Nancy Egol Nikkal
New Rochelle, NY
Nancy Nikkal is a collage artist who lives and works in Westchester County, NY
MessageI am a contemporary artist and create abstract collage and paintings with curvy geometric shapes that touch, overlap and share space. I want the works to show relationships and connections. I work with layered paint and painted papers in black and white, tan, blue and green.
I come from a family of artists and grew up in New York City and spent my teens in the suburbs just north of NYC. I attended the School of Art at Syracuse University for 3 semesters, took the best studio courses and was lucky to have a great introduction to art history. I finished my degree in drawing and design (plus all the required liberal arts courses) at Hunter College, City University of New York. Postgraduate courses included printmaking, Photoshop and arts management.
My great aunt, was an important artist in my family. She exhibited her paintings internationally and told my parents I was an artist when I was 6 years old (did she admire a crayon drawing?), and my parents believed her. My father was also trained as an artist, worked for some years as an animator, and drew Popeye, Olive Oyl and Bette Boop: all the cells were done by hand. I grew up knowing I would become an artist.
I have always worked in the arts, in paid and volunteer jobs,including organizing art exhibitions and managing a not for profit gallery. I've maintained a studio throughout my career, taught art to kids in a home-based business, and taught adults collage and mixed media at museums and arts centers for more than 30 years – currently at the Pelham Art Center (2010 to present). I design workshops and classes based on design and color, inspired by my love of art history. It's my mission to share art with others through exhibitions, writing and teaching.
My paintings and collages are influenced by where I live, what I read and what I see. Each new work is a journey and a lesson. I have no manifesto to save the world – just to engage with people through my art. Read my blog The Art of Collage.
My training is traditional. I am inspired by modern and contemporary art, and have a focus on design, texture and the idea of layers – I believe everything is layered and I call myself a layerist. I’ve exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the US and abroad in Europe, Japan, India and the Republic of Singapore. My works are included in private, corporate, hotel and museums collections. My studio is in New Rochelle, NY and I live in nearby Pelham, NY. I am a member of Collage Artists of America, the Society of Layerists in Multi Media, the Silvermine Guild, the Upstream Gallery in Hastings on Hudson, NY, and the New York Artists Circle.
Statement
My studio practice is contemporary collage with papers and painting in mixed media and acrylic. My latest works are about shapes that share space in balanced compositions structured as grids. I want to show connections and relationships. I work with a limited palette in black and white, tan, blue and green, layering paint and papers to create texture and depth. People say my work can be playful and whimsical. Recent works have titles like Echo, Shadow and Chaos, and are probably influenced by the difficult times in which we live. Read PEEK into my studio at nikkal.com.
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