Socially awkward and full of repressed anger, I anesthetize myself spending mindless hours carving detailed texture on humorous and/or uncomfortable animal sculptures. A child of the revisionist era, my work reinterprets the figurine enabling animals to break the chains of cuteness and noble savagery. An appreciation of the ridiculous, a love of beauty and skilled craftsmanship, and the belief that domestic objects are social propaganda all contribute to my work.
Cordell received her BFA from New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University, Alfred, NY, and her MFA from Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA. She has been an Artist in Residence at the Clay Studio in Philadelphia, University of North Carolina at Greensboro and the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, WI. Her work has been exhibited in the Cheongju International Craft Biennale at the National Cheongju Museum, Korea; the Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX: The John Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, WI; The Philadelphia International Airport, Philadelphia; the Nancy Margolis and Garth Clark Galleries, New York, NY: Mindy Solomon Gallery, St. Petersburg, FL; The Society of Arts and Crafts, Boston, MA; Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY; and the Clay Studio, Philadelphia, PA; among others. Cordell is a 1998 recipient of an Evelyn Shapiro Foundation Fellowship and a 2003 Pew Fellowship in the Arts in the category of crafts. She received Pennsylvania Council of the Arts, individual artist grants in 2003 and 2007 and a New York Foundation for the Arts Artists’ Fellowship in 2011
