We recently connected with Nicole Malcolm and have shared our conversation below.

Nicole, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

Nicole Malcolm Places You Pass
8’x10’x11’
Installation/Mixed Media: Screen print on handmade abaca paper, screen print on Tyvek, original lyrics and songwriting, bookbinding, handmade cotton rag paper, found objects (desk, chair, lamp, string lights, wall paint, rug, radio, headphones, etc)

This installation piece was my senior thesis project, culminating my time at Ohio University in Athens, OH.

Places You Pass is reminiscent of a significant memory I have from my freshman year of college. I was seventeen years old, moved away to school, and was attempting to find myself through my first real heartbreak. It took a dining hall job, sitting at open mic nights alone, drinks in hand, and crying at night. Despite it all, that first spring semester is the most challenging and rewarding period of time I’ve ever experienced.

One night in particular showed me everything I was looking for. I was in the studio late with two of my new friends. We were anxiously trying to finish up a final project, while also making it a fun, podcast, music, and snack filled night. Both of my friends finished up and I decided to stay a little longer. For the first time in months I listened to music by myself, and enjoyed being with my thoughts. When I packed up and walked outside, I sat down and looked out over the Appalachian Hills and lights in the distance. It was the night before the last day of my first year. I was okay. I found incredible people, made honest artwork again, and had more fun than I ever could have imagined. Most importantly, I could feel how much I had grown.

That last week I ended with my weekly ritual of going to the open mic night uptown, alone. Friday nights were days I dedicated to spending that time with myself. Over the years I have taken friends and family, while growing a connection with local musician Bruce Dalzell. The song in this installation, I Will Wait For You, was written by Bruce and I. It represents the quiet moment I had at the top of the hill, and wanting to pass this story onto others.

I created this piece at the end of my senior year, as a reflection of the past 4 years, and a still moment frozen in time at the end of my freshman year. I often think about how some “places you pass” end up being the places where you will have life changing moments, and you don’t even know it yet. The dorm I lived in with my “random roommate”, our group of unbelievable friends, the studios I spent late nights in, drinks I consider to be magic from coffee shops uptown, and open mic night music that sent my heart into the sky, are just a few of the reasons I am forever changed by Athens. This work is a representation of the way in which I hold onto places, and moments in time. I will carry this with me, and remember that each new place I go will change me in ways I do not yet know.

Final Song with Bruce:

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9GYcyZv3wU

Spotify:

Lyrics:

Come sit with me upon this hill
To gaze upon tomorrow’s face
The sorrows of today leave me grateful
For they have led me to this place

I will wait for you
I will wait for you

I’ve got three stones to weigh on my mind
To rest in my hand and leave the world behind
But when my heart breaks and the stones fall through
I’ll follow the ripple right back to what’s true

I will wait for you
I will wait for you

Lights in the distance like twinkling prayers
Float like my words, like fireflies dancing somewhere
Upon this hill this is where I’ll be
Waiting for you if you should need me

I will wait for you
I will wait for you

The day is so bright, why is it so hard
To lay down my guard, to not fear the dark

So sit with me upon this hill
To gaze upon tomorrows face
The sorrows of today leave me grateful
For they have brought me to this place
I will wait for you

Detailed description of the installation:

The exterior of the installation is formed by hand drawn imagery that has been screen printed (double sides) on Tyvek, and hung with fishing line. The two corner wallpaper rolls are pulled up by the outer corner, like a curtain, to add a welcoming entrance to viewers. Inside are both collected and made objects. The string lights inside act as an extension of the fireflies pictures on the exterior. The room consists of a rug, blankets, pillow, desk, and a chair. On the desk is a journal (hand bound, handmade cotton rag and abaca paper, mixed media) filled with illustrations and saved memorabilia from my time in Athens. A radio contains a physical CD with Bruce and I’s song “I Will Wait For You”, with headphones allowing the viewer to have a personal experience while they listen at their own leisure. Sprawled throughout the space are sheets of handmade abaca paper, with screen printed lyrics to the song. On one side are the final lyrics (handwritten and then screen printed), with original notes and the songwriting process printed on the other side. Some of these sheets are suspended in the air, representing a moment in time. A memory being experienced, and then revisited. Viewers are encouraged to listen for as long as they’d like, flip through the journal, pick up anything they wish, go through drawers, and make themselves at home. When this piece was installed in Spring 2021, I also provided wipes and hand sanitizer for COVID guidelines.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I was born and am currently residing in Northeast Ohio. I focused a lot on who I was as an artist through elementary school, middle school, and took an AP Art class while in High School. In May of 2021, I received my BFA in Studio Art with a concentration in printmaking from Ohio University. I also received a minor in Art History and a certificate in Museum Studies and have additional studio experience in papermaking, painting, drawing, and book arts and installation.

My printmaking and mixed media works aim to represent physical and mental spaces, emphasizing memory, growth, and intimacy. These themes come directly from significant moments in my own life. By creating this work, I hope to invite others to feel comfortable sharing their life stories as well. My work examines personal experiences from my life. Each work is influenced by my relationships and the environments I find myself in. Documenting my life through my work allows me to preserve a specific moment in time. Creating these visual memories emphasize the significant moments that stand out to me as progress into each new phase of my life.
The experiences I share are representative of both beautiful and difficult times. In the print “Where Will Home Be?,” I contemplate searching for places and ways to feel comfortable. I savor memories in a coffee shop with my best friend in “How Did We Get Here?”. I explore the idea of revelations and moments of discovery. It is thoughts such as these that stop me in my tracks and inspire me to dive deeper. I have always wanted to create work that is heartfelt and honest, and to talk about life and the moments within places we experience that make us who we are. The work I make also stems from my passion to connect with others. Starting at a place of confusion that can lead to understanding, I hope that my work can help guide others through similar times.

I have participated in national print exchanges and shown work in several local and national exhibitions. I was recently awarded an Honorable Mention and The People’s Choice Award for her installation piece “Places You Pass” in the 2021-2022 Stark County Artists Exhibition at the Massillon Museum in Massillon, OH.

I will be having my first solo show this December of 2022. “Please come to my party…” will be my solo exhibition held at 78th Street Studios in Cleveland, OH.

I have a background in painting and drawing, which evolved into other media over the years. While at Ohio University I learned how to make paper by hand, sew books, and multiple forms of printmaking. I loved the personal aspect of the handmade paper, artist books and the step-by-step process within print media. Recently I have been working at the Morgan Conservatory Art of Papermaking in Cleveland, OH. Since I’ve started at the Morgan in March 2022, I have honed in on my skills at pulling large production sheets of western paper, such as cotton, and abaca. I have also been awarded the Traditional Apprenticeship Grant, through the Ohio Arts Council. Within this grant I have been working with paper artist and founder of the Morgan, Tom Balbo. I’ve been learning how to cast paper into styrofoam molds, creating large cotton sheets of “bricks” for an upcoming installation piece.

I specialize in screen print and papermaking, which makes up the bulk of my portfolio. I have continued making two-dimension work and have been experimenting more with sculpture and installation outside of my undergrad.

I am most proud of the way I have approached trying new things within my work. Lately, I have started to just enjoy the process of learning again. Taking workshops at the Morgan, the Apprenticeship grant, and working in my home studio, has allowed me to make so much new work, and new experiments.

I feel that what sets me apart from others is the way my work is entirely autobiographical and honest. I love sharing parts of myself, and the way it opens up the opportunity for vulnerability between viewers of my work, and myself.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

For me, the most rewarding aspect of my art career is when someone says “I have felt that same way”. That’s all I could ever hope for. Knowing that a piece I create can reach another person on an emotional level, is my favorite thing, and my biggest goal.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

For me, the most rewarding aspect of my art career is when someone says “I have felt that same way”. That’s all I could ever hope for. Knowing that a piece I create can reach another person on an emotional level, is my favorite thing, and my biggest goal. I have recently started experimenting with paper casting. I have been focusing on birthday related themes and growing up. Using birthday cake letters and colored paper fiber, I created a piece that reads “I wished for a best friend.” I had a friend come over the other day, showing her the new things I’ve been working on, she picked it up and simply read what it said. We didn’t really dig into the piece, until later at coffee we were discussing what it’s like to have a best friend, and how growing up, becoming an adult, being busy, is all very isolating sometimes. She brought up the piece and told me she feels the same way. Even just a small experimental work started the exact conversation I had been hoping for.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nicole__malcolm/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/nicole.malcolm.509/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/nicolemalcolm4