August: Regina Martin and Nicole Michaud

Regina Martin

Stacking History

 

Artist Statement

The title of this series evolved from my visits to Italy, which peaked my awareness of how over the centuries humans have built their cultures and structures on top of previous cultures and structures. The Etruscans gave way to the Romans. Churches that where once there, are now beneath the earth holding up the glory of a new church.  Stables that once held horses and carriages now hold Vespas and gelato shops.

We are stacking our history here too. Forest to farms. Barns to strip malls and housing developments. Warehouses to condos. We are constantly building upon what came before, both culturally and structurally.  I will often see a barn or house in my travels and will comment “That building is not long for this world.”

These manifestations of our merging, morphing, adopting, destroying have both positive and negative impacts. The title “Stacking History” is a reminder of our imprint on planet earth and the result of that imprint.

That all being said, the series like the title built upon itself.  Using the concept of “Stacking History,” I explored a new visual way to present the architectural buildings that stand among us today. The historic, iconic, and humble are all a part of our visual world, yet in 500 years where will they be? Perhaps just a whisper of a memory in photographs and paintings.

I prefer to work in series, believing that time adds endless possibilities and strength to a body of work. My sources of inspiration are often in ordinary everyday objects. The challenge is to uncover the extraordinary. The goal is to approach art-making with an open mind, exploring the creative process through observation, intuition, experimentation, and happy accidents. The act of creating is both a struggle and a joy, a continual striving to develop a more sophisticated eye while holding unto the elements of playfulness.

Over the years many artists have inspired and influenced my development. I always appreciate the work of many untrained artists, but my more well known favorites are Cezanne, Chagall,  Dove, Dubuffet, Gauguin, Klee, Matisse, Modigliani, Morandi, Pontormo, Rothko, Thiebaud, and Van Gogh.

 

Nicole Michaud

Dreams and Memories

Artist Statement

These paintings were created with dreams in mind.  The strange juxtaposition of size in dreams, coupled with partial memories, have informed the world that these spaces inhabit.  Referencing both with the external and internal landscape, these paintings explore the concepts of experience altered by memory, and the importance of dreams in interpreting life.

Biography

Nicole Michaud was born in Manchester, New Hampshire, and has lived on both the East and West Coasts, and the Midwest.  She holds a Certificate of Fine Arts from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, in Philadelphia, PA, and was awarded the Women’s Board Travel Scholarship through the Academy, for study abroad.  She currently lives in Philadelphia, PA.