Photo by: Karen Navarro PH
Carolina Borja was born in San Diego California, and lived in the border city of Tijuana before establishing in Mexico City. Borja studied Industrial Design with a minor in Mexican Folk Art. Her work meets at an intersection of sculpture, public art, and Mexican craft.
She incorporates urban and craft elements; papier-mâché, tissue paper, crepe paper, thread, concrete, wood, and cartonería, often reflecting on topics such as urban mobility, growth and cross-culture.
EDUCATION
2014 | Women’s Art Institute. St. Catherine University. St. Paul, MN
2014. | Design Thinking Action Lab. Stanford University. Online Course
2003.| Industrial Design. Universidad Iberoamericana. Mexico City, MX
SOLO AND TWO PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2024 Ground Cover. Throughline. Houston, TX
2019 Zipper Merging your Ducks in my Row. Mother Dog Studios. Houston, TX
2017 Unflinching Facades. Jesse Petersen and Carolina Borja. Soo Visual Art Center. Minneapolis, MN
2016 Transplanting Cityscapes. White Page Gallery. Minneapolis, MN
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024 Troubling the Boundaries. FotoFest. Houston, TX
Straight like that. ICOSA. Austin, TX
2023 Throughline. Volume 1 Rise. Houston, TX
Box 13. Árbol genial-lógico. Houston, TX
2022 Womxn of tomorrow. Sawyer Yards. Houston, TX
I have crossed oceans of time. Hardy and Nance. Houston, TX
Houston Forever. Prauper Studios. Houston, TX
2019 Arte/Sano ÷ Artistas 5.2. Museo Pape. Coahuila, MX
Equilibrio. Latino Art Now! Community Artists’ Collective. Houston, TX
2018 Arte/Sano ÷ Artistas 5.1. Centro Cultural Caja Real. San Luis Potosí, MX
2017 Arte/Sano ÷ Artistas 5.0. Museo de Arte Popular. Mexico City, MX
2016 Cross-Poll-Igniting II. Women and Money. Katherine E. Nash Gallery. Minneapolis, MN
Launching and Landing. Grain Belt House. Minneapolis, MN
It’s Personal. Quarter Gallery, Regis Art Center. Minneapolis, MN
Zipper merging your ducks in my row. Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Minneapolis, MN
2015 Reflections. Made Here. Minneapolis, MN
Constructing on Deconstructing. ArtPrize. Grand Rapids, MI
RE: Action: Gathering Momentum. Homewood Studios, Minneapolis, MN
We are all in this together. Bethesda Hospital. St. Paul, MN
A bird in the hand is better than two in the bush. Tuck Under Projects, Minneapolis, MN
Intersections. Made Here, Minneapolis, MN
Wonder Woman. Katherine E. Nash Gallery, Regis Center for Art. Minneapolis, MN
2014 Here we are nice. The Soap Factory Volunteer Biennial. Minneapolis, MN
Living in the Layers. Catherine G. Murphy Gallery, Saint Catherine University. St. Paul, MN
PUBLIC ART
2022 Alebrijes. Museum of Fine Arts Houston. Houston, TX
2020 Ambulantes. Alley Theatre. Houston, TX
2019 Time Less. City of Sugar Land, Texas
2016 Pianos on Parade. Minneapolis Downtown Council. Minneapolis, MN
2016 City Sounds. The Des Moines Public Piano Project Artist. Des Moines, IA 2016 Cross-Poll-Igniting. Skyway #36 St. Paul MN
2009 Animal Celebration. Paseo de la Reforma, Mexico City, Mexico
AWARDS AND HONORS
2023 Support for Artists and Creative Individuals Grant. Houston Arts Alliance. Houston, TX
Let Creativity Happen! Art Grant. Houston Arts Alliance. Houston, TX
2019 Let Creativity Happen! Art Grant. Houston Arts Alliance. Houston, TX
2016 Assemble Workshop Grant. City of Minneapolis. Minneapolis, MN
2015 Juror’s Shortlist. ArtPrize. Grand Rapids, MI
2015 Making it Public Project Grant. Forecast Public Art, St. Paul, MN
ArtPrize Pitch Night Grant, Walker Art Center. Minneapolis, MN
2014 Women’s Art Institute, Scholarship Recipient, St. Catherine University, St. Paul, MN
RESIDENCIES
2016 The White Page Residency. Minneapolis MN
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
2016 Art Forum. Critic’s Picks. September 2016
On View. American Craft Council. August 19, 2016
Forecast Public Art Blog. Cross-Poll-Igniting. February 25, 2016
For-example. Online gallery.
Minnesota Women’s Press. An un-gendered merge. Issue; 03/2016
2015 South American Trade Forum is a Success. Latino American Today.
Make it Break it. PBS The Art Assignment.
NE artists win ArtPrize grant at the Walker Art Center. Northeast Minneapolis Arts District. Issue 38
2014 Soap Factory Volunteers exhibit work at “Here We Are Nice”. City Pages
LECTURES/ VISITING ARTIST
2018 Food Art Week MX. Let’s talk about Humanity. Museo Numismático Nacional. Mexico City, MX
2017 Visiting Artist. Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Minneapolis, MN
2016 Income/Outcome: A dialogue for social change. Katherine E. Nash Gallery. Minneapolis, MN
Altered Esthetic Grant Panel/ Workshop. Walker Public Library. Minneapolis, MN
The Death of Feminism. Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Minneapolis, MN
2015 Seminario de Arte + Ecología. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Mexico, MX
2014 Wonder Women Panel Discussion. InFlux, University of Minnesota. Minneapolis ,MN
TEACHING ARTIST
2017 Minneapolis Institute of Art. Sculpture Camp. Minneapolis, MN
2016 Minneapolis Institute of Art. Sculpture Camp. Minneapolis, MN
VOLUNTEER EXPERIENCE
2015 L’Etoile Magazine. Contributing Art Writer 2014 Public Art St. Paul. Workshop Volunteer
2014. Vanessa Voksuil “The Student .̈ Volunteer
2013 In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre. Volunteer