We recently connected with Nicole Malcolm and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Nicole with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?
My work ethic stems from, as I think most artists can agree, the extreme desire to create as much as I can, to connect with as many people as possible. The more work I make, and the more people I get to talk with, fuels my love for what I do.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I am a studio artist, mostly creating with printmaking, papermaking, and installation based works. In mid August I will start as a Printmaking MFA candidate at the Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture + Design, located at Indiana University in Bloomington, IN. While at Indiana University I will be teaching, as well as participating as a full time graduate student, researching and creating work that will eventually result in a 3rd year Thesis Exhibition.
My work is inspired by personal experiences from my life. Each work is influenced by the environments I find myself in and the relationships that exist within them. Documenting my life through my work allows me to preserve specific moments in time. Bringing these memories into existence emphasizes that these significant moments stay with me as I move forward towards each new phase of my life.
I explore ideas revolving around growth through adolescence and the lasting impacts that experiences during this time can have on adulthood. Common coming-of-age stories exploring topics such as heartbreak, longing for friendship, and searching for home. I embrace the vulnerability required to acknowledge who I am and the moments that have shaped me. My work serves as my visual journal and a timeline of my life. Sometimes this is expressed literally, as shown in my handmade journal “Long Distance Calling”, even if not always linearly.
Although my work is deeply personal to me, I want to use my own memories and growth to relate to, and build a connection with, those who interact with my art. I desperately strive to start conversations that live in intimacy. I love sharing these stories, and oftentimes find that they encourage others to do the same. These are the most exciting types of relationships, formed through abandoning comfort and embracing that common thread of vulnerability. The strength and trust built while viewing the work and venturing through these ideas continues to live beyond a first viewing or a gallery space.
My work is primarily printmaking and papermaking, while also delving into multimedia and installation environments. In both two and three-dimensional works, I aim to represent physical and mental spaces, where the atmosphere is nostalgic, intimate, and genuine. There is a balance between weight and weightlessness used throughout my work, to convey the shifting emotions behind each piece. Translucent and delicate handmade sheets of paper float around my installation “Places You Pass”, carrying handwritten and screen printed original song lyrics that tell of my own personal moment of healing. I find that both printmaking and papermaking have a repetitive, meditative motion that allows me to immerse myself in the story I want to tell as I am creating it. I enjoy how physical and personal these mediums feel, and how the work I make embodies this. Each work is embedded with extreme detail. Memories are fossilized by tracing handwritten text in between shadows, and casting objects inside of paper forms. My color palette, use of light, and materials all release a warmth that coincides with memories made and moments wished for.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
For me, curiosity, sensitivity, and honesty were the three qualities within myself, bleeding into my work, that have made my projects stand out. Everyone has their own goals in terms of what type of audience they want to reach, the emotions they want their work to evoke, etc. I’ve found that harnessing my sensitivity and need for human connection, has resulted in successful work. My advice for any young artist such as myself, is to discover the most unique part of yourself, maybe even a part that is hard to embrace, and find it within yourself the bravery to talk about it. To make a painting dozens of people in your hometown will see. To make an installation about the most vulnerable moments you’ve ever experienced. You will very quickly find that every human being around you is looking to talk about the same things. We are all looking for that universal community, warmth, and understanding. I’m curious, and deeply sensitive to the point of telling strangers of my deepest heartbreaks, my fear of leaving the teenage years, and the anxiety of what happens to the memories we make with others, once they are too far behind us. The choice I made to share these stories and continue making very personal narrative driven work, constantly impacts the next work, and the work after that, and the works after those. The more conversations I have with all different people, the more I have to say.
Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
Yes! I used to dislike collaborating , but started loving it after I worked collaboratively with a local singer/songwriter for my Undergraduate thesis project. I would love to collaborate with a range of artists honesty. Writers, filmmakers, other studio artists, etc. I would love to get in contact with more artists working with papermaking, and paper casting/sculpting specifically. I also think it would be amazing to collaborate with an artist of a very different medium, joining our two very different specialities together!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nicole__malcolm/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/nicole.malcolm.509
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/nicolemalcolm4
- Other: http://canjournal.org/2023/01/so-meta-please-come-to-my-party/nicole-malcolm-please-come-to-my-party-1/
