While Vicki Niolet has been a mixed media artist for over 20 years, the work that she has created post hurricane Katrina is particularly moving. When her own home was flooded, she lost many of the paper scraps, photographs and small objects she had been saving for future creations. She evacuated, but her husband stayed behind and barely survived. His story can be read on her website, www.vickiniolet.com, or click here.
When she returned home, the landscape was littered with remnants of what had once been her neighbor's most treasured possessions. Somehow, her talent and spirit were able to overcome such and experience and has informed her work both in her choice of materials and subject.
I had the pleasure of meeting her at the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts last year, and was completely enchanted by her creations. There reasons were many; the use of found objects in a creative and compelling way, the humble, patinated textures juxtaposed with the sweetness of the music (many of her works are also music boxes), and the intimacy of her work, both in scale and the content, reminding me of the works of Joseph Cornell.
2 comments:
Its so interesting how all of your choices so far have this real human element to them- preserving, helping, promoting.
Wow! I love this artist. Thanks for posting this.
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