waiting

On Saturday, October 8th from 2pm-5:00pm,  I'll be unveiling my latest artwork in the company of two other artists, Holly Everett and Toni Losey at Swoon Gallery in Hammonds Plains.   So, I thought it timely to share a few of my thoughts on art openings.


Different artists feel differently about art openings - some love the socializing and some love to be in the spot light.  Others would simply rather hide in their studio or maybe a handy broom closet.  In spite of their diverse feelings about openings, I think most artists are just a little nervous about showing new work... ok, maybe a lot nervous.


Put yourself in the artist's shoes for a moment... after investing huge amounts of time, thought and energy, anxiety, indecision, angst, even sweat, into expressing an idea, (for the most part in isolation) and then showing it to friends, strangers, family and other artists...  all at once... in one fell swoop... there it is... all over the place... everyone's looking at it...  well... you can't take it back!


You can't hide it under a rock, throw it down a well, set fire to it.  It's too late.., everyone can see it now.  It's quite like bounding stark naked into a crowded room, yelling "Look at me! Look at me!" in your best Scoobie-Doo voice.  Once you're there, you can never go back.


So... if you've never been to an art opening... go!  It's a great opportunity to connect with another person's ideas in a novel way.  There are no expecations - you dont have to buy anything.  You don't have to stand around being all art-knowing or anything.  Its a party.  It's a social event.  It's fun!  And, keep in mind that it's OK to point and comment but not if there's a naked person in the room.




Now, on that note, here's some of my art for my new show along with my artist statement.  Hope to see you on the 8th!

Happier, mixed media, 36"x24"

Please Take a Seat, mixed media, 24"x36"

WAITING
Deborah Nicholson - Artist Statement


Wallpaper patterns from childhood memories of my home-made barbie playhouse have become my backdrop for Waiting.


As a young girl waiting for grown-up things to happen - a grown-up body and a gown-up home
to accessorize with grown-up things and as an adult, waiting - for boyfriends, for girlfriends, for
renovations to be finished, for meals to be served, for things to get better, for doctors, for guests to arrive, for interviews, for people to change, for children to come home, for good news, for bad news, this new series of paintings is about the links between waiting to grow up and the waiting that's done as a grown-up.


Threads of repeated visual and behavioural patterns pull back to memories of my childish playing at the business of being grown up. Everything seems to have come full-circle. When I used to play with barbie, I always felt as though she and I were waiting together and now that I'm spending time with her again, I see that she really does seem to be on the edge of her seat. I wonder how my time spent in pre-adolescent play with barbie-dolls has affected what I've waited for and expected throughout my life.





Until next time,
Deborah

primary school friends

Thanks to Facebook, we spent a beautiful sunny Annapolis Valley day with Michael's early childhood friend, Marilyn, and her husband Kurt who visited from Montreal.  They were delightful company and we shared great conversation and a few giggles as we explored the local beaches and wineries.

Until next time,
Deborah

Waiting

Opening on October 8th at Swoon Gallery in Hammonds Plains, will be my first solo art exhibit.  I'm feeling nervous as heck and have been busily yoyo-ing up and down between liking my new work and hating it.  I really have no idea if anyone will respond to it positively or even get it.   Wow!  Lol! Talk about putting myself out there!

The work is about waiting - waiting to grow up, waiting for things to happen, waiting for people, waiting for news.  It's about the tension of waiting - of anticipation.

This one is called Sofa Girl.

Until next time,

Deborah

Blue Goat

Greetings!

A wet dull spring is slowly... verrrrry slowly... blossoming into summer.  Promised myself to maintain a garden this year AND get my new series, entitled Expectations, ready for Swoon Gallery in October.  Had time to slip in some goats for Susan Paczek's Petting Zoo that opens at Swoon in July.

Here's one called Blue Goat.  It's 10"x10" paint and wallpaper collage on panel, $125.  I'm feeling oddly turned on to old-fashioned wallpaper prints lately.  I don't know WHAT that's all about!

Until next time,
Deborah

at Designer Cafe

Exchange - Mixed Media Paintings by Deborah Nicholson
From May 11^th to June 8th at Designer Cafe, Kentville

Deborah's reflected streetscapes are placeless places where fluid and fleeting exchanges between pedestrians and mannequins occur.

"We humans instantly imagine any creature, whether corporal or constructed, to have personality. This anthropomorphism is what I continually strive to express in my work. I enjoy that we instinctively apply stories to photographs of strangers, to animals, to toys with faces and even to headless mannequins!"

Deborah's a photographic and mixed media artist, having studied painting, drawing, sculpting and photography at The Toronto School of Art, the Art Gallery of Ontario and, in Montreal, at The Dawson School of Photography.  Her work is enjoyed by private collectors in Canada, Trinidad and the US and has been exhibited in Toronto, Denmark and Nova Scotia. She's currently represented by Swoon Gallery in Hammonds Plains, The Copper Fox Gallery in Halls Harbour and Harvest Gallery in Wolfville.

Sharing home and studio with her husband on four acres of Acadian Forest, Deborah is surrounded by great friends, sustainable family-run farms and the magnificent Bay of Fundy.

Designer Cafe Mo- Fr 7am-5pm, Sa 8am-4pm, 373 Main St. Kentville, 902-365-3322

Give Me Summer

Greetings!

The CopperFox Gallery in Halls Harbour, NS will open their doors for the first time this Friday (May 6th) at 4pm.  How exciting!  Come and enjoy the artwork and the company of local artists.

 

Until next time,

Deborah

works of exchange reawaken the love of travel

This is taken from Elissa's review of our exhibition at the Craig Gallery in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.

"SEVEN members journey through art By ELISSA BARNARD Arts Reporter, Chronicle Herald, Halifax

This exhibit, at the Craig Gallery, Alderney Landing, focuses on Denmark and the experience of the group SEVEN — six female Annapolis Valley visual artists and one poet who went to that country in August...

... The show is interesting because their experience is rarely translated literally. These multi-media artists are thoughtful, thorough and imaginative. They get at the feeling of travel, how it opens up the spirit and how it can be dislocating.

Deborah Nicholson talks about dislocation using mannequins in store windows on crowded urban streets. Her style of drawing makes one think of puzzle pieces in these layered, thoughtful collages in pale colours with gold. Painted on panel, she sometimes lets the wood surface come through. When the mannequins have heads, their faces are ill-defined.

It’s interesting that the mannequins are advertising a "New Collection" and represent an exchange of clothes for money, an added layer in this ephemeral visual story..."

Thank you Elissa!

Until next time, Deborah