Meet Natalie Ciccoricco

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Natalie Ciccoricco. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Natalie below.

Natalie, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?

Life itself, I guess. Sooner or later, we all get to experience hardships, loss and tragedies in our lives. I once read that the happiest people aren’t the people who have never had bad things happen to them, but that the happiest people are those with most resilience. Those who bend like a leaf of grass in the wind, but don’t snap.
Two years ago our middle son Holden passed away suddenly and unexpectedly. He was only two and a half months old. Losing him is a pain I can’t describe. It is something that I carry with me every single day, for as long as I will live. It’s still one foot in front of the other. It is incredibly hard, but there’s a force within me that just keeps on going. I keep showing up for my husband Steve, our seven year old son Lou and now for our eight month old baby Ella as well.
Making art has played a big part in building grit and resilience the past two years. It is a practice I kept coming back to. In the beginning it was just something I did while being completely numb. I didn’t want to make art anymore, but I felt there was nothing else to do. So I kept at it, day by day. And after a while I felt less guilty about making art while grieving. It became an outlet again. Now, it has become my way of honoring Holden. My creations will always be an ode to his beautiful life. I make art as a way to feel close to him.
I think all of us have this inner resilience. You have no idea what you are capable of, until life throws the absolute worst at you. There’s nothing heroic about resilience – it’s simply a way to survive. And for me, I can tap into that through my art.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

My art practice is a means to experiment with thread, yarn and rope in combination with different materials, such as paper, ephemera, ink, sticks and rocks. In my work, I have an intuitive approach to use these materials in unexpected new ways. With Mother Nature as my muse, I challenge myself to play with the juxtaposition between organic and geometrical shapes and compositions. My works are deeply personal and allow me to express myself beyond words.
I was born and raised in The Netherlands. While in college getting my Master of Arts degree, I received a bag of embroidery thread from my mom, who found the thread in a vintage tin she bought at an antique store. A decade later, it inspired me to create art incorporating embroidery thread in combination with various other materials.
I currently have artworks on view at Pamela Walsh Gallery in Palo Alto and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative in Redwood City. I’m getting ready for a group show at the Bedford Gallery in Walnut Creek in early 2025, plus I’m working on two big series of commissions for projects which I can’t disclose just yet.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Play, courage and consistency. The creative act is a way to play with the universe. You are bringing something in existence in the material world, that previously only existed as an idea. Or not even – maybe it was just a notion or tiny inkling. For me, bringing ideas to life is a playful act. A dance. I enjoy the process, as it brings me into a wonderful flow state.
Courage comes into play when it comes to putting your art out there. There’s nothing wrong to keeping your art private. But if you want to pursue it on a professional level, you have to be brave enough to share your art with the world. It’s scary and uncomfortable. You will likely experience embarrassment, rejection and failure. That’s all part of it. There’s no way around any of that, so if you are putting your creations out there, you are incredibly brave.
Lastly, I think consistency is key. Find your own voice and style and keep at it. It might take a while for people to notice. But when they notice, you don’t want them to be confused. I sometimes see artists trying to do too many different things, or switch mediums all the time. It’s all OK while still trying to find your voice. But once you have found your own unique style, you have to be consistent and keep showing up and yes, keep putting your art out there.

How would you describe your ideal client?

Nowadays I do a lot of client work. I like that it usually comes with a certain set of parameters, such as size, budget, deadline, shape and even sometimes a preferred color palette or certain theme. When I just started out with client work, I felt those parameters at times got in the way of my creative freedom. What I do now, is that even when I work on commissions for clients, I still reserve some time to create freely outside of the project.
I love the challenge of making my clients happy. I see projects as a collaboration to bring our collective vision to life, which is so incredibly rewarding. My ideal client is someone who has handpicked me because they are familiar with my work, has a rough idea of where they want my art to hang and then gives me creative freedom to make the best possible piece for that space.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mrsciccoricco.com
• Instagram: @mrsciccoricco
• Facebook: @mrsciccoricco

Image Credits

Irene Searles (profile picture)
All other pictures are my own.