Biography
Maria Bordelon-Nelson is a Texas resident, currently working in Houston, Texas. Her sculpture of wire, wood and wood veneers gives careful consideration to our human predilection to attract opposites and compare similarities among groups.
Nelson was born in New Orleans, Louisiana and received a summa cum laude BFA in 1973. Her interest in fine art and design brought her to Houston to establish an interior design practice, Bordelon Design Associates, which continues today. This practice reinforces her discriminating judgment on proportion, scale, and placement of objects in a group. In Houston she received a MLA in art history from the University of St. Thomas in 2005. Nelson holds a completion certificate from the Glassell School of the Museum of Fine Art, Houston.
Her exhibitions include the University of Houston’s Friends of Women’s Studies, the Visual Arts Alliance of Houston, Assistance League of Houston, the Lawndale Big Show and numerous Glassell Student Juried exhibitions at Traditions Banks.
Education
2016 Certificate of Completion, Glassell School of The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
2005 MLA Art History, University of St. Thomas, Houston, TX
1973 BFA, Louisiana Tech University: Summa cum laude, Ruston, LA
Artist Statement
Cage wire, softwoods, and wood veneers are my materials of choice to make sculpture. My works are unassuming, standing forms and wall hung sculpture. The use of simple forms and simple shapes are at the beginning of creativity for me.
Relationships are a routine part of daily life and my work reflects upon the concepts of both connected-ness and contrasts in routine relationships. The visual comparison of parts to the whole, point up both polar and bi-polar magnetic qualities.
I accomplish harmony with five elements: comparison of adjacencies, surface affinity, dominance, textural finishes, and finally color, as my sculpting tools.
Artist CV
Solo Exhibitions
2017 Carved and Woven Souls, Samara Gallery, Houston, TX
Folded Forms, Gallery 220, Houston Baptist University, Houston, TX
Group Juried Exhibitions
2005 Friends of Women’s Studies, University of Houston, Houston, TX
2007 Juried Membership Exhibition,Visual Arts Alliance, Houston, TX
2008 Juried Open Exhibition, Visual Arts Alliance, Houston, TX
2009 Juried Open Exhibition, Visual Arts Alliance, Houston, TX
2010 Glassell Studio School Show – Traditions Bank
2011 Glassell Studio School Show – Traditions Bank
2013 Honorable Mention, Visual Arts Alliance
Honorable Mention, Glassell Studio School Show
2014 Glassell Studio School Show
Honorable Mention (Two entries), Juried Open Exhibition, Visual Arts Alliance, Houston, TX
2014 Assistance League of Houston – Celebrates Texas Art
2016 Lawndale–Big Show
Publications and Speaking Engagements
2016 Glasstire Publication – Lawndale’s Big Show: Top Ten of 2016, August 2016
2016 Artist Talk Lawndale, August 2016