Tell me a little bit about you!
Originally from Dayton, Ohio, currently residing outside of Nashville. Formally educated and now running the printmaking department at Middle Tennessee State University. I recall the decision of pursing visual arts and creative writing in college as a sort of toss up. It seems now, my practice is a marriage of the two.
When did you first discover art, or realize you wanted to make it yourself?
My father holds a BFA and MFA, and was a sort of weekend studio warrior. I recall watching him paint (he’s incredibly good, still), and thinking it was a thing everyone did. Entering college, it seemed familiar.
What ideas are you exploring in your practice?
I write a lot about impressions of space and place and try to create visual and textual forms which highlight notions of duality, contrast and ambivalence. After reading the works of J.B. Jackson and Yi-Fu Tuan as a graduate student, I realized that landscape and the built environment is a potent distillation of disparate stimuli. This has continued to generate work for the past 8 years.
What is your process like?
I write in place of sketching. These writings become poetic fragments and i create small thumbnails to situate these phrases or forms in compositions which circle, mirror, topple, crowd, and/or diverge. I work primarily in print mediums such as lithography and relief, so I chip away incrementally on several works at a time. The nature of process suits my philosophy of improvisation within structure.
Do you have a mentor, or a piece of advice (or both), which has influenced your practice?
“Nothing is precious” — this still makes sense to me.
Describe your studio.
A 2200sq ft teaching lab at a state university–I rely upon equipment that I could never afford without an institution
What do you find most challenging, challenging, or frustrating about pursuing art?
Continuously having to correct the myth of the genius artist. It’s work, and one only learns by working. There isn’t magic, it’s just doing something and being sensitive to the result. Making observations and being analytical.
If you could sit down for dinner or a drink with anyone, who would it be and what would you chat about?
Raymond Carver; I’d ask him about fishing.
What are three words you would use to describe your work?
Contrast, context, color
What do you do when you find yourself in a creative rut?
Make quick zines.
What do you love most about your medium? What challenges or surprises you most about it?
The delay inherent in process. It offers so many restrictions and opportunities. I’m constantly surprised by the flexibility of print media in contrast to the general view of its limitations
What do you need or value most as an artist?
Time
What keeps you creating?
Blue collar guilt.
What are you working on right now?
I have just finished two installation pieces and am now strategizing about a solo exhibition for summer.
Find more at nicksatinover.com and on Instagram @nicksatinover!
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