Nicolle Says:

"My name is Nicolle Richard, I'm 22 years old and I am a local artist here in Boston. I am originally from Central Florida, and have lived in Boston for about a year and a half. I do my own thing as a local artist instead of an academic artist. I have studied all different types of art, and I feel as though I am well-rounded in the art world.

As an artist, I look back on my family and friends, and they always tell a story. I try to incorporate that into my work. I mainly do portraits of people I know or people that I creep up on in the train. As far as design, when I am sketching someone, I think of patterns that are in my world, and incorporate them into whoever I paint or draw. It's my connection between myself and the other person; it’s how I see them. I think it's interesting how everyone can look similar, but so different at the same time. I notice things like this all the time: Whether a man’s upper lip is smaller than his lower lip, or a woman’s  skin drags from the corners of her eyes forming dark circles and a pouch underneath them. I just want to
document everything I notice, like a kind of diary.

I usually paint in acrylics, ink, permanent marker, and some paintings with pattern papers."

     My art or my creative process on one hand consists of sensing movements, which attract my attention. Once my attention is arrested, I begin to look deeper, to find some connection to see how these diverse elements relate.

     On the other hand, when attention is given to a particular social phenomenon, if there are any inconsistencies or gaps, I try to discover the hidden thought, the missing emotions, to understand the idea that reveals consciousness. The former, you might say, should give rise to the perceptual, a more or less non-figurative abstract art, by utilizing the combined elements of space, line and form to create, if need be, certain fabrics to investigate the consciousness and/or phenomena of the aesthetic, the symbolic, the poetic, and the semiotic. Utilizing forms, things, and objects in connotative arrangements for constructing, deconstructing, or synthesizing a thought or idea, to question or reveal new insights into social consciousness.

     My hope is that I can bridge these two somewhat ways of being, which in effect would create a fluid line of correspondence with respect to the individual and the individual’s environment. Thus art, I think, is about constructing, synthesizing, and deconstructing, if need be.

        Humans make photographs for many different reasons. When I make a photograph, it becomes a journey into the unknown. Sights normally confined by walls and warning signs are illuminated by my wandering lens. Light penetrates through cracks in walls and shade less windows. Ancient dust is risen as I explore the unexplained! The feeling I experience when I’ve photographed a building  that is demolished a week later is eerie and unparalleled. It feels like I have stolen a piece of time and immortalized it! I am a time bandit and these photographs are my loot!

        I began making photographs in the late 90’s. My love for abandoned spaces was born with me from the beginning. All of my work has been focused here in Massachusetts, and 10 years later I’m still exploring. There are so many places to explore I’m not even close to done. Sometimes I can go out all day and not get a worthy photograph. But sometimes, when the

time is right, the perfect shot presents itself to you.  The photographs on these walls where selected by me and another working professional photographer. They are some of the highlights of the last 10 years.  I seriously hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I enjoyed creating them!   

More information coming soon!

Catherine Rousseau’s work is a story of her environment. Somewhere between an abstract and literal landscape, Rousseau invites her audience to step into her minds-eye, and take part in an experience of movement, memory and reflection. Line, color and improvisation uniquely compliment each other to demonstrate not only a feeling, but also a moment in time.

As a life long resident of Southern New England, there are many images of Rousseau’s youth and history that are shown in her paintings. Stonewalls, cotton mills, rivers and picket fences are all illustrated meticulously, as if in a desperate attempt to recreate a moment of a past long gone. 

Although there is an apparent history of home in her work, the spirit of her paintings comes from her training as a jazz musician. Meter, crescendo rhythm and improvisation are all musical elements of her work.  Here, Rousseau demonstrates an inherent connection between the rhythms of her world, and the images she sees in it.

This show is a compilation of Rousseau’s landscape works as she draws for us a fine line between looking, and seeing.

Kelsey Russell finished her made-up degree from Lelsey College in 2008 and now aspires to make up her life in the same manner. In her futile attempts at understanding young adulthood she explores answers through collaborative art projects and over-caffeinated arguments.