Nicole Pietrantoni
Artist Statement
To be an artist working with printmedia today is to have a particular orientation towards replication, distribution, and representation. As printed matter is an increasingly ubiquitous part of our visual culture, printmaking as a fine art continues to expand and encompass a broadening definition. These complexities demand that I question how I see, picture, and frame the world around me.
Specifically, my artistic research and work examines the complex relationship between human beings and nature. While nature may be positioned as a neutral space, it is, in reality, a site of competing stories and representations. From the works of painters and early photographers to movies and tourism brochures, nature functions both as a place of individual exploration and reverence, as well as a site of resource and profit. Inherent in any representation of nature is a simplification of its complexity.
To this end, I am guided in my research by the following questions: what stories shape my interaction with and understanding of landscape and nature? How have cultural and historical scripts, media, and technology disciplined me? How does a lineage of art history influence a particular way of picturing and making images? And finally, what stories do I contribute in my work as an artist to this discourse?
Combining digital and traditional printmaking techniques, these investigations culminate in installations, works on paper, and site-specific art. Rather than a fixed site or a single image, I seek to engage nature as an accumulation of processes, perceptions, and narratives - a dynamic and shifting site open for interpretation.
Bio
Nicole Pietrantoni's artwork explores the complex relationship between human beings and nature. Employing both traditional and non-traditional methods of printmaking, she creates installations, works on paper, and public art. As a Fulbright Fellow to Iceland in 2010-2011 she was a visiting artist at the Icelandic Printmakers' Association where she taught printmaking classes and co-chaired a printmaking conference in Reykjavik. Nicole has been awarded numerous artist residencies in the US and Iceland including the SÍM Residency, Akureyri Artists Residency, and the Ora Lerman Charitable Trust. She was the recipient of a Leifur Eiríksson Foundation Grant, the Margaret Stonewall Wooldridge Hamblet Award, the Elizabeth Catlett Fellowship, and a public art commission from the University of Iowa Hospital. Her work is in numerous collections and has been in exhibitions in the United States and abroad. Nicole received her MFA and MA in Printmaking from the University of Iowa and her BS in Human and Organizational Development and Art History from Vanderbilt University. She is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Montana-Missoula where she teaches printmaking.
One and Two Person Exhibitions
2010 The Sculpture Gallery, This Places You, solo, M.F.A. Thesis Exhibition, Iowa City, IA
2009 The Porch Gallery, Kiss the Ground You Walk On, solo, M.A. Thesis Exhibition, Iowa City, IA
2008 Drewelowe Gallery, Your Silver Lining, two-person exhibition, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
Modela Gallery, Beautiful Gardens, solo, Iowa City, IA
2007 The White Rabbit, This is where I lost you, solo, Iowa City, IA
2006 TAG Art Gallery, New Works by Nicole Pietrantoni and Jonathan Prichard, Nashville, TN
2004 Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery Gestation, solo, Nashville, TN
2003 Cohen Gallery, Vanderbilt University, Hamblet Fellowship Exhibition, solo, Nashville, TN
Antics Gallery, A Natural History, two-person exhibition, Nashville, TN
Group and Juried Exhibitions
2010 Figge Museum of Art, University of Iowa M.F.A. Exhibition, Davenport, IA
Open Lot, Faux Show, Missionaries of the Free Art School, group installation, Nashville, TN
M.F.A. Exhibition, Market and Dubuque Space, Iowa City, IA
1078 Gallery, Wanted: Wall Work, national juried M.F.A. exhibition, Chico, CA
From All Directions, portfolio exchange, organized by Melanie Yazzie, Boulder, CO
2009 Galerija Studio Artlan, GRAFIKA UIOWI: Paper Art, group show, Rijeka, Croatia
The South Gallery, Fit to Print, invitation, Florida State College, Jacksonville, FL
Drewelowe Gallery, Systems of Circumstance, group show, Iowa City, IA
I-Gallery, Art Likes Ecology & Ecology Likes Art, group show, Iowa City, IA
Penland School of Crafts, Summer Session Exhibition, group show, Penland, NC
Snow Gallery, Eggshibition, group show, Nashville, TN
The Gumball Gallery, Sweet Treats, group show, Iowa City, IA
Studio Arts Gallery, The Spring Collection, group show, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
2008 Galerija Studio Artlan, Project Oko Sokolovo, group show, Rijeka, Croatia
University of Iowa Fine Arts Gallery, M.F.A. Exhibition, group show, Iowa City, IA,
2007 Love and Misplacement, portfolio exchange, The Center for the Book, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
TAG Art Gallery, Lucky 7, group show, Nashville, TN
Drewelowe Gallery, Iowa Printmakers, group show, Iowa City, IA
2006 Art Chicago, TAG Art Gallery, Chicago, IL
Woman Made Gallery, 9th International Open, Juror: Margaret Hawkins, Chicago, IL
Ruby Green Contemporary Art Center, The Clear Box Project, invitational, Nashville, TN
The Fugitive Art Center, Illuminate, juried exhibition, Nashville, TN
Ingram Art Gallery, Southeastern College Art Conference, Vanderbilt Alumni Exhibition, invitation, Nashville, TN
The Plowhaus, Prints from the Plate Tone Press Printmakers' Co-Op, juried exhibition, Nashville, TN
Werthan Mills, 2nd Annual Art Tour, group show, Nashville, TN
2005 TAG Art Gallery, Postopia: Poster and Print Show, group show, Nashville, TN
Ingram Art Gallery, Vanderbilt Alumni Exhibition, group show, Nashville, TN
2004 Evansville Museum of Art, 51st Mid-States Art Exhibition, juried exhibition, Evansville, IN
Penland School of Crafts, Summer Session Exhibition, Penland, NC
The Renaissance Center, Seventh Annual Juried Exhibition, Dickson, TN
The Renaissance Center, The Ev Niewenhour Collection, juried exhibition, Dickson, TN
Vanderbilt University Medical Center, permanent collection exhibition, Nashville, TN
2003 12th Avenue Collective, group show, 2121 12th Avenue South, Nashville, TN