Christine Borland: To Be Set and Sown in the Garden, 2002
We have selected 'To Be Set and Sown in the Garden' as a great example of a public artwork that truly embeds itself within its site. So much so that it seems almost impossible to remember the barren wasteground that existed there before it. Daily University staff, students and local residents use the benches to meet, relax and reflect- offering much needed respite amidst a bustling west end environment. The work sits successfully within Borland's wider practice, with the research opportunities at Glasgow University which were offered to the artist as a key part of the project, having a long term affect on her practice.
Christine Borland
Christine Borland was born in Darvel, Ayrshire in 1965 and studied at both the Glasgow School of Art (MFA) and the University of Ulster, Belfast (BFA). Continuing to be based in Scotland (Kilcreggan, Helensburgh), her work has often involved collaboration with non-art institutions, examining the uneasy realtionships that exist between such topics as history and science, ethics and genetics, and the fragility of human life. She works with a variety of materials, including glass, china, fabric and bronze. A mid-career retrospective of her work was staged at the Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh in 2007 and she was nominated for the Turner Prize in 1997. Other exhibitions include 'With Practice', Newlyn Art Gallery, Cornwall 2007; 'Selected Preserves', Galeria Toni Tapies, Barcelona 2006; 'Adelaide and Simulated Patient', Lisson Gallery, London, 2004 and 'Christine Borland', Contemporary Art Museum, Houston, 2002.