Best known for the jewelry and figurative sculptures based on a range of pharmaceutical drugs that garnered her widespread notoriety in the late 1990s, prolific artist Colleen Wolstenholme has also created abstract drawings and other works over the years that continue to stimulate dialogue and attract attention.
Born in 1963 in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Wolstenholme became interested in visual arts while studying fashion design at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. After earning her bachelor’s degree in fine arts in 1986, she continued her studies and received her master’s degree from the State University of New York at New Paltz in 1992, where she specialized in metal and jewelry arts.
Throughout the 1990s and into the 2000s, Wolstenholme worked with a range of mediums such as jewelry, sculpture, digital collage, painting and embroidery to create art that served as social criticism. Beginning in the mid-1990s, she made oversized plaster-cast sculptures and silver or gold jewelry that took the form of antidepressant pills and capsules in order to address several issues, including the fact that drugs are prescribed at disproportionate rates to women versus men, that the healthcare industry is overly reliant on prescribing drugs, and that anyone in treatment and on a course of medication is generally made to feel less healthy than those who aren’t. Wolstenholme’s provocative work made headlines in the Guardian, the Los Angeles Times and Psychology Today.
Wolstenholme’s art has also seen her unpacking her interest in the human brain. This is demonstrated in such abstract sculptures as Deviant Grid, the “Matrix Index” series and Spatial Anomaly in which she depicts the brain’s neurons. In her “Hyperobjects” series, Wolstenholme also focuses on systems that “humans have little power over but control and constrain us.” These include figurative drawings and abstract drawings of wind patterns, titled with geographical coordinates.
Wolstenholme’s art is part of the permanent collections of the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and the Confederation Centre Art Gallery in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.
On 1stDibs, find a range of Colleen Wolstenholme sculptures, drawings and watercolor paintings.
Glass Squid Oil Painting on Wood Panel, Contemporary, 2010-
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
With Into the Deep Blue Sea, Nova Scotia-born, New Brunswick-based artist Colleen Wolstenholme presents a series of deep sea oil paintings and ink drawings, accompanied by a tent ins...
Oil, Wood Panel
Glass Octopus Oil Painting on Wood Panel, Contemporary, 2010-
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
With Into the Deep Blue Sea, Nova Scotia-born, New Brunswick-based artist Colleen Wolstenholme presents a series of deep sea oil paintings and ink drawings, accompanied by a tent ins...
Oil, Wood Panel
Triptych Oil Painting on Wood Panel, Contemporary, 2010+, Unframed
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
With Into the Deep Blue Sea, Nova Scotia-born, New Brunswick-based artist Colleen Wolstenholme presents a series of deep sea oil paintings and ink drawings, accompanied by a tent ins...
Oil, Wood Panel
$6,500
Holothurian Oil Painting on Wood Panel, Contemporary, 2010+, Unframed
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
With Into the Deep Blue Sea, Nova Scotia-born, New Brunswick-based artist Colleen Wolstenholme presents a series of deep sea oil paintings and ink drawings, accompanied by a tent ins...
Oil, Wood Panel
Bloody-Belly Comb Jelly Painting, Contemporary Oil on Wood, 2010+
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
With Into the Deep Blue Sea, Nova Scotia-born, New Brunswick-based artist Colleen Wolstenholme presents a series of deep sea oil paintings and ink drawings, accompanied by a tent ins...
Oil, Wood Panel
Benthic Ctenophore Oil Painting on Wood Panel, Contemporary, 2010-
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
With Into the Deep Blue Sea, Nova Scotia-born, New Brunswick-based artist Colleen Wolstenholme presents a series of deep sea oil paintings and ink drawings, accompanied by a tent ins...
Oil, Wood Panel
$6,500
Into the Deep Blue Sea Painting, Contemporary Oil on Wood Panel, 2010+
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
With Into the Deep Blue Sea, Nova Scotia-born, New Brunswick-based artist Colleen Wolstenholme presents a series of deep sea oil paintings and ink drawings, accompanied by a tent ins...
Oil, Wood Panel
Helmet Jellyfish Oil Painting on Wood Panel, Contemporary, 2010+
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
With Into the Deep Blue Sea, Nova Scotia-born, New Brunswick-based artist Colleen Wolstenholme presents a series of deep sea oil paintings and ink drawings, accompanied by a tent ins...
