Member's Gallery

About Nicki

After graduating with her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University in 1999, Nicki Wood moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma to start teaching as an adjunct professor at Tulsa Community College. Quickly becoming involved in the art community, she started showing work and being represented by galleries in Tulsa.

During graduate school at The University of Tulsa, she received numerous research grants and awards including, The College Art Association Student Travel Grant, The Thomas Manhart Outstanding Student Award and Second Place in the Graduate Student category of the Gussman Student Art Show. Outside of graduate school, Nicki continued being a part of the local and national art community by exhibiting work regionally and at the Philadelphia Clay Studio, attending conferences and implementing workshops.

Currently Nicki is an Artist in Residence at the St. Petersburg Clay Company in St. Petersburg, Florida and teaching at The Art Institute of Tampa, her work is represented at The St. Petersburg Clay Company and the Arts Center in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Artist's Statement

My inspiration is nostalgia that originates from the debris of forgotten trends or passing fads. In the damaged quality of vintage finds, I find history and beauty. I am both repulsed and captivated by gaudy, tacky and over embellished surfaces. Decoration is gender based. The desperate need to accessorize goes back to early childhood, when girls learn from imitating their mothers.

I recreate found objects in clay. After taking new form, often in multiples, each piece becomes a small part of the entire installation.

Art, then, becomes a language that conjures memory, emotion and awareness. My installations, in particular, are intended to function like a moment of contemplation. The viewer is taken on my journey in one moment of observation. The concept of the installation develops from a personal narrative that explores the internal dialogue and duality in the relationship between my public and private life. The work focuses on how art can reflect the personal life experiences that we usually do not share with anyone else.

It all started with a cake. The cake is symbolic for a seductive surface with a vacant interior. It presents a feminist interpretation of what is envied and attractive. The cakes and the figure are sex symbols, encompassing the institutions I love to hate.

This is my own perspective coming from my experience as a woman. As a self portrait, the installation “Beyond the Cake”, is an allegory for feeling trapped. The cakes act as a barricade and function as life’s darkest moments. Like the cakes, the figure is empty inside. Her focus is towards the windows of opportunity that seem out of reach.