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.
Untitled Pendant (Prozac) Silver Sculpture, Contemporary, 2010+
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
I have been taking impressions of pills and creating a pill archive where pills are cast in silver and/or gold since 1995. At that time I was given pills as an answer to something th...
Silver
Untitled Pendant 2083 V - Allopurinol, Contemporary Silver Sculpture
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
I have been taking impressions of pills and creating a pill archive where pills are cast in silver and/or gold since 1995. At that time I was given pills as an answer to something th...
Silver
Untitled Pendant (Percocet) Silver Sculpture, Contemporary, 2010+
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
I have been taking impressions of pills and creating a pill archive where pills are cast in silver and/or gold since 1995. At that time I was given pills as an answer to something th...
Silver
$250
Untitled Silver Pendant Sculpture, Contemporary, Circa 2010, Excellent
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
I have been taking impressions of pills and creating a pill archive where pills are cast in silver and/or gold since 1995. At that time I was given pills as an answer to something th...
Silver
Untitled Pendant Sculpture of Psychotropic Pill, Silver, Contemporary
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
I have been taking impressions of pills and creating a pill archive where pills are cast in silver and/or gold since 1995. At that time I was given pills as an answer to something th...
Silver
$220
Contemporary Silver Sculpture: 1 Charm Necklace with Acetaminophen
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
I have been taking impressions of pills and creating a pill archive where pills are cast in silver and/or gold since 1995. At that time I was given pills as an answer to something th...
Silver
Untitled Pendant Sculpture in Silver, Contemporary, Circa 2010
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
I have been taking impressions of pills and creating a pill archive where pills are cast in silver and/or gold since 1995. At that time I was given pills as an answer to something th...
Silver
Untitled Pendant (Fluvox) Silver Sculpture, Contemporary, 2010+
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
I have been taking impressions of pills and creating a pill archive where pills are cast in silver and/or gold since 1995. At that time I was given pills as an answer to something th...
Silver
$3,600
11 Charm Necklace: Silver Sculpture, Contemporary 21st Century Art
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
I have been taking impressions of pills and creating a pill archive where pills are cast in silver and/or gold since 1995. At that time I was given pills as an answer to something th...
Silver
Untitled Pendant (Viagra) Silver Sculpture, Contemporary, 2010+
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
I have been taking impressions of pills and creating a pill archive where pills are cast in silver and/or gold since 1995. At that time I was given pills as an answer to something th...
Silver
$220
Charm Necklace Silver Sculpture by Gilead, Contemporary Art, 2010+
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
I have been taking impressions of pills and creating a pill archive where pills are cast in silver and/or gold since 1995. At that time I was given pills as an answer to something th...
Silver
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...
Wood Panel, Oil
Untitled Pendant Sculpture in Silver, Contemporary, Circa 2010
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
I have been taking impressions of pills and creating a pill archive where pills are cast in silver and/or gold since 1995. At that time I was given pills as an answer to something th...
Silver
$250
Untitled Silver Pendant Sculpture, Contemporary, Circa 2010, Excellent
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
I have been taking impressions of pills and creating a pill archive where pills are cast in silver and/or gold since 1995. At that time I was given pills as an answer to something th...
Silver
Untitled Pendant (54 343) Silver Sculpture, Contemporary, Circa 2010
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
I have been taking impressions of pills and creating a pill archive where pills are cast in silver and/or gold since 1995. At that time I was given pills as an answer to something th...
Silver
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...
Wood Panel, Oil
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...
Wood Panel, Oil
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...
Wood Panel, Oil
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...
Wood Panel, Oil
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...
Wood Panel, Oil
79.54ºS, 89.01ºE; 140º@23 km/h; 46.0ºC 08/11/15 14:00 Local
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
In Hyperobjects, Nova Scotia-based artist Colleen Wolstenholme presents works that developed from her earlier drawings of brain cell patterns and her interest in the way consciousnes...
Paper, Ink
Untitled Pendant (Fioricet) Silver Sculpture, Contemporary, 2010+
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
I have been taking impressions of pills and creating a pill archive where pills are cast in silver and/or gold since 1995. At that time I was given pills as an answer to something th...
Silver
$250
Untitled Silver Pendant Sculpture, Contemporary, Circa 2010, Excellent
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
I have been taking impressions of pills and creating a pill archive where pills are cast in silver and/or gold since 1995. At that time I was given pills as an answer to something th...
Silver
Untitled Pendant (Xanax) Silver Sculpture, Contemporary, Circa 2010
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
I have been taking impressions of pills and creating a pill archive where pills are cast in silver and/or gold since 1995. At that time I was given pills as an answer to something th...
Silver
Untitled from Shifty Packets Series, Contemporary Ink on Paper, 2010+
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
What happens when the digital and analog duke it out? Who would win in this match: the printing press versus a high-speed internet connection? Or do we have to choose? What happens w...
Paper, Ink
$3,200
Wind Algorithm 3 Abstract Drawing, Ink on Archival Paper, Contemporary
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Colleen Wolstenholme’s interest in the brain has flowed from her longstanding practice of making meticulous impressions of pharmaceutical drugs, such as Xanax, Prozac and Adderal, cr...
Ink, Archival Paper
$1,600
Untitled from Shifty Packets Series, Contemporary Ink on Paper, 2010+
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
What happens when the digital and analog duke it out? Who would win in this match: the printing press versus a high-speed internet connection? Or do we have to choose? What happens w...
Paper, Ink
Contemporary Silver Charm Bracelet Sculpture, 21st Century
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
I have been taking impressions of pills and creating a pill archive where pills are cast in silver and/or gold since 1995. At that time I was given pills as an answer to something th...
