Accumulated Perspectives
Nicolas Darcourt
Red stoneware
Art Dimensions: 16" x 17" x 7"
Exhibition - Iowa Clay Conference | River 2 River
---
Artist Statement
An overt theme in my work is the human condition of our relationship to accumulation. I view the world around me as a landscape of accumulating visual information constructed of sporadic cultural significance; ambiguity defined by brief moments of clarity. I am fascinated by how, as decades pass, both new and old overlap and fold into each other. By focusing on a mix of architectural ornament, exposed layers of earth, engineered forms, monument, and manufactured byproduct, the accumulations I create reference abstract notions of the confluence of memory, geography, and society. All of the information we see in the present also contains something of the past, the process behind the viewable surface. Both natural and human made, we are surrounded by vast accumulation, fragmentation and deep repetition. My work expresses this viewed reality, not from a place of judgment, but rather a place of investigation and rumination.
Artist Biography
Nicolas Darcourt received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Northern Michigan University, and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities with a Minor in Art History. Upon completion, Nicolas has been a resident artist at the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts. His ceramic work has been shown both nationally and internationally, and belongs to a number of private collections. Nicolas has exhibited work in solo, two person, and group exhibitions in regional venues The Hillstrom Museum of Art St. Peter MN, the Minnetonka Center for the Arts MN, The Phipps Center for the Arts Hudson WI, and The Carnegie Art Center Mankato MN. Nicolas has also exhibited works in local and national juried group exhibitions at such venues as the Modlin Center for the Arts, Richmond, VA, Rosalux Gallery Minneapolis MN, Workhouse Art Center Lorton VA, the LH Horton Jr. Gallery Stockton CA, Mulvane Art Museum Topeka KS, and the Kirkland Arts Center Kirkland WA. Nicolas has received a McKnight Artist Fellowship and a Minnesota State Arts Board, Artist Initiative Grant. He has taught ceramics at Minnesota State University Moorhead and The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Regis Center for Art. Currently, he is a Continuing Assistant Professor in the Department of Art and Art History at Gustavus Adolphus College. Nicolas, his partner, and son live in Minnetonka, Minnesota, where he has a home studio.
