For my Concepts and Processes class at Mass Art, our homework was to create an artwork that involved a famous artist. We could “add, multiply, divide, square root”, i.e create an equation between us and another artist. The artist I chose was Pepon Osorio, a Puerto Rican artist known for large scale installations.
The piece “Tina’s House” was particularly inspiring for me, provocative and mesmerizing.
In an Art21.org article on Osorio:
“My principal commitment as an artist is to return art to the community.” A recent example is “Tina’s House,” a project created in collaboration with a family recovering from a devastating fire. The house—a tabletop-size art piece—tells the story of the night of the fire and those affected, and is traveling the country in a series of “home visits”: a home visit invites a new family to live with the art work for a period of at least one week, allowing the story of “Tina’s House” to be told in many homes and environments.
Nicole + Pepon / Nicole X Pepon = “Another Little Incident”
For reference, this is Tina’s House (referenced in the quote above):
I am going to start posting artworks on my blog for #ThrowbackThursday. Here’s a favorite from my college days. I MOST love the watercolor background – the texture in the back was created from salt!
Hey everyone!
In the past few weeks, I’ve decided to shift gears in my career path and pursue a Masters of Art Teaching. I’ve loved my entrepreneurial spirited work at Pinwheel Books, and will continue to help grow the company while I earn my degree. I’ve realized while working here through part-time teaching how much I just love working with kids.
So on that note, I’m excited to share my Student Artwork page now on my website! It’s nearly as important as the work in my traditional portfolio, and I hope you enjoy their work as much as I do.
Other news includes:
1) I’ve launched an ETSY site for stationary featuring my characters! There is a button at the top of my website. I have cute designs for Christmas, Birthdays, Thank You’s and more. The first few designs to be uploaded are for sale now at a great price!
2) I will be attending Judy Sue’s final critique for the Senior Seminar “Picture and Word” tomorrow in Providence. I’m really excited to be heading back to RISD for the day.
3) I am going back to Singapore to see Aaron at the end of the month, after Christmas. I will be bringing my paints and I hope to get some prime art-making time while he is at work.
4) I’m midway through my next book, which will be self-published by author Amy MacDougall called “The Pagoda Tree”. Here’s a sneak peek:
More to come soon! I’m so excited with where the journey will take me next!
This is one my most unique pieces in my portfolio. It’s the first time I have combined serious digital work with my watercolor work. AND it’s the first time I’ve used shadows in a piece of digital collage work. When I collage freehand, the shadows appear naturally. I am so excited with this new direction. This was such a fun experiment!
It’s October, and Fall is my favorite holiday to paint. This Halloween is dedicated to Darwin and Emma. Here they are in a few quick sketches I’ve done in between other projects:
Especially towards the end of my senior year, one of my favorite past-times became illustrating me and my friends. Cartoons – no. Caricatures – don’t think so. I started calling them ‘Doodles’ when I created them for the team at Pinwheel Books and ever since I’ve been illustrating me and the people in my life. Why I haven’t yet done my parents, I don’t know. But most recently I decided to give my friends in Boston here a try:
From left to right: Lilia, Me, Carmen, and Sonia. It may or may not be finished – I may add a few details here and there, some shiny things, but overall it was a great experience in drawing my friends and getting that likeness for people down.
A few weeks ago I did this one for Pinwheel of our next writer/illustrator Tim:
I think this is one of the first men I’ve ever drawn with such ease.
Who should I draw next? I’m taking suggestions. And as per suggestion by my boss, you can even pay me to illustrate whatever you want via an etsy site in construction!
Lady always makes an appearance in my new works. She’s part of a submission series where I’m illustration my story “My Grandmas are Both Italian.
This children’s story celebrates my lovable, yet completely opposite, Italian grandmothers from the north and the south of Italy. They are always at odds, but family always comes first.
Of course, the RISD bicycle came to mind when I painted this little section too:
can’t WAIT to show you the new direction of these works!!!!
autumn is ending,
{light collage, watercolor}happy thanks giving,
my hand turkey centerpiece,
courtesy of
toy store job
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craft day at the store (makedo craft – basically, tools to re-invent the cardboard box)
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playing and creating with kids
love,
n
Nicole Gsell 