Cristina Córdova
she/her Ceramic Sculptor Penland, NC
About The Artist
Cristina Córdova is a figurative ceramics sculptor inspired by the rich ceramic heritage of the Caribbean. Using clay to give voice to regional stories and aesthetic inquiries, Córdova strives to honor and innovate within this ceramic lineage, expanding collective creative language.
Native to Puerto Rico, Córdova completed her BA at the University of Puerto Rico, and received her MFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University. She is featured in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum; the Everson Museum, the Mint Museum of Craft + Design; the Museum of Contemporary Art of Puerto Rico; and the Mobile Art Museum, among others.
She is the recipient of numerous grants and awards, including the Herbert Adams Memorial Medal from The National Sculpture Society, a United States Artist Fellowship award, a NC Arts Council Fellowship Grant, a Virginia Groot Foundation Recognition Grant and several International Association of Art Critics of Puerto Rico awards.
In 2021 Cordova published Mastering Sculpture: The Figure In Clay by Quarry Books. In 2024 she established the Center for the Study of Figurative Ceramics. Her work is widely published in all major ceramics and arts media, including the cover of Ceramics Monthly, and was featured by Craft in America, on PBS, in their episode on Identity.
About The Work
Drawing from the ceramic heritage of the Caribbean, I follow in the footsteps of brilliant makers who have used clay to give voice to regional stories and aesthetic inquiries. As a "ceramista," I strive to both honor and innovate within this lineage, expanding our collective creative language. Through educational initiatives and cultural exchanges in Puerto Rico, I work to support and promote the island's contemporary ceramics movement as a means to strengthen communities and offer creative tools for empowerment and personal growth.
Cristina Córdova, Vaivén, 2023. Ceramic, 15 × 58 × 6 inches. Photo by Raquel Perez Puig.
Cristina Córdova, Jungla (detail of installation), 2017. Ceramic, resin, metal, paper, glass, plastic, wood, 16.5 × 18 feet. Photo by Raquel Perez Puig.
