BIO
Nola Parker is a self taught painter that lives and works in central Vermont. She graduated with a BA in English from The University of Texas at Austin in 2013. Her work has been exhibited nationally and is in permanent public collection in San Antonio, TX through the Salud-Arte Public Art Program. She has appeared in publications such as New American Paintings, Aether Art, and Create Magazine. She is currently represented in Texas by Wally Workman Gallery.
STATEMENT
Growing up in Vermont, the outdoors was a calming, reflective, and sometimes mystical space for me. This feeling of connectedness with nature has always been a driving force in my life and work. My process begins with photographs I take throughout my daily life. These photographs act as anchoring references in my colorful, acrylic landscapes. I like to explore and feel out a painting, leaving a lot of space for spontaneity and discovery. My focus is primarily on Vermont landscape, as that is where I reside. While my work can be viewed as an exploration and celebration of the natural world, it also functions as an outlet through which I define myself. Through my surroundings, I feel out the boundaries of my existence, the spaces that contain me and that form my unique personal geography. As I search for the truth of who I am, the landscapes around me offer themselves up as a mirror. Influenced by memory and experience, I aim to create a universe that is both fantastical and familiar, picturing a place not through strict realism, but through its personality, mood, or feeling.