I’m so excited about this upcoming project organized by Anne Hoff and myself.  It’s comprised of a  collaboration of printmakers from the north and south of Nevada creating printmaking matrices together and then printing a portfolio that will travel through Nevada as part of the Nevada Touring Initiative.  Check it out:  www.geographicaldivides.blogspot.com

I’ve been invited to participate in a artist collaborative called projekt locqa.  Projekt locqa was initiated to foster dialogue between artists in the Boise area and the Western US by hosting weekly discussions, periodic exhibits of members new work and by sponsoring visiting and local artists to exhibit and talk about their work. Projekt locqa also seeks to expand awareness of Boise’s visual arts community regionally and nationally. www.projektlocqa.net or http://www.projektlocqa.blogspot.com

It’s been an exciting summer with Artown and the CommD Project.  Burning Man was AWESOME and we got LOTS of great comments and people adding images to the chalkboards.  Here’s a link to see all the exciting pics of CommD at Burning Man: http://www.commD.org/bman/index.html Here’s a link to see all the wonderful chalk images created by Burning Man participants: http://www.commD.org/bparticipants/index.html

Return to Departure runs July 10 – August 6, 2009 at the Kirkland Arts Center. Juried by Philip Govedare, Helen O’Toole, and Cable Griffith. The opening reception is Thursday, July 9, from 6:00 to 8:30 PM. The awards ceremony is 7:00 PM.

As technology offers increasingly accessible and pervasive means of expression, we instinctively adapt to multi-media bombardments from every direction. In this environment, painting has increasingly become a more radical method of participating in a contemporary conversation, challenging our expectations and demanding that we slow down in order to carefully consider it.

Return to Departure refers to the notion that sometimes the best launching point into the future is from where you’ve been all along. This juried exhibition will feature paintings from 16 artists that look ahead while remaining grounded in this traditional medium. Jurors Philip Govedare and Helen O’Toole are artists and University of Washington painting professors and Cable Griffith is KAC’s Exhibitions Director.

Artists include Phillip Amrhein, Grant Barnhart, Louise Britton, Cynthia Camlin, Carole d’Inverno, Sam Faix, Julia Freeman, Austin Furtak-Cole, Isabel F. Kahn, Mikela Naylor, Candace Nicol, Joanne Pavlak, Danila Rumold, Amanda Smith, Jeffrey Sully, and Lindsey Warren.

Kirkland Arts Center is located at the corner of 7th Avenue and Market Street in Kirkland, Washington. Hours for exhibits in the Kirkland Arts Center Gallery are Monday through Friday, 11am to 6pm; Saturdays, 11am to 5pm and second Thursdays until 8pm. The KAC Gallery is free and open to the public.

For more information visit www.kirklandartscenter.org.

 

Evolve Panel 1 was chosen for this show

 

Meet the Artist Artown 2009

Reno Magazine July 2009

 

PHOTO BY LAUREN RANDOLPH

Candace Nicol, an artist whose work is usually too controversial for Artown, created this year’s festival poster

It’s hard to put a label on artist Candace Nicol. Her work is a hybrid of many different techniques. Principally a printmaker, Nicol combines painting, digital and traditional print techniques and assemblage to create multilayered pieces.

Nicol is this year’s Artown poster designer. She normally works with what some might consider to be controversial subject matter and so wasn’t considering applying for the poster competition. “I would never apply for this whole competition with the Artown thing because of my work with the male nudes,” she thought.

However, she had just completed a series of prints called Firewalls in July 2008 that veered from her normal subject matter. Using collagraphs and screenprints on plexi glass, Firewalls explores psychological restraints and viewpoints specifically arising from interactions among people of different races. “It was the last day to apply for the poster,” says Nicol. A colleague saw her Firewalls work and encouraged her to apply for the competition. “And, so I did,” says Nicol.

