roles as autonomous regulators of the natural world to subjects in the kingdoms ruled by men. Exploring this myth in my work, I bridge the patriarchal gap between my modern experience and a time before rape and kidnapping were the quintessential moments depicted in Persephone's story. I hope my sculptures will contribute a different perspective to the long cannon of figures in art. 

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