Gallery With A Cause • Located in the New Mexico Cancer Center • Benefitting the NMCC Foundation
Please call gallery director Regina Held to arrange a private gallery tour, make a purchase, or ask any questions.
Biography
Nicholas was born in Chicago and raised in the little idyllic village of Wildwood in northern Illinois. As a child, he and his friends would run through the woods and pretend to be adventurers around the twin ponds near his home. He was always fascinated and inspired by the vivid illustrations of N. C. Wyeth, the stories of Mark Twain and of legendary heroes of the past.
Beginning as an oil painter in the late ‘70s, he soon developed a passion for pastel painting. He joined the Pastel Society of New Mexico in 2008 and served as President for the maximum two-year term and has chaired the PSNM National Pastel Painting Exhibitions for now his tenth year. Additionally, he now serves as the Audio/ Visual Director for the Society. Being a self-taught artist, he feels that the influences of the many romantic, religious and classical artists were his early teachers. In recent years, he has taken part in workshops by renowned artists; Desmond O’Hagan, Vasili Katakis, Kim Lordier, Nancie King Mertz, Elizabeth Mowry, Liz Haywood-Sullivan and Doug Dawson, which have helped him immeasurably toward refining his technique.
He is also a guitarist, singer/songwriter who has co-founded two folk duos: Changes, with his cousin R. N. Taylor in 1969 and Phase II, with Mark Andrews in 1979. Though both groups disbanded after a few years, the music of Changes was rediscovered in the mid-90s and developed a huge following in Europe. This brought them back to the studio and they now have seven studio albums to their name.
He has lived in Edgewood, New Mexico since 1997 and loves the climate and the vivid blue skies.
Artist Statement
“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see” —Edgar Degas
“We are what we repeatedly do! Excellence is not an act but a habit!” —Aristotle
These are two of my favorite quotes and I try to practice the significance of these words in both my artistic and everyday life. My artwork is a way for me to convey my inner visions in two-dimensional form using the tactile feel of my pastel pigment sticks on a finely sanded surface. When something is produced that truly achieves the conveyance of that vision, my life is fulfilled. Then if others can also feel what I felt and intended by viewing my work, it is total gratification.
