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Nic Nobliqueinfo@nobliquestudios.com Clyde, Texas |
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| TSA Shows and Information: | Oak Cliff Membership Show 2011 | Artist Spotlight - August 2010 |
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Born Willard Nicolas Poupore on March 8th, 1976 in Appleton, Wisconsin to Bill and Pat Poupore, his mother found him noble of heart and oblique of mind. Eventually this translated into NOBLIQUE, the pseudonym he would launch his professional career using. Nic became an early lover of Picasso’s work while living in Antibes, France. It is said by age ten he could identify any Picasso and he had the chance to prove this while visiting museums across Europe. He came back to the US and focused on his artistic development throughout his primary education with exhibits as early as age 13 at the Milwaukee Museum of Art.
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Nic developed a passion for snowboarding and skateboarding that led to a career in owning and operating skate and snow retail shops in Wisconsin, California, and the Pacific Northwest and placed in the first ever X-Games. After studying pliable materials engineering in California, he made further contributions to the skateboard industry by engineering a new concave skateboard that would go on to be produced by some of the countries major skateboard manufacturers. He continued to apply creative insight with an understanding of physics to design and produce several indoor and outdoor skate and snow parks. In his early 20’s he left the skate and snow industry to work as a full time artist. In the last ten years he has participated in many solo and group exhibitions with respected galleries and art centers nationally. Nic has enjoyed the privilege of teaching graduate level 3D art at Hardin Simmons University having proven himself a competent and talented artist. Nic, along with his wife's business prowess and support, has owned his own retail gallery as well as a successful alternative art space and studio concept which garnered a ‘Best Of’ award in 2008, he has commissioned hundreds of works both privately and publicly, and been honored with awards in sculpture including the prestigious international Navy Pier Walk Competition in 2003, juried by David Pagel. |
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Nic devotes much of his time to privately commissioned work and his sculpture can be seen all over the US and as far reaching as Kuwait and Trinidad. Notable public installations can be seen in Denton, Texas at the Denton Civic Center Park and Denton City Hall, The Mall of Abilene in Abilene, Texas, Hardin Simmons University and McMurry University in Abilene, Texas, The Meyer Theater and La-Z-Boy Center in Monroe, Michigan, in Hartford, Connecticut at Trinity College, The Core Apartments in Houston, and most recently in Racine, Wisconsin highlighting the entrance to the Uptown Arts District via the Create Uptown Racine campaign (commissioned by the City of Racine). Presently, Noblique is focused on his commitment to reach higher levels of sustainability in public art and dedicates much of his time to the revitalization of declining urban areas and small rural communities through public art initiatives. Today Nic Noblique creates with joyful heart. He continues to expand his view of the world with new insights that become delightful manifestations of art for the rest of us to enjoy.” -Pippin Meikle Fine Art |
EXHIBITIONS Samuel Lynne Galleries, Wild About SAFY, Live Auction and Benefit aiding the lives of Texas Foster Children. November 9, 2010, Dallas TX EAST; East Austin Studio Tour, “The Cobra Show 2010”, COBRA Studios, November 2010, Austin TX TractorBeam Gallery, WELL VERSED, Group Show, September 24 - October 24, 2010, Dallas TX Leon County Art Trails, Outdoor Sculpture Exhibit, Juried Exhibition of large scale outdoor works for one year, October 2010-October 2011, Jewett Texas Pippin & Meikle Fine Art, New Sculpture, May 2010, Santa Fe, New Mexico Benini Sculpture Ranch and Galleries, New Sculpture, May 2010, Johnson City, Texas Cameron Gallery, Solo Show, Grind Hassle Jump Jam!, Paintings and Sculpture, April 10, 2010 - May 7, 2010. “IN HIS TRIUMPHANT RETURN TO DALLAS, AS HIS LATEST COLLECTION OF NEW METAL SCULPTURES AND OIL PAINTINGS WILL ILLUSTRATE WHY THIS YOUNG ARTIST IS HIGHLY SOUGHT AFTER, IN BOTH PUBLIC AND PRIVATE COLLECTIONS.” Savor Dallas 2010, Featured Artist, AT&T Performing Arts Center, Sammons Park, and as part of the International Grand Tasting at the Sheraton Dallas Hotel, March 2010 Sculptors Dominion Invitational 2010, 4 works on display, San Antonio Tx, March 2010 through 2011 The Center For Contemporary Art, Group Exhibition, November – December 2009, Abilene, Texas Art-Right LLC, Private Event for Houston Area Architects and Consultants, “Functional Sculpture”, Houston, Texas, November 19, 2009 Savor Dallas, Featured Artist, March 2008 Nic Noblique Studio Gallery monthly exhibitions and featured group exhibits in conjunction with Art Walk, Galveston, Texas, March 2007 through November 2008 Artist Boat Fundraiser, Hosted by the Nic Noblique Studio Gallery, October 2008, Galveston, Texas Elder Street Artists Gallery, Group Exhibition, November 2007, Houston, Texas Earth Center and Gallery 101, Group Exhibition, August 2007, Houston, Texas Art-Right, LLC, Group Exhibition, August 2007, Houston, Texas Benini Sculpture Ranch and Galleries; On-going Exhibition of two large scale works beginning May 2006, Johnson City, Texas Noblique’s Gallery A-go-go; Up From Ashes, Solo exhibit featuring new work, April 2006, Abilene, Texas Sculptors Dominion Invitational 2006, International Sculpture Exhibition April 2006, San Antonio, Texas Breckenridge Fine Arts Center, The New School, curated by Noblique, Feb-April 2006, Breckenridge, Texas Earth Gallery; Group Exhibition; on going beginning March 2006 Fine Line Designs, Group Exhibition, Town Line Art Fair, September 2005, Ephraim, Wisconsin Buchanan Gallery, Solo Exhibition, Explorations in Steel, Galveston, TX, August 2005 Blossom Street Gallery, Group Exhibition, Noblique and Roaderer, Houston, TX, May 2005 Guadalupe River Sculpture Ranch, Group Exhibition, San Antonio, TX, 2005 The Center for Contemporary Art, Artist Members Group Exhibit, Abilene, TX, October 2004 The Center for Contemporary Art, Abilene, TX Twenty Choices Solo Exhibit, Gallery I, July – August 2004 Sculptors Dominion Invitational 2004, San Antonio, TX, May 2004 Jody Klotz-Vletas Fine Art, New Works: Sculptures and Paintings Solo Exhibit, Abilene, TX, December – February 2004 Wired Designs, Light Up, Solo Outdoor Exhibit, San Antonio, TX, November 2003 Manor House Gallery, Boerne, TX Solo Sculpture Garden Exhibit, October 2003 Umlauf Sculpture Garden and Museum, presented by The Texas Society of Sculptors, Sculpfest 2003, Austin, Texas, September 2003 Town Center Gallery, Group Exhibition, Valencia, California, September 2003 Jody Klotz-Vletas Fine Art, Trees and Flowers Solo Exhibit, Abilene, Texas, September 2003 Breckenridge Fine Arts Center, Drawings, Painting, and Sculpture, Breckenridge, Texas, July 2003 Chicago’s Navy Pier, Navy Pier Walk 2003, Chicago, IL, May 2003 David Pagel Juror Gallery 37, Maquette Show, Chicago, IL, May 2003 The Center for Contemporary Arts, Wildwired Solo Exhibition, Abilene, Texas, April 2003 The Center for Contemporary Arts, Deck the Walls, Abilene, TX, December 2002 Hardin Simmons University, Faculty Art Show, Abilene, TX, October 2002 The Center for Contemporary Arts, Dia de los Muertos, Abilene, TX, October 2002 |
ART FAIRS Denton Art and Jazz Festival, Denton, Texas PUBLIC COMMISSIONS AND CORPORATE INSTALLATIONS Racine, Wisconsin Uptown Arts District by commission for The City of Racine, “The Last of Ike”. June 2009. The CORE Apartments via The Morgan Group, “Chaos” in Candy Red, permanent placement on premises located on trendy Washington for the upscale urban multi-family award winning development in Houston, Texas, Spring 2009 Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut: “Unity” was commissioned by the college via a gift of Marshall Blume and created to celebrate the rich and diverse community that is Hartford. December 2007 Monroe County Community College for the Meyer Theatre and La-Z-Boy Center; “Circle Squared”, September 2007. Dr. Sam Spence, Dentistry. “Elephant” (A life-size steel elephant with stainless steel tusks) by commission for the courtyard. Abilene, Texas, 2007 McMurry University, “Ebb and Flow”, Abilene, Texas, Winter 2007 Multi-Physician Medical Facility, By Commission, “Old Glory No II”, San Antonio, Texas, Summer 2007 The Mall of Abilene, Abilene, Texas: Old Glory, 19 ft tall American Flag was dedication in honor of our men and women in service, permanent public installation June 2006 Denton City Hall, Denton, TX: Festival In Motion, a.k.a. Woman Rolling Down a Hill, purchased by the Denton Festival Foundation for the City of Denton, May 2004 Waterworks Park, Denton, TX: Yellow Baugh Flower, purchased by the City of Denton, May 2003 Civic Center Park, Denton, TX: Circle Tree, purchased by the City of Denton, May 2003 Hardin Simmons University, Abilene, TX: “Tense”, 2002 |
GRANTS AND AWARDS Joan Mitchell Foundation; December 2008, sole recipient of a $6000 grant to aid in rebuilding studio after Hurricane Ike. Featured Artist; 2008, Savor Dallas Featured Artist; 2006 Artoberfest, Galveston Island, Texas Featured Artist; 2006 Abilene Artist’s and Artisans Studio Tour. The Texas Society of Sculptors, Sculptfest 2003 Publication Cover Art, Special Recognition for Explosion of the Heart, Steel Sculpture Navy Pier Walk 2003, International Outdoor Sculpture Competition at Chicago’s Oklahoma City Art Festival 2003, Ribbon and Cash Award in Sculpture for Explosion of the Heart, Steel Sculpture Denton Art and Jazz Festival 2003, Best of Show in Sculpture, Denton, TX, April, 2003 Grant for the construction and permanent installation of large outdoor sculpture at Hardin Simmons University while serving as Visiting Adjunct Professor of 3-D Art, Abilene, TX, Fall 2002
TEACHING APPOINTMENTS Hardin Simmons University, Abilene, Texas, Visiting Adjunct Professor of 3D Art, Spring Semester 2002 Wired Designs, San Antonio, Texas, Sculpture Workshops, 2003 |
Artist Spotlight Questionnaire - Nic NobliqueWhat type(s) of art do you like to create? I am most passionate about large scale and monumental public works that focus on sustainability in public art. I use recycled steel, stainless, and corten. I continue to study the most environmentally friendly industrial coatings for my sculpture and no longer use any solvent based coatings that pollute the environment with harmful VOC's. I look for opportunities to work in urban and rural areas of decline that need rehabilitation and look for these opportunities through arts initiatives. I am motivated by the power public art has on its respective community. I do love to paint and although I'm most notably known for my sculpture, it is a great way to unload the images and ideas that constantly run through my head. My sculpture mostly abstract and is based on the idea of 3/5/8 mathematical beauty, suggesting everything in nature can be broken down into those proportions and that everything is a structural spiral. The finished sculpture is graceful, ethereal, soft, and happy although it comes from rough, cold, rigid steel. It’s not about making a social or political statement or regurgitating a bygone aesthetic or art movement, my sculpture is about form, lines, and movement from the depths of my own imagination, that engage the natural environment in an oddly organic way. I want my sculpture to play a visual trick, a balancing act, and contradict the very nature of the material I use to produce it. Where did you learn to do what you do? I was actually kicked out of The Denver Institute of Art when I was 20. I taught myself everything I know and have built my own custom fabrication machines that can handle the size and scope of my work and manipulate steel the way I want it to. I went to school at a technical college in Santa Ana, California where I studied pliable materials engineering. At the time, I didn’t know some of that education would help me later when I decided to be a full time professional artist. I really wanted to improve the design of skateboards, make surfboards, and build skate ramps, which I did. That has all played a part in what I do now and I’ve had to learn to do the rest. Tell us about your most important projects. Recently i've been involved with the Henderson Art Project in Dallas. The non-profit HAP has done a stellar job of bringing public sculpture to Henderson Avenue in Dallas through a juried competition as well as an ongoing aggressive effort to put sculpture all throughout the surrounding neighborhood. I am really proud to be a part of this, it is exactly the kind of charitable effort that is focussed and diligent in their vision to revitalize, educate, and foster the growth of dialogue about art within the community. I also have to mention a current project that is very new but gaining momentum. A new non-profit in Clyde, Texas - where I live - is striving to revitalize its downtown and create a cultural center through several initiatives. Public art, a non-profit art gallery, other community events, as well as eventually a school of art and craft. This one is particularly important to me because my family, on my mother's side, has lived here for decades and now my children share that legacy. I want to see this very small, rural community experience the renaissance that it deserves - that our kids deserve. Describe your studio. My studio is my playground. I have a metal yard in front and am able to move my sculpture in and out through a big roll door. It's about 1500 square feet of which 2/3 is devoted to sculpture with large machinery, my hand built three-roll pinch plate rolling machine, smaller rolling machines, an assortment of welders, torches, grinders and all the sculptors accoutrement you could imagine. My work is big and heavy and since I work solo I use some heavy duty hoisting equipment. The other 1/3 of my studio is for painting and where I build frames and fabricate smaller works. I hang a lot of my paintings around the studio and use the walls to hang up anything interesting or inspiring, ideas, drawings, and sometimes notes to myself to keep me focused or i'll write quotes on the walls. One of my favorite ones, which is spattered across the wall in the paint area says ' painting is easy, you just stare at the canvas until drops of blood form on your head". The music is always loud in my studio, it helps me concentrate. I used to have a half pipe in my studio but sacrificed it for the sake of having more room. It was nice to take a break and skate for a minute, especially in case of the occasional 'artistic block'. What type of music do you listen to while you work? I'm strictly a punk rocker at heart. I listen to The Speedies, The Freeze, Thermals, The Didgits, Minutemen, Nomeansno, Vindictives, Bad Town Boys, Fifteen, Jets to Brazil, Blag Flag, Circle Jerks, The Ramones, Descendents, Dead Boys, Sex Pistols, Iggy and the Stooges, The Kill Rays, X, and too many more to list. Where do you find your inspiration? My inspiration is everywhere and all around but does come from life experience and life long passions. I spent my whole life as a skate boarder. Everywhere I look I can see something skate-able. Most people see a curb, ledge, stairs, a drop-off, whatever. I always see at it as the next thing I could ride. It translates into art because when I’m walking around or driving through the country or in the city I might see the way a hill comes down to the base of a tree or a tree growing up through the cracks in the pavement and be inspired. In this way a hill, valley, and a house can instantaneously realize itself as a sculpture in my head, the way I see it anyway. I have a stockpile – a reserve – of things in my head that I try to get out as much as I can. I'm also inspired by influences from a really young age. Picasso has been an inspiration to me from a really young age. We were living in an apartment in Antibes France when I was about and I went to a Picasso sculpture garden at a church there, a block away from the apartment. I would sit there for hours each day enthralled. We went to all the museums and by the time I was 10 I could identify Picasso anywhere! It was like listening to the Ramones for the first time. It just made perfect sense to me and definitely influenced me to take art seriously. Do you have any advice for other artists? I learned a long time ago that if I was going to be successful and if I was ever going to be able to manipulate steel the way I see it in my head, I’d have to get real creative and be super determined to make it happen. The cost of fabrication can be overwhelming if you do not have your own equipment. I'm sure many artists relate to the frustration of not have what you need to create your vision and bring it to life. My advice to other artists is to be driven. Be unstoppable. Do you belong to any art organizations? ISC and the Center for Contemporary Arts in Abilene; Do you have a website? |