The poster Nicol created shows off her unique style. However, the artist’s multistep process is invisible in the final product. Nicol worked with collagraphs to create prints, then she cut the prints and collaged them together to make layered constructions. The original pieces have lots of depth and texture to them and seem more sculptural than print-like.

In the process of building the poster, Nicol made various plates and prints—she had to make nine prototypes for the committee to choose from. The leftovers from the process were compelling, and the committee proposed that Nicol make finished pieces from them. She will be displaying a body of work that relates to the artwork for the poster at West Street Market during July. This will be an opportunity for people to see the process behind the poster and to gain insight into her techniques. The pieces contain imagery and symbols used in the poster design. They are small, affordable and contain vibrant colors and textures. The art will be for sale, and 50 percent of the proceeds will be donated to Artown for future Discover the Arts projects. “This is my way of giving back to the community and to help Artown continue with what I believe is an important event for everyone in the region,” says Nicol.

As part of Artown’s Discover the Arts, Nicol will be teaching a printmaking workshop for kids ages 8-12. It will be held on July 1 as one of the festival’s opening events. “The artwork that I created for the Artown poster was constructed primarily out of prints, so we thought that sharing the printmaking process would be a wonderful addition to Artown’s Discover the Arts Program,” she says.

Also in July, Nicol will be teaching a workshop through the Nevada Museum of Art that teaches participants how to make collagraphs. Over the course of two Saturdays, students will get to understand the actual printmaking process. And, every July, Nicol does a workshop at Saint Mary’s Art Center in Virginia City. This year, it’s all about learning the hybrid process in which Nicol works.

Nicol’s current body of work is a series of hybrid prints and large-scale paintings titled Ornamen. The prints combine digital, photobased intaglio and traditional print techniques and serve as prototypes for the larger paintings or become part of various print exchanges. The paintings use parts of her collagraph plates as raised textures—with designs like wallpaper—that obscure digital images of male nudes.

“I always experiment,” says Nicol. “Sometimes it doesn’t work, sometimes it does.” This seems to be her modus operandi when approaching art and allows her to continue exploring and stretching the boundaries of printmaking.

http://www.newsreview.com/reno/content?oid=1021052

TO SEE THE WORK GO TO : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2011817&id=1399622826

Artown’s 2009 poster artist Candace Nicol is selling Pieces of Artown through an exhibit at the West Street Market in downtown Reno throughout July. The collection of 29 pieces, with two already sold, relates to the artwork commissioned by Artown for use in its 2009 poster, Little Book and other marketing materials. With prices ranging from $200 to $400, Nicol will donate 50 percent of the proceeds to Artown for future Discover the Arts projects. The artworks, which range in sizes up to 18-by-12 inches, are collagraphs created with printmaking techniques.

Artown’s Discover the Arts program is a series of FREE weekday workshops for children throughout the month of July. Held at various times and locations, the series introduces children to a variety of art forms including music, poetry, dance, theater, visual arts and more. Nicol’s “Discover Printmaking” workshop July 1, 2 p.m. at West Street Market kicks off Artown’s 2009 Discover the Arts series as well as the festival’s Opening Extravaganza.

For purchase information contact info@candacenicol.com. For more information on Artown visit www.RenoIsArtown.com or call 775-322-1538.

###

 

 

Thank you for your consideration,

Media Representatives
Kristen Power
Emily Stratton
RKPR Inc.
775-323-6333
media@rkpr.com

for print exchange Black Flag on the moon

LUNAMATE  2 color photopolymer etching, collagraph and hand-tinted

Rives BFK  15”x15” 2009

With this print, I was conflicted by the notion of what flag/symbols mean to me – the intense patriotism and nationalism that any flag, not just the American flag can instill upon people. While I began to develop this print, I originally was going to place an image of the American Flag on the moon, an opening to another “scape”, a place of possibilities, but then I realized that it was the absence of the flag that would hold the most hope for humanity. I was intrigued with “time” and how man has moved through society – the conquests of nations and the submission of past and present cultures. Therefore, I decided to include one of my male nudes looking away from the moon, onto his own environment of the mind and eluding to the past with a picture of a female celestial figure on the opposite wall.  Candace Nicol 2009

