Nicole Hand, Inescapable Succession
Nicole Hand
1973-
American
Date
2007
Medium Specific
Print
Edition / State
19/20
Classification
Print
Dimensions
20 x 15 in. (50.8 x 38.1 cm)
Accession Number
2007.20.20.96
Credit
Gift of the Artist
Memo / Artist Statement
Ideas, beliefs, and skills are passed from one generation to the next. The skills that were passed down to me were based on a traditional domestic structure. The duties within my household were divided according to gender roles, influencing my family structure, while at the same time I questioned their validity. The questioning of these roles inspires my work through an autobiographical perspective.
Themes of maternity, reproduction, femininity, closure, transitions, and correspondence are also apparent in my work. I use objects, placed in reliquary- like spaces, which have literal and abstract symbolism within a composition. The interaction between these objects explores the conventional and non-conventional roles of family and at the same time, documents a change of lineage. Layering objects and placing them in dream-like atmospheres suggests change, transition, and reflection. This allows me to preserve history and suggest tension, repetition, and change. The work becomes a documentation of these ideas as well as an organized timeline of events with a feminist perspective.
The techniques of printmaking and bookbinding complement my image development and need for repetition. While the processes are different from the skills I was taught as a child, both need to follow an exact recipe in order to have a desirable outcome. This, combined with my love of drawing, initiates my object-oriented narratives.
(https://blogs.lawrence.edu/paperfox/visiting-artists/hand, 2020)
Themes of maternity, reproduction, femininity, closure, transitions, and correspondence are also apparent in my work. I use objects, placed in reliquary- like spaces, which have literal and abstract symbolism within a composition. The interaction between these objects explores the conventional and non-conventional roles of family and at the same time, documents a change of lineage. Layering objects and placing them in dream-like atmospheres suggests change, transition, and reflection. This allows me to preserve history and suggest tension, repetition, and change. The work becomes a documentation of these ideas as well as an organized timeline of events with a feminist perspective.
The techniques of printmaking and bookbinding complement my image development and need for repetition. While the processes are different from the skills I was taught as a child, both need to follow an exact recipe in order to have a desirable outcome. This, combined with my love of drawing, initiates my object-oriented narratives.
(https://blogs.lawrence.edu/paperfox/visiting-artists/hand, 2020)
Biography
Nicole Hand is currently a Professor of Art at Murray State University in Murray, Kentucky where she teaches printmaking, bookbinding and drawing. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally in over 200 solo, invitational, and juried exhibitions. Recent exhibitions include Varied Voices, Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado, Delta National Print Exhibition, North America Print Biennial, Color Print USA, and Parkside National Small Print Exhibition. She has given lectures and workshops in over twenty venues including Atlanta Printmakers Studio, University of North Carolina, Greenville, The University of Arizona, University of Texas at Arlington, Ohio University, University of South Dakota, Arkansas State University and The University of Kentucky, Lexington. She received her MFA in printmaking from the University of Miami, and a BFA from the University of South Dakota. Nicole lives in Almo, Kentucky with her husband Jim Bryant and daughter Ella.
(https://blogs.lawrence.edu/paperfox/visiting-artists/hand, 2020)
(https://blogs.lawrence.edu/paperfox/visiting-artists/hand, 2020)