Silver
$6,000
Untitled (8 Prozac Bracelet) Contemporary Gold Sculpture, 21st Century
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
In the mid-1990s, Wolstenholme began casting anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medications, such as Zoloft, Paxil, Valium and Dexedrine, in sterling silver. These were made into pend...
Gold
Contemporary Clozaril Clozapine Silver Pendant Sculpture, 2010+
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
I have been taking impressions of pills and creating a pill archive where pills are cast in silver and/or gold since 1995. At that time I was given pills as an answer to something th...
Silver
Untitled Silver Pendant Sculpture, Contemporary, Circa 2010, New
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
I have been taking impressions of pills and creating a pill archive where pills are cast in silver and/or gold since 1995. At that time I was given pills as an answer to something th...
Silver
Untitled pendant (b 972 1 0, Amphetamine and Dextroamphetamine)
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
I have been taking impressions of pills and creating a pill archive where pills are cast in silver and/or gold since 1995. At that time I was given pills as an answer to something th...
Silver
Untitled pendant (M 775 - Benazepril Hydrochloride and Hydrochlorothiazide)
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
I have been taking impressions of pills and creating a pill archive where pills are cast in silver and/or gold since 1995. At that time I was given pills as an answer to something th...
Silver
Untitled Pendant (Glumetza) Silver Sculpture, Contemporary, 2010+
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
I have been taking impressions of pills and creating a pill archive where pills are cast in silver and/or gold since 1995. At that time I was given pills as an answer to something th...
Silver
Untitled (1 Charm Necklace, Sulfamethoxazole Trimethoprim)
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
I have been taking impressions of pills and creating a pill archive where pills are cast in silver and/or gold since 1995. At that time I was given pills as an answer to something th...
Silver
$2,200
Untitled 10 Charm Bracelet Sculpture, Contemporary Silver, 2010+
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
I have been taking impressions of pills and creating a pill archive where pills are cast in silver and/or gold since 1995. At that time I was given pills as an answer to something th...
Silver
Untitled Pendant (Warfarin) Silver Sculpture, Contemporary, 2010+
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
I have been taking impressions of pills and creating a pill archive where pills are cast in silver and/or gold since 1995. At that time I was given pills as an answer to something th...
Silver
Contemporary Silver Pendant Sculpture (Paxil - Paroxetine), 2010+
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
I have been taking impressions of pills and creating a pill archive where pills are cast in silver and/or gold since 1995. At that time I was given pills as an answer to something th...
Silver
Untitled Pendant (DuPont Percodan) Silver Sculpture, Contemporary Art
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
I have been taking impressions of pills and creating a pill archive where pills are cast in silver and/or gold since 1995. At that time I was given pills as an answer to something th...
Silver
Untitled Pendant (Modafinil) Silver Sculpture, Contemporary, 2010+
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
I have been taking impressions of pills and creating a pill archive where pills are cast in silver and/or gold since 1995. At that time I was given pills as an answer to something th...
Silver
$250
Untitled Pendant (West-ward 787), Contemporary Silver Sculpture, 2010+
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
I have been taking impressions of pills and creating a pill archive where pills are cast in silver and/or gold since 1995. At that time I was given pills as an answer to something th...
Silver
$250
Untitled Silver Pendant Sculpture, Contemporary, Circa 2010, Excellent
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
I have been taking impressions of pills and creating a pill archive where pills are cast in silver and/or gold since 1995. At that time I was given pills as an answer to something th...
Silver
Untitled Pendant (Watson 387) Silver Sculpture, Contemporary, 2010+
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
I have been taking impressions of pills and creating a pill archive where pills are cast in silver and/or gold since 1995. At that time I was given pills as an answer to something th...
Silver
$250
Untitled Pendant (Amitriptyline) Silver Sculpture, Contemporary, 2010+
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
I have been taking impressions of pills and creating a pill archive where pills are cast in silver and/or gold since 1995. At that time I was given pills as an answer to something th...
Silver
Untitled Pendant (Apo-Metoprolol) Silver Sculpture, Contemporary Art
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
I have been taking impressions of pills and creating a pill archive where pills are cast in silver and/or gold since 1995. At that time I was given pills as an answer to something th...
Silver
Untitled Pendant (Adderall) Silver Sculpture, Contemporary, 2010+
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
I have been taking impressions of pills and creating a pill archive where pills are cast in silver and/or gold since 1995. At that time I was given pills as an answer to something th...
Silver
Untitled 3 Charm Necklace Sculpture, Silver, Contemporary, 2010+
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
I have been taking impressions of pills and creating a pill archive where pills are cast in silver and/or gold since 1995. At that time I was given pills as an answer to something th...
Silver
$3,200
Wind Algorithm 1 Abstract Drawing, Ink on Archival Paper, Contemporary
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
Colleen Wolstenholme’s interest in the brain has flowed from her longstanding practice of making meticulous impressions of pharmaceutical drugs, such as Xanax, Prozac and Adderal, cr...
Ink, Archival Paper
Untitled from Shifty Packets Series, Contemporary Ink on Paper, 2010+
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
What happens when the digital and analog duke it out? Who would win in this match: the printing press versus a high-speed internet connection? Or do we have to choose? What happens w...
Paper, Ink
Untitled from Shifty Packets Series, Contemporary Ink on Paper, 2010+
By Colleen Wolstenholme
Located in Montreal, Quebec
What happens when the digital and analog duke it out? Who would win in this match: the printing press versus a high-speed internet connection? Or do we have to choose? What happens w...
Paper, Ink
$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...
Wood Panel, Oil
$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...
Wood Panel, Oil
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...
Wood Panel, Oil
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...
Wood Panel, Oil
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...
Wood Panel, Oil
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...
Wood Panel, Oil
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...
Wood Panel, Oil
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...
Wood Panel, Oil
$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...
Wood Panel, Oil
$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...
Wood Panel, Oil