Nichole Van Beek: Visiting Assistant Professor of Art
Huumannatuure Lab
Smith Gallery
On View: August 23, 2021— October 03, 2021
Opening Reception: September 9, 2021, 7:00 pm— 8:30 pm
Related Programs & Events
Opening Reception
September 9, 2021, 7:00 pm—8:30 pm
Material Health Discussion Group with Nichole van Beek
September 15, 2021, 4:00 pm—5:00 pm
Material Health Discussion Group
September 22, 2021, 4:00 pm—5:00 pm
Material Health Discussion Group
September 29, 2021, 4:00 pm—5:00 pm
Material Workshop - Bioplastics
September 3, 2021, 2:00 pm—3:30 pm
In this workshop, we’ll make and play with bioplastic, talk about the different materials they can be made from, issues of biodegradability, and their application in art and design projects.
Material Workshop with Nichole van Beek: Mending
September 6, 2021, 4:30 pm—6:00 pm
Bring an article of clothing with a hole in it and we will practice hand-mending with basic shibori stitches. Needles, thread, and patch fabric provided, or bring your own fabric swatch that you would like to use.
Material Workshop with Nichole van Beek: Kombucha
September 15, 2021, 5:30 pm—7:00 pm
In this workshop you’ll learn about growing and drying kombucha SCOBYs to be used as a kind of paper or leather. You will be given a take home kit to start your own.
Material Workshop with Nichole van Beek: Making Inks
September 18, 2021, 2:00 pm—4:00 pm
We’ll make ink from plants (buckthorn, marigold, black walnuts, and/or pokeberry) and talk about the range of colors that come from bio-based sources, foraging, and ink-painting techniques.
Material Workshop with Nichole van Beek: Mending
September 27, 2021, 4:30 pm—6:00 pm
Bring an article of clothing with a hole in it and we will practice hand-mending with basic shibori stitches. Needles, thread, and patch fabric provided, or bring your own fabric swatch that you would like to use.
Material Workshop with Nichole van Beek: Mushroom Foam
September 29, 2021, 5:30 pm—7:00 pm
In this workshop you’ll be given a sample of living mushroom foam to pack into a mold, and we’ll discuss growing and drying the form, keeping a workspace sterile, and the mysteries of mushrooms!
Each year, the Van Every/Smith Galleries present an exhibition that highlights the work of one or more studio art faculty. This year, the Galleries will collaborate with Nichole van Beek, Visiting Assistant Professor of Art, on an evolving installation and meeting space centered on sustainable art materials and processes. Throughout September, van Beek will host several discussion sessions and workshops where participants will share ideas for building community climate resilience and rethinking our relationship to stuff.
Van Beek received a BFA from The Cooper Union in 1998 and an MFA from The University of California, Santa Barbara in 2007. She has exhibited work at Jeff Bailey Gallery, Hudson and NYC; Geoffrey Young Gallery, Great Barrington, MA); Morgan Lehman Gallery, NYC; Interstitial, Seattle, W; White Flag Projects, St. Louis, MO; and Ortega y Gasset and Tiger Strikes Asteroid in Brooklyn, NY, among other venues. She has attended residencies at Vermont Studio Center (through a grant from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation), Jentel Foundation, and Kingsbrae International Residency for the Arts. She was also the recipient of a New York Foundation for the Arts Grant in painting in 2012, and in 2011 she participated in Socrates Sculpture Park Emerging Artist Fellowship.
Since 2002, she has taught painting, drawing, photography, language, and research classes at Pratt Institute, SUNY Suffolk, Mt. Holyoke College, UCSB, and Hyogo International High School in Ashiya, Japan. As a Visiting Artist/Assistant Teaching Professor at Penn State University from 2019-2021, she developed a class called Climate Art and Action and was awarded a Faculty Research grant from the College of Arts and Architecture and GHG Mitigation Seed Grant from The Sustainability Institute to research biodegradable materials such as bio-based dyes, mycocomposites, kombucha leather, and bioplastics. Van Beek will join the faculty at Davidson College as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Art for the 2021-2022 academic year.
