Stephanie Nickel is a visual artist working in painting, printmaking and mixed media. Her work ranges from figurative to completely abstract and explores themes including human identity, frailty, conflict, and reconciliation.
Nickel holds a BS in Advertising from the University of Texas at Austin. She attended Denver Theological Seminary and has worked in various ministries and charities in Denver, CO, Kansas City, KS and Tyler, TX. Throughout Nickel’s various life experiences, she has always made art. In 2012, after raising her four children, she returned to school to formally pursue art. Nickel earned a BFA from the University of Texas at Tyler; with an emphasis in painting; and a minor in Art History. She currently works and resides in Tyler, Texas.
Nickel’s work has been exhibited in the juried 29th and 31st Annual International Exhibitions at UT Tyler’s Meadows Gallery, Sight Night 2017: Stories Behind the Art Exhibition at Callynth Studio in Tyler, Layers Unveiled (2018) a three-person printmaker’s exhibition at the FAC Gallery at UT Tyler, Liminal Coherence (2019) her senior exhibition and the University of Tyler’s 2019 Juried Student Exhibition, both at UT Tyler’s Meadows Gallery. Other juried exhibitions include Portraits of Inspiration (2019), Empires of Enchantment (2022) and Lean In (2023) a solo exhibition at Gallery Main Street, Tyler, TX.
Her work hangs in public and private collections throughout the U.S.
statement
My work ranges from figurative to completely abstract, often shifting between the two modes. I explore themes such as human frailty, conflict and reconciliation. Working in a variety of mediums and processes allows me to let the content of each piece dictate the final aesthetic result. In my abstract pieces, I work intuitively using sharp contrasting colors and quick expressive marks to capture a certain mood, attitude or energy. My figurative work involves comingling literal imagery, which becomes iconographic with text and other supporting elements. Overt graphic imagery juxtaposed with subtle embossments or tone-on-tone palettes shout and whisper, beckoning the viewer to consider one’s intentionality and purpose. The works are layered through additive and reductive processes to add depth and highlight the interplay of relationships within each piece. I operate out of a preconscious creativity often responding to the work as it evolves. This discovery process is exciting and becomes part of my work, lending an authenticity to it.