My new website!

I am excited to announce that I have a brand new website at www.nicolegibbsart.com!  I will still be using this blog for ongoing news and updates, and they are linked to each other.  Enjoy, and let me know what you think! 

Nice review of Interwoven project

Kristin Forbes, a freelance reporter, wrote a nice review of my project with St. Andrew Lutheran Church in Beaverton, OR. Here it is!

Artist Collaborates with Beaverton Church in Interactive Art Project

The Interwoven Project

From Feb. 6-14, I am working as an Artist in Residence at St. Andrew Lutheran Church in Beaverton, OR. We are making a piece titled Interwoven that will document the use of handmade fiber arts to mark transitional moments in community and individual life. It is inspired by a 1943 article by Margaret Mead about the connectedness of art and everyday life, as well as by the Protestant observance of the Transfiguration and its connection to sukkahs, the temporary tents made during the Jewish celebration of the Feast of the Tabernacle. This is my first collaborative social-based artistic project, and it will include a photography workshop and book project (Sun., Feb. 6), a lecture (Wed., Feb. 10), and a temporary collaborative installation (Sun., Feb. 14). Here is a brochure that describes the project in detail, and there is a separate flyer in the post below about the lecture. All are welcome to attend and/or participate!

The Interwoven Project - Artist in Residence Lecture, Wed., Feb. 10th @ 7:00pm

Great review of my show

Here's a great review of the work in my current show, Remote Sensing, in the Columbus Dispatch last Sunday.

Remote Sensing - New Work at the Ohio Art League Gallery

Check out my show at OAL, and if you're free today, I'd love to see you at the opening!

January 2-27, 2010

Opening: Saturday, January 2nd from 6-8 p.m.

Ohio Art League Gallery
1552 N. High St.
Columbus, OH  
www.oal.org

Works by Nicole Gibbs
Curated by Susan Li O'Connor

"Remote Sensing" is a collection of mixed media drawings that employ the cool, impervious perspective of satellites to investigate control, communication, and chaos within dear and difficult relationships.

Spills, Birds, Satellites

(Click here to see these images in a larger-format slideshow.)

Just before departing for my temporary teaching position in Olympia, WA, I put up a selection of my recent works for friends and family at the Clean Space Gallery on OSU's campus. It was a great opportunity to experiment with ways of showing these pieces, which were made over the course of two years.

At eye level
At normal art-viewing height are the most resolved pieces, offering a synthesis of my ideas about spillage, chaos, and order. These works are deeply psychological for me, and reflect the ongoing process to understand my past and the relationships that have shaped who I am today. Many have an aerial or synoptic perspective. The palette is cool, calculated, and sometimes hyper-colorful, just like the countless satellite images I grew up looking at when I went with my mom to work at the EROS Data Center, a partner facility of the US Geological Survey. The satellite is a remote sensing device. Its eye is emotionless. It is clinical and unflinching. There are times in my life when I want this incorruptible perspective—to see my situations, relationships, and artwork with a calm clarity.

In contrast, I invite liquid into my work to act as a mentor, collaborator, and antagonist in my efforts to let go of control. With its susceptibility to gravity, evaporation, and pooling, liquid serves as a counterpoint to the straight lines and geometric shapes present throughout the imagery, and stands in as the great Unexpected to which one must adapt. By welcoming it into my artwork, I attempt to build flexibility and responsiveness into my process and mindset.

Above eye level
Along the top of the room, I displayed a chronological record of my evolution through material and form in my drawings. They are experimentations, and not necessarily complete works unto themselves. I installed them high above in the clerestory level of the space so that they could only be seen in any detail with binoculars. I think of this as the idea space--above one's head and just out of sight. The viewer who wants to see them up close must exercise willpower to do so. Observation is an active task; birders know this all too well. Like birders, the viewers had access to technology (binoculars) to undertake this task, if they so chose.

Below eye level
On the floor of the space, I installed my Water Shadows. Made from tulle, these patterns read more like wet spots on the floor, and many people walked on them. (They even fooled the facilities maintenance supervisor, who thought his crew had some cleanup to do. I showed him the secret of them--boy was he surprised when I picked up a "stain"!) I like the idea of activating the peripheral, and its important role in stimulating curiosity.

Many of these pieces will be on view during January in my solo show at the Ohio Arts League gallery in Columbus. More info on that to come soon!

Embracing Combustion - OCAC workshop

Here's a slideshow of the ceramics workshop I taught at OCAC a few weeks ago. It was such a blast! The students were very experimental and motivated, and it was a lot of fun. (Workshop participants: if you want access to the images, just go to this link.)

Drawing Water from an Empty Well - OCAC Workshop

These photos are just some of the dozens of drawings that the participants made in my experimental drawing workshop at OCAC last month. They were so creative, engaged, and fun to work with! It's great to be inspired by one's students, and that was definitely the case with this wonderful group. (Workshop participants, you can gain access to the photos at this link.)

Showing in Cleveland at The Sculpture Center

I am showing work in the exhibition titled, "After the Pedestal: The 5th Annual of Smaller Sculpture from the Region" at The Sculpture Center in Cleveland, Ohio. It is a real honor! The opening for the show is this Friday, June 5th, from 5:30-8pm, with a talk by the juror, Paola Morziani, who is the Curator of Contemporary Art at The Cleveland Museum of Art. Click here for more information.