NICOLE PARKER

Statement

 

My work is an investigation of my past as it relates to my present, a memoir in the form of narrative and representational oil paintings and prints.  In my current body of work, I’m exploring the triangular relationship between my sense of self, my perception of what “home” means, and the physical spaces that I’ve occupied throughout my life.  Memory plays a heavy role in my work, both in theme and method.  My imagery involves places and things that I can’t physically return to or that no longer exist, and in the studio I work from memory and observation in tandem.  Memory is unreliable and changing by nature, but I’m interested in how my own reality and sense of self are shaped so strongly by what I remember and experience.  Each image I make has a story attached to it, sometimes big and sometimes small.  These stories reflect my own eclectic upbringing and the resulting sense of “between-ness”, or liminality, that I experience in my personal and artistic life.  Color, light and the flavor of a moment are always at the core of my artistic practice, and I’m greatly inspired by sensory sources like sound or music, film, and food.

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Bio

Nicole Parker is a representational fine artist specializing in oil painting and copper plate printmaking.  She received her BFA and Certificate from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) in 2018.  During her time at PAFA, she was a recipient of the Richard C. Von Hess Memorial Travel Scholarship, which allowed her a month of travel in Germany, the United Kingdom, and Iceland to explore individual artistic pursuits of her choosing.  Since graduating and completing her travel, she has returned to Maryland, where she grew up.  She is extremely grateful to have enjoyed her second solo exhibition in 2021, titled Thresholds, at her representing gallery, Gross McCleaf Gallery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  Nicole has also enjoyed making work and learning from other artists at Pyramid Atlantic Art Center in Hyattsville, Maryland, where she was previously an Artist in Residence, and is now a Printmaking Associate.  She has exhibited her paintings and prints in group exhibitions across the US, including in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Michigan, Colorado and New York.  She currently makes work in a small studio in her house, where she lives with her partner and their animals, a cat and a rat.