Dear Black Flag Artists:
I am writing to congratulate you for your participation in The Black Flag on the Moon exhibition. Thursday night’s opening reception was very well attended. News sources which have covered this event include: The Bradenton Herald, This Week in Sarasota, Fox News (TV interview), and The Bradenton Times. Also, please see attached images of the exhibition.
I will continue to update you on the progress of the exhibition and the exchange.
Again, thank you for your participation in this exciting event!

Joe Loccisano, Manager
SCF Fine Art Gallery http://www.theblackflaggallery.com/index.php

Artists from 4 states (NV, WA, ID and CA) are working together to create a large scale artwork titled “Communicable Dis_ease”  Here’s my statement for my portion of it, shown above on the left.  Nolan Preece’s work is to the right.

When I was thinking about what I would do for Communicable Dis-ease, I was in the middle of creating large-scale male nudes.  The nudes themselves were addressing issues surrounding the female gaze and role reversals.  This project, however, called for a social narrative, one that was “infectious”… (both communicable and disease mean infection, infectious).  I thought this particular piece would act as an artistic transition between my social/political small prints and the large digital male nudes.

The final piece, ORNAMEN panel 1 works through ideas of traditional historical representations of the nude and also the notions of decoration, a realm loosely associated with femininity and domesticity.  This statement brings me to a point of inquiry, that instead of simply re-interpreting the popular notion of nudity in art (the female nude – the male gaze), I would like to examine how a female artist can define nudity through beauty and pleasure, through the purist reaction of seeing a nude male and/or female interacting within a defined space.

Consequently, in my search for understanding the male form, I have realized that I would be creating art that is indulgent and sensual, an erotic after affect to my own gazing.  This pleasure I am overtly sharing with the viewer and with the next artist, Nolan who will hopefully be “infected…AKA dis-eased” with beauty.

 

LCC art gallery features Nevada artist Candace Nicol

Bennett Mohler

Issue date: 3/5/09 Section: Arts  The Torch

On display in LCC’s Art and Applied Design Art Gallery through March 12, Candace Nicol’s show “Firewalls” depicts social boundaries in America. She uses layers of images to create a sense of depth and dimension in her work.

Galleries all around the world have displayed Candace Nicol’s work. Now her series known as “Firewalls,” comprised entirely of prints made on layers of Plexiglas, is being shown at LCC’s Art and Applied Design Art Gallery.

Her unique style of printmaking can be found in the Boise Art Museum; Corcoran College of Art and Design; Rutgers Center for Innovative Print and Paper at Rutgers University; Southern Graphics Council Archives; The Kinsey Institute; National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts; and Painting and Sculpture Museum Association in Istanbul, Turkey.

“Her use of materials is unique. The multi-layer effect is really cool,” Amy Graves, gallery security, said.

Indeed, Nicol’s style is unusual in the printmaking community. Her prints are comprised of several transparent layers to give the images a three dimensional effect. The images are created by putting screen prints and collagraphs on Plexiglas. Nicol started off printmaking in college and has since learned and synthesized several different methods of printmaking to create her own style.

“It sort of developed over time,” Nicol said. “I like to play and experiment.”

“Firewalls” was inspired by the death while serving in Iraq, of Nicol’s cousin Raul “Chato” Bravo Jr. “I did all the pieces last summer … It was a direct response to my cousin’s death,” Nicol said.

The show is a testament to the social limitations she finds rampant in America. “It’s just so sad to me now to think about his death and the climate of discrimination and prejudice that America has fallen prey to,” Nicol said in her artist statement. “A son of an illegal immigrant sacrificed his life for a country that wants to build walls between Mexico and America.”

Originally, Nicol proposed a show of resin wall reliefs for the gallery. However, the tragic loss in the summer of 2008 inspired her to take a new direction with the show. For Nicol, these pieces “represent the psychological restraints we put upon ourselves and others.”

Nicol is a native of Nevada and currently teaches art at Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno, Nev. Unfortunately, she will not be able to make an appearance at the LCC show.

“She’s just recently moved and it’ll be hard to fit it in her schedule,” Graves said.

“It was all finances in the end,” Nicol said.

Nicol is one of several non-LCC-affiliated artists who will be featured at LCC’s gallery this academic year. This is due to an open call for artists that the art department put out two years ago. This doesn’t affect the regular shows the gallery puts on. It just means on some months, guest artists from outside the school and sometimes outside the community will be featured in the space.

“I think it’s kind of cool,” Graves said. “Anytime you bring in new ideas, you expand on everyone else’s artistic ability.”

Nicol is a Sierra Arts 2008 Artist Grant recipient and was recently awarded the Nevada Arts Council 2009 Artist Fellowship.

“Firewalls” will be on display at LCC’s gallery until March 12.

New Exhibition
Rebellious Integration
a portfolio exhibition curated by Megan Sterling and Katarzyna Cepek
at Chicago Printmakers Collaborative
4642 N. Western Ave, Chicago, IL 60625

Through April 25, 2009

Rebellious Integration toys with the contradiction of a printmaker’s continuing subsistence in contemporary art culture and the mores of our society.  Although many printmakers work to integrate themselves into the social ranks– working mainstream jobs, teaching in academia, etc.– we at the same time continually find ways to be subversive, to challenge the rubric of each institution that we labor so hard to pervade. Participants were asked to rebelliously integrate themselves into this exchange- that is, there were specifications that had to be followed, ie size, edition size, etc., but were then encouraged to rebel in any creative way they liked, be it in their subject matter, mediums, three-dimensionality, shape, materials used, etc.

Artists include:
Megan Sterling, Katarzyna Cepek, Deborah Maris Lader, Duffy O’Connor, Oli Watt, Stephanie Barenz, Barbara Madsen, Candace Nicol, Cerese Vaden, John Hitchcock, Jill Fitterer, Kimiko Miyoshi, Laurie Blakeslee, Michael Barnes, Oscar Gillespie, Priya Nadkarni

Also showing in the CPC gallery:
“Global Fusion”
an international portfolio project organized by Maritza Davila and Indrani Gall

Contributing Artists:
Maritza Dávila (Puerto Rico), Sarojini Jha Johnson (India), Indrani Gall (India), Haydee Landing (Puerto Rico), Amy Foltz (USA), Johanna Paas (USA), Hui-Chu Ying (Taiwan), Lise Drost (USA), Enrique Leal (Spain), Stephen Black (USA), Luis Abraham Ortiz (Puerto Rico), David DuBose (USA)

These events were organized in conjunction with the 2009 Southern Graphics Council Conference , which took place in Chicago March 25-28. It was GREAT to see all the printfolk in Chicago! The ink was flying….

contact:
Chicago Printmakers Collaborative
info@chicagoprintmakers.com
www.chicagopintmakers.com
773.293.2070

The title of the workshop:  Hybrid Intaglio Printmaking

Dates: July 15-17 (Wednesday – Friday)

Cost: $250 including 2 nights lodging (meals are organized between participants)

Deposit of $100 to SMAC by June 30. Please call (775) 847-7774 or E-mail: smacenter@earthlink.net Linda Nazemian, St. Mary’s Art Center, Inc., PO Box 396, Virginia City, NV 89440    

Instructor: Candace Nicol
Description:  Artists will combine Solarplate etchings with collagraphs and digital chine colle to create interesting hybrid prints that combine photographic images with layered textures and designs.

 

This 3-day workshop is designed to explore hybrid intaglio/digital techniques. This is a class for any artistic level and no prior printmaking experience is needed.  The following techniques will be taught: Solarplate printing, collagraph printing and digital techniques with chine-colle. (We will be using an Epson 2200 printer and I will have my laptop.  If you have your own lap-top, that would be great.  If not, bring images burned on a CD or USB drive.)

 

Candace Nicol is an artist and printmaking instructor at Truckee Meadows Community College, Reno, NV.  Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and is part of permanent collections including Boise Art Museum, Corcoran College of Art and Design, Rutgers Center for Innovative Print and Paper at Rutgers University and Southern Graphics Council Archives. She has recently been awarded the distinguished Nevada Arts Council 2009 Artist Fellowship and is a Sierra Arts 2008 Artist Grant recipient.  She has also been awarded an honorable mention in Printmaking Today, a review of fine art printmaking at the Dedalo Center for Contemporary Art, and the Castle of Castiglione Museum, Abruzzo, Italy.

 

For more info and for waiting list contact: 

Candace Nicol, 25 Sunridge Drive, Reno, NV  89511 

Email: info@candacenicol.com   Website: www.candacenicol.com

 

 

Supplies:

Nevada Fine Arts (Debbie) will come up on the 15^th to sell solarplates and paper (Rives BFK). If you would like to go to Nevada Fine Arts ahead of time, you will need:

 

a minimum of 2 solarplates (these are expensive so you might want to start with 5×7”)

10-20 sheets of Rives BFK (any color you like)

Small bottle of Elmers Glue all

8 oz of Liquidtex or Golden Heavy Acrylic Gel Medium

X-acto knife with blades

Golden Digital Ground – White Matte (8 oz. bottle)

A sheet of mulberry decorative Japanese paper – you chose a color you like – make sure it is thin…we can share with each other (for chine-colle)

Sketchbook, pencils, etc. for drawing

A pad of newsprint 18”x24” a good size

A small pad of tracing paper

A piece of plexiglass for inking – 18”x24” is a good size.  If you have an old piece of thick glass, that works better.

Box of disposable gloves

A couple of old credit cards for inking

2 yards of standard tarlatan (order from Daniel Smith)

Copies of photos and drawings – zeroxed onto transparencies (the small size of the solarplate is 5×7inches) As we get closer, I will email everyone with more information regarding this.

OPTIONAL- Images that you might want to incorporate digitally into your prints (work from Photoshop, etc.)  You will need your laptop or CD/USB drive with images.

 

I will supply standard oil-based etching inks (limited color palette).  If  you would like to use particular colors, I recommend that you purchase Charbonelle Etching Inks in the tubes from www.dickblick.com or www.danielsmith.com.

Candace Nicol’s Between Heaven and Earth is 12″x12″ collagraph print with layers of screenprints on plexiglass. The subject matter is figurative in nature, with two printed mythical figures (a woman and a man) surrounding a red rectangle that encompasses sillouettes of men and reproductions of little putti (cupids). Candace uses a primary color scheme (red and yellow) which is direct and powerful. The contrast between crisp hatched line work and soft figurative shapes reinforces the title, Between Heaven and Earth. This is also evident in her use of textures: The tactile fuzziness of the red collagraph and the ultra smothness of the black and white screenprints. The asymetrical balance of the figures is dynamic and allows the viewer to be swept into the middle of the work where one can contiplate ideas of doubt, faith and boundaries of humanity. The repetition of blue-gray figures in spoked circles elludes to the wheels or one could say the cylcles of life. This is reinforced with the lines of sight. The larger female in the foreground is looking into the redness (which could symbolize life, blood, death, passion). The putti at the bottom is looking at the mythical man, directing the viewer to also look through the art piece in circular motion. Overall, the content of the this work eludes to ideologies of society, life and religion. How do we live our lives between Heaven and Earth? What barriers might we instill upon ourselves and other people because of our personal beliefs?