Statement/Resume

Clay, and the ceramic process, allows me to make a permanent record of what filters into my daily experience.  A material which is immediately responsive to my fingertips, or to a surface of a mold, lends itself well to capturing and rendering visual information from the world that surrounds me.  Through the use of press molds, I can make multiple transfers from rea objects, and combine them with simple hand-built shapes.  Translating my ideas into clay of warm terra cotta hues speaks of timelessness. A material which is both intimately connected to our humanity and can be made to take any form.  As a companion to society, I feel it owns a historicity like almost non-other. 

I view the world around me as a psychological landscape of accumulating visual information constructed of sporadic cultural significance; ambiguity defined by brief moments of clarity.  Mostly I sit in helpless fascination by the combination of both new and old which overlaps itself as decades pass.  

My artistic process combines multiple parts, pieces and fragments into sculptural forms.  By focusing on a mix of architectural ornament, exposed layers of earth, engineered forms, monument, and manufactured byproduct, the accumulations I create express abstract notions of the confluence of memory, geography, and society. Familiar in specificity yet ambiguous as a whole, my work references the actions of suspended perception and fluid interpretation.  Our relationship to accumulation as a contemporary human condition.

                                                                                                                          

Education

2006    University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Master of Fine Arts
2001    Northern Michigan University Bachelor of Fine Arts

Solo and Two Person Exhibitions

2023    Scheduled Nicolas Darcourt Recent Works Hillstrom Museum of Art, Saint Peter, Minnesota

2022    Scheduled Ruminations – Perception, Structure, Accumulation Phipps Center for the Arts
Hudson, Wisconsin

2020    Progress Accumulation Solo Exhibition Gallery 332 Northrup King Building Minneapolis,
Minnesota

2019    Signals and Echoes Two Person Exhibition, Nicolas Darcourt, Lois Peterson
Carnegie Art Center, Mankato, Minnesota

         Form, Surface, Pattern, Repeat Two Person Exhibition, Nicolas Darcourt, Joe
Christensen, Concurrent Exhibition with NCECA 2019, Joe Christensen Studio
Hopkins, Minnesota

2018    Progress and Lamentations Solo Exhibition, Phipps Center for the Arts Hudson, Wisconsin

2017    McKnight Fellowship Exhibition Two Person with Sheryl McRoberts Northern Clay Center,
Minneapolis, Minnesota

2015    Nicolas Darcourt, New Work Solo Exhibition, Waseca Art Center Gallery L
Waseca, Minnesota

         Filtered Two Person Exhibition, Nicolas Darcourt, Lois Peterson Schaefer Art Gallery, Gustavus
Adolphus College Saint Peter, Minnesota

2009    Harp Overt Solo Exhibition Myrna Loy Center for the Performing and Media Arts
Helena, Montana

2008    Monument, Balance, Circumstance Solo Exhibition University Center Gallery, The University of
Montana Missoula, Montana

2007    Panoramic Fusion Two Person, Nicolas Darcourt, Jonathan Bridges,
Northern Clay Center Gallery A, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Selected Group Exhibitions                

2022    Scheduled Filters and Signals Three Person Exhibition, Pump House Regional Arts Center La Crosse, Wisconsin

2019    Form and Abstraction Organized by Nicolas Darcourt, Work by five ceramic artists from the Upper Midwest Region who use Abstraction as a means to express content, Concurrent Exhibition with NCECA 2019, Schmidt Artist Lofts St. Paul, Minnesota

            MSP Airport Foundation’s Regional Ceramics Exhibition, