Today we’d like to introduce you to Nina Wood
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Okay, after earning a BFA degree with a concentration in painting, I moved to a one-bedroom apartment in Queens, New York, and made the living room in my apartment a studio space. While working as a waitress I also pursued various art teaching jobs in Manhattan and continued to paint and look for opportunities to show my work. After two years, which were accompanied by financial uncertainty, I decided to return to school for my Master’s degree in Fine Art – partly for the goal of teaching at the college level, which could help to provide for my art practice and finances. I did that while studying but very soon after I received my MFA, I got married, moved, and went back to school again for a New York State teaching certificate. Ultimately, this opened up many more doors for job opportunities outside the college level. I am still teaching today, but now that my children are adults in their twenties I am primarily focusing again on my creative practice as a priority!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
No, I wouldn’t say it was a smooth road! Several years after I was married, which included the birth of my three children, the marriage ended and I became the primary caregiver. There were struggles for sure, but does anyone have a smooth road? There were times of great financial concern, especially when my children were young and I was seeking security in a job as an educator. Outside of a sketchbook and projects with my children, there was very little energy left for artmaking without pay. I felt inclined to focus on my job as an educator so that I could provide for them, and I didn’t have time to think about how my art practice could exist and I did not prioritize it. It took ten years of teaching in four different public school locations before I finally received some security and seniority. Parenting is never-ending! It is learning to be flexible and willing to grow, forgive, apologize, and move forward with love. It requires figuring out what each child needs, and then questioning whether you are getting it right. There are plenty of mistakes and mishaps along the way, but I can say, I did my best for them with lots of consideration. Maybe parenting is similar to starting a business or any creative practice!
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I am an artist living and working on Long Island in New York. I work independently in my studio and with a small collective of artist mothers living in or close to New York City. We support each other, find ways to exhibit together, and offer feedback on individual and group projects/work, and anything related to being an artist and a mother! In search of community and support, the collective was started by three of the members who were located in New York City, and each of them invited another artist to join. We are called the Mother Creatrix Collective and you can find us on Instagram and the internet.
I am a two-dimensional figurative artist. I use the female form to convey feelings of rest, escape, protection, and refuge that come from finding comfort in isolated moments of peace. Sometimes the images are from memories that express the constraints and limitations of the Mother/Artist’s experience over time. I think my specialty is drawing! I’m not known for my drawings, but it fuels my art practice the most. I spend a good amount of time practicing drawing the female body because it is important to me to represent it really well. Currently, I am best known for my watercolor figurative paintings, but I also enjoy making abstract collages using a variety of materials. For quite some time, I have been trying to combine my love for the figure with collage materials, but it felt forced and uncomfortable. So recently, I committed myself to experiment and play in the studio without any pressure of showing the work, and with hopes that this idea will develop organically. Since my work is in an in-between stage, and drawing is so important to the development of what I do, I will share with you some timed figure drawings that I intend to use during this transition.
I am most proud of my children. I am proud of the women in the collective and how hard they work while balancing their lives as mothers and artists. I am proud of myself, that even though I am past mid-life (I’m in my 50s), I have the will to re-immerge as an artist and follow my original dream while I continue to finish my career as an art educator. This requires consideration for balance of time, and time may not be on my side, but I will get there whenever I get there!
What sets me apart from others? I am not sure! I’ll bet my kids could give you a more interesting answer to that question! Maybe, I will just say that I am patient.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
Hmm…luck? I think when good things happen or things that I identify as fortunate it is because of skill and hard work rather than luck. I feel gratitude but I don’t attribute accomplishments to luck. Usually, there is some rational explanation when something is identified as bad luck. For example, some might say that during the first ten years of my job as an educator, getting excessed from teaching positions was bad luck. However, it was a time in New York when many fiscal constraints were placed on public school districts accompanied by lowering enrollment. As the last art teacher hired, I was the first to be cut.
Having had several opportunities to exhibit my work over the last few years may seem very lucky, but I can attribute that to my determination. And, there have also been disappointing rejections. But, I don’t see them as bad luck. Rejection probably had more to do with my work not being fully developed or fitting in well with the curator’s vision.
This is an interesting topic to consider! I feel lucky, but it doesn’t seem accurate for me to say that good things in my life were due to luck. I am lucky in situations- like being a part of a supportive artist mother community, having children I am proud of, and enjoying my home, and studio space. Mostly, I believe these things came from hard work, insight, and support from family and friends.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ninawood.net/
- Instagram: ninawood_artworks
- Other: Mother Creatrix Collective https://www.mothercreatrixcollective.com/
