statement

I draw subjects that are caught in a state of motion or are the result of shifts in the viewer's perspective. I muffle this visual energy with a limited value scale. Oftentimes, contours that denote the viewer's position where objects appear to begin and end are dissolved . Boundaries become arbitrary, images de-centered. Shifts and blurs echo a complex reality.

I choose to use silverpoint because the material itself illustrates the notion of flux, a dominant theme in my work. In slow sedimentary fashion, silver particles accumulate and visual forms emerge. Over time, these marks oxidize shifting the drawings cool tones into warm brown hues.

bio

born: 1973, St. Louis, Missouri

education

Fontbonne University, MFA, 2000
Fontbonne University, BFA, 1997

selected awards/honors

Juror's Awards, 6th Annual Paint the Parks, Coutts Museum of Art, 2012
Third Place, 3rd Annual Figurative Drawing and Painting Competition, Susquehanna University, 2011
Indivual Artist Al Smith Fellowship Award, Kentucky Arts Council, 2010
Second Place, National Drawing Annual, Manifest Creative Research Gallery, 2007

selected publications

National Drawing Annual 2006, exhibit-in-print. Cincinnati, OH: Manifest Press pp. 22-23, backcover, 2007

selected solo or two-person exhibits

Michael Nichols, The Carnegie Visual and Performing Arts Center, Covington, KY, 2013
Confluence,  Blackburn College, Carlinville, IL, 2011
Michael Nichols, Berea College, Berea, KY, 2009
Figures in Flux, John Brown University, Silaom Sprints, AK, 2009

selected group shows

Strathmore Mansion and Galleries: Grayscale, 2012
Evansville Museum of Fine Art: 56th Mid-States Exhibition, Evansville, IN, 2012
Boston Center for the Arts: Residue, 22nd Annual Drawing Show, Boston, MA, 2011
Purdue University: Drawing Resurfaced; National Contemporary Drawing Exhibition, West Lafayette, IN, 2011