Bonnie Ralston is a Brooklyn-based sculptor and printmaker exploring loss and transformation. She works primarily with clay, often in combination with found metal also used in her corrosion prints.
STATEMENT
I take aesthetic cues from the streets of my neighborhoods of Carroll Gardens and Gowanus. I find evidence of the gradual softening of the built environment—the rust-stained walls, the cracked and awkwardly patched sidewalks, the splintered and graying wood—to be especially beautiful and poignant memento mori. I incorporate this visual language of decay into my work, which explores concepts of growth, loss, and transformation through the portrayal of lifecycles of invertebrates, celestial bodies, and other natural phenomena.
BIOGRAPHY
Ralston earned a BFA from Hartford Art School in West Hartford, Connecticut, and an MS in Ecological Teaching & Learning from Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
She has had solo shows at Manifest Gallery in Cincinnati, OH; Gallery GAIA in Brooklyn, NY; the Gowanus Dredgers Boathouse in Brooklyn, NY; and Three Rivers Gallery in Norwich, CT; and participated in group exhibitions at New York Artists Equity Gallery, New York, NY; Schweinfurth Art Center, Auburn, NY; Long Beach Island Foundation of the Arts & Sciences, Loveladies, NJ; Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL; Williamsburg Art & Historical Center, Brooklyn, NY; St. Joseph’s University, Brooklyn, NY; Shirley Project Space, Brooklyn, NY; Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, Brooklyn, NY; and Gallery GAIA, Brooklyn, NY.
In 2020, Ralston and fellow artists Miska Draskoczy and Kasia Zurek-Doule established the artist-run collective Gowanus Night Heron to create novel exhibition opportunities for local artists.
She lives and works in New York City.
EXHIBITION HISTORY
Current and Upcoming
2024
Natural Manipulation, April 12–May 26, CREATE Council on the Arts, Catskill, NY / curated by Monika Zarzeczna and Stella Yoon
2023
Sculptors Who Paint and Print: Abbyssinian Carto, Bonnie Ralston and Harold Wortsman, St. Joseph’s University, Brooklyn, NY / curated by Laura Horne
Bottom Feeders: Recent Sculpture & Work in Progress, Gallery GAIA, Brooklyn [solo]
Unearthed, Shirley Project Space, Crown Heights, NY / curated by Clare Burson and Sarah May
Beyond Mud: Ceramics 2023, Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, Red Hook, NY / juried by Nicole Shiroma
Fired Up: Ceramic Art by BWAC Members, Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, Red Hook, NY
2022
2022 NYAE Members Invitational, New York Artists Equity Association, Manhattan, NY / juried by Ambre Kelley, Michael Brennan, Robyn Gibson, Christopher Stout
The Brooklyn Watercolor Society and Friends: A Water Show, Gallery GAIA, Brooklyn, NY / curated by Christian Le Gars
Rust Show: Bonnie Ralston and Joe Banish, Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, Red Hook, NY
Benthic, Gowanus Dredgers Canoe Club Boathouse, Brooklyn, NY / curated by Pam Wong [solo]
Elemental Effects, The Long Beach Island Foundation of the Arts & Sciences, Loveladies, NJ / juried by Linda Weintraub
The Elements, Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, Red Hook, NY / juried by Scout Hutchinson
Fragile Rainbow: Traversing Habitats, ecoartspace at Williamsburg Art & Historical Center, Brooklyn, NY / curated by Sue Spaid
Made in New York, Schweinfurth Art Center, NY / juried by Ellen Blalock, Gina Murtagh, and Kim Waale
Uncommon Prints x Common Matrices, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL / juried by Cathie Ruggie Saunders
Accretion: Sculpture & Prints by Bonnie Ralston, Manifest Creative Research Gallery, Cincinnati, OH [solo]
2021
Gowanus Night Heron: Case Study, Brooklyn, NY
Arts Gowanus presents Gowanus In the Abstract, Gowanus in Perspective, Brooklyn, NY
Pluralities, Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, Red Hook, NY
Metal, Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati, OH / juried
Prints 2021, Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, Red Hook, NY / juried by Kim Conaty
Gowanus Night Heron pop-up group show, Brooklyn, NY
New Editions, Indianapolis Art Center, Indianapolis, IN / juried
Through Artist Eyes, Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, Red Hook, NY
2020
Currents, Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, Red Hook, NY
Art From the Inside, Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, Red Hook, NY
2019
Bonnie Ralston: Traces, Three Rivers Gallery, Norwich, CT [solo]
2018
17th Tokyo-New York Ceramic Competition, Nippon Gallery, Manhattan, NY
AWARDS & HONORS
Juror’s Award—First Place, Elements, Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, awarded by Scout Hutchinson, 2022
PRESS
Tussle Magazine, Beyond Mud, 2023
Art Hag, Bonnie Ralston | Benthic, 2022
Art Hag, Gowanus Night Heron, 2020
