Artist Statement

Nina Nicholson Dyer

 All of my life I have been creating works of art and is an integral part of my life. In fact, I cannot envision a day of not having art in my life. Since childhood my parents encourage me to be involved in art classes, in fact my mother would enroll me in summer art classes at the Dallas Museum of Art. My parents’ perception of art was for personal enrichment and not necessarily to become a career. Both of my parents were always landscaping and relandscaping the yard while I was growing up – this was an ever evolving force around our home and my Mom would always enter the local garden club flower arranging contests and Dad was a geologist and could tell you about soil conditions, and the different types of rocks, minerals and land formations. I never realized how much this had influenced my life; I found myself longing to be around nature and always would try my best to create the same atmosphere around my own home. This concept has now become a part of my artwork and my visual language. This influence from my parents has greatly given me enrichment and fulfillment beyond my greatest dreams.

Primarily my artwork has its roots in figurative forms. I find figurative forms very exciting and the connection and communication that it provides between the artist and the viewer. I embrace the concept of using seeds, pods and the human figure to speak about birth and life, sex and death, and decay and loss. I primarily work in clay to communicate my concepts of humanism to the viewer through my figurative work. My influences come from personal events that I have experienced during my lifetime, my parent’s love of nature, and my husband’s interests in astronomy and space.  I see figurative forms as a vessel that needs to be explored and fulfilled. These concepts are what we as human beings strive to achieve throughout our lives. The characteristics of the clay body, various glazing and firing processes help me to develop and finalize my concepts in this medium. The clay body itself provides a natural sensuality to the form and my artwork. I have been involved in the clay making processes since my high school years and always returned back to the clay as a hobbyist. I have recently made the commitment to clay and working towards obtaining my Master’s of Fine Arts in Clay at the University of North Texas.

My vision of influences stems from the idea, that what a person has experienced becomes an influence to their life and in turn - their artwork. Art is a reaction to one’s life, and how they react to certain events and translate these experiences in one’s artwork.