Oil, Wood Panel
Yellow Ctenophore Oil Painting on Wood Panel, Contemporary, 2010-
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
With Into the Deep Blue Sea, Nova Scotia-born, New Brunswick-based artist Colleen Wolstenholme presents a series of deep sea oil paintings and ink drawings, accompanied by a tent ins...
Oil, Wood Panel
Into the Deep Triptych, Contemporary Oil on Wood Panel, 2010-
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
With Into the Deep Blue Sea, Nova Scotia-born, New Brunswick-based artist Colleen Wolstenholme presents a series of deep sea oil paintings and ink drawings, accompanied by a tent ins...
Oil, Wood Panel
Into the Deep Triptych, Contemporary Oil on Wood Panel, 2010-
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
With Into the Deep Blue Sea, Nova Scotia-born, New Brunswick-based artist Colleen Wolstenholme presents a series of deep sea oil paintings and ink drawings, accompanied by a tent ins...
Oil, Wood Panel
Into the Deep Triptych, Contemporary Oil on Wood Panel, 2010-
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
With Into the Deep Blue Sea, Nova Scotia-born, New Brunswick-based artist Colleen Wolstenholme presents a series of deep sea oil paintings and ink drawings, accompanied by a tent ins...
Oil, Wood Panel
$4,500
Solmissus Jelly Oil Painting on Wood Panel, Contemporary, 24x24, 2010+
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
With Into the Deep Blue Sea, Nova Scotia-born, New Brunswick-based artist Colleen Wolstenholme presents a series of deep sea oil paintings and ink drawings, accompanied by a tent ins...
Oil, Wood Panel
Into the Deep Triptych, Contemporary Oil on Wood Panel, 2010-
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
With Into the Deep Blue Sea, Nova Scotia-born, New Brunswick-based artist Colleen Wolstenholme presents a series of deep sea oil paintings and ink drawings, accompanied by a tent ins...
Oil, Wood Panel
$4,500
Radiolarian Oil Painting on Wood Panel, Contemporary, Unframed, 24x24
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
With Into the Deep Blue Sea, Nova Scotia-born, New Brunswick-based artist Colleen Wolstenholme presents a series of deep sea oil paintings and ink drawings, accompanied by a tent ins...
Oil, Wood Panel
Barreleye Fish Oil Painting on Wood Panel, Unframed, 24x24
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
With Into the Deep Blue Sea, Nova Scotia-born, New Brunswick-based artist Colleen Wolstenholme presents a series of deep sea oil paintings and ink drawings, accompanied by a tent ins...
Oil, Wood Panel
Pelagic Polychaete Oil Painting on Wood Panel, Contemporary, 24x24
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
With Into the Deep Blue Sea, Nova Scotia-born, New Brunswick-based artist Colleen Wolstenholme presents a series of deep sea oil paintings and ink drawings, accompanied by a tent ins...
Oil, Wood Panel
Blanket Squid Oil Painting on Wood Panel, Contemporary, 2010-
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
With Into the Deep Blue Sea, Nova Scotia-born, New Brunswick-based artist Colleen Wolstenholme presents a series of deep sea oil paintings and ink drawings, accompanied by a tent ins...
Oil, Wood Panel
$1,292
H 5.91 in W 7.88 in D 1.19 in
Landscape 07 - 21st Century Contemporary Impressionistic Landscape Painting
By Frank Dekkers
Located in Nuenen, Noord Brabant
Frank Dekkers Landscape 07 15 x 20 cm (framed, included in price 20 x 25 cm) oil on Panel About the artist: Frank Dekkers, an outdoor painter, but not a "square painter" as we know...
Oil, Wood Panel
$1,289
H 5.91 in W 7.88 in D 1.19 in
Landscape 08 - 21st Century Contemporary Impressionistic Landscape Painting
By Frank Dekkers
Located in Nuenen, Noord Brabant
Frank Dekkers Landscape 08 15 x 20 cm (framed, included in price 20 x 25 cm) oil on Panel About the artist: Frank Dekkers, an outdoor painter, but not a "square painter" as we know...
Oil, Wood Panel
$5,029
H 9.85 in W 11.82 in D 1.97 in
Wedgwood Etruria with Anemones - 21st Century Contemporary Still-Life Painting
By Ingrid Smuling
Located in Nuenen, Noord Brabant
This still-life is painted by Dutch Painter Ingrid Smuling. The now 77-year-old artist is still most in her element when she is painting in her beautiful studio in the middle of The...
Oil, Wood Panel
$3,850
H 40.16 in W 29.93 in D 1.58 in
French Contemporary Art by M.-P. Autonne - L'Été Bleu
By Marie-Pierre Autonne
Located in Paris, IDF
Acrylic & oil on wooden panel Marie-Pierre Autonne is a French artist born in 1960 who lives & works in Angers, France. She studied at Penninghen in Paris, France. She worke...
Wood Panel, Oil, Acrylic
$8,129
H 31.5 in W 27.56 in D 1.38 in
L'Antagoniste- 21st Century Contemporary Figure Painting of a Bare Chest Man
By Tania Rivilis
Located in Nuenen, Noord Brabant
Tania Rivilis l'Antagoniste 80 x 70 cm Oilpaint on wood (OSB board) Tania Rivilis (born in Ukraine 1986) 2022 winner of the 'William Locke Price' from the Royal Society of Portra...
Oil, Wood Panel
$28,073
H 39.38 in W 47.25 in D 0.04 in
Tha First Man - Oil Paint by Marco Fariello - 2024
By Marco Fariello
Located in Roma, IT
Oil painting of lying man looking for his reflection in the water. Realized by Marco Fariello in 2024. This painting is inspired by the myth of the fall of man narrated in the Corpu...
Oil, Wood Panel
$2,000
H 48 in W 36 in D 0.25 in
TACITURN EYES - Figurative Abstract Oil Painting on Wood Panel
By Dustin Hedrick
Located in Signal Mountain, TN
Dustin Hedrick was born in Amory, MS in 1986 and received his BFA from Mississippi State University. Hedrick lives and works in Chattanooga, TN. As a visual artist and the founder of Channel To Channel...
Oil, Wood Panel
$5,790
H 24.81 in W 17.72 in D 0.79 in
Some Ambiguous Words- 21st Century Contemporary Painting of a Young Man
By Tania Rivilis
Located in Nuenen, Noord Brabant
Tania Rivilis Some Ambiguous Words 63 x 45 cm Oil on wood panel First we can announce some wonderful news! 3 May 2022 Tania Rivilis did win the first price of the Royal Academy of ...
Oil, Wood Panel
$4,971
H 27.56 in W 39.38 in D 0.79 in
Moonage daydream-21st Century Contemporary painting of together sleeping friends
By Tania Rivilis
Located in Nuenen, Noord Brabant
Tania Rivilis (b. 1986) Tania Rivilis began painting at the age of 27, after moving to Germany from Russia in 2012. Working hard on technique and creati...
Oil, Wood Panel
$4,083
H 39.38 in W 39.38 in D 1.97 in
French Contemporary Art by M.-P. Autonne - Weekend à Liéville 2
By Marie-Pierre Autonne
Located in Paris, IDF
Acrylic & oil on wooden panel Marie-Pierre Autonne is a French artist born in 1960 who lives & works in Angers, France. She studied at Penninghen in Paris, France. She work...
Oil, Acrylic, Wood Panel
$3,750
H 12 in W 18 in
Follow the Leader V - Original Mixed Media on Panel, Framed
By Leopold Segedin
Located in Chicago, IL
The "Follow the Leader" series started out with the name of the game. I had no idea how extensive the meaning of the game might be. I always worked on the assumption that children'...
Mixed Media, Oil, Wood Panel
$4,750
H 16 in W 12 in
Hide & Seek #8 (Boy with Book) - Original Mixed Media on Panel, Framed
By Leopold Segedin
Located in Chicago, IL
Many of my paintings are about Chicago - the Chicago I lived in when I began painting, a Chicago that now exists only in my memory. And memory is always a reconstruction. As my lif...
Mixed Media, Oil, Wood Panel
Yellow Siphonophore
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
With Into the Deep Blue Sea, Nova Scotia-born, New Brunswick-based artist Colleen Wolstenholme presents a series of deep sea oil paintings and ink drawings, accompanied by a tent ins...
Oil, Wood Panel