Betty Woodman

Betty Woodman (b. 1930, Norwalk, Connecticut, USA) lives in New York, USA, and Antella, Italy. Woodman is known for her exuberantly painted ceramic vessels, which hover between sculpture and painting. While referencing ceramics from many cultures and historical periods, she is not bound by tradition, but rather uses it to explore relationships between structure, surface, and colour. Woodman’s work is part of more than 50 public collections and has been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions at museums and galleries internationally. 

Woodman’s commission for Liverpool Biennial 2016 is a large-scale public artwork, a bronze fountain, which refers to classical imagery and architectural decoration. This can be found next to George's Dock Ventilation Tower, as part of Liverpool Biennial’s Ancient Greece episode. Her work refers to classical imagery and architectural decoration, combining sources that include Greek and Etruscan sculpture, Minoan and Egyptian art, Italian Baroque architecture and the paintings of Bonnard, Picasso and Matisse. Woodman’s vessels, floor sculptures, montages and wall murals will also be displayed across numerous other locations and episodes. 

Solo exhibitions have been at venues such as ICA, London, UK (2016); David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles, USA (2015); Salon 94 at Frieze Masters, London, UK (2015); Museum Marino Marini, Florence, Italy (2015); and a retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA (2006). 

Betty Woodman at Liverpool Biennial 2016

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Liverpool Fountain, 2016
Bronze, patina and copper piping
Commissioned by Liverpool Biennial
Exhibited at George’s Dock Ventilation Tower Plaza

The Summer House, 2015
Glazed earthenware, epoxy resin, lacquer, acrylic paint, canvas and wood
Exhibited at Tate Liverpool

Aztec vase and Carpet I, 2012
Glazed earthenware, epoxy resin, lacquer, acrylic paint and wood
Exhibited at Tate Liverpool

Kimono Ladies, 2015
Glazed earthenware, epoxy resin, lacquer, acrylic paint, fabric costumes by Esther Gauntlett
Exhibited at Cains Brewery