Cristina Córdova is a contemporary artist and ceramic sculpting instructor from Puerto Rico, known for her powerful ceramic work and deep commitment to craft and cultural dialogue. She earned her BA from the University of Puerto Rico and her MFA from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University.
Cristina’s work is part of the permanent collections of several major institutions, including the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Everson Museum, the Mint Museum of Craft + Design, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Puerto Rico, the Museum of Puerto Rico, the Asheville Art Museum, and the Mobile Art Museum, among others.
Her contributions to the field have been recognized with numerous awards, such as the 2024 Maxwell-Hanrahan Craft Award, the 2023 Herbert Adams Memorial Medal from the National Sculpture Society, a North Carolina Arts Council Fellowship, a Virginia Groot Foundation Recognition Grant, several awards from the International Association of Art Critics of Puerto Rico, and a United States Artists Fellowship.
In 2021, she published Mastering Sculpture: The Figure in Clay (Quarry Books), a widely acclaimed resource for artists working in the medium. Her work has been featured in major ceramics and arts publications, including the cover of Ceramics Monthly, and was highlighted in the PBS Craft in America episode on “Identity.”
Cristina has taught and demonstrated around the world, sharing her expertise through residencies, workshops, and classes at institutions such as Harvard University, the University of California, the University of Nebraska, the University of Georgia, the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Ceramistas de Reñaca in Chile, the Australian National University in Canberra, Gaya Ceramics in Bali, Penland School of Crafts (NC), Haystack Mountain School of Crafts (ME), Santa Fe Clay (NM), Odyssey Center for Ceramics (NC), and Anderson Ranch (CO), among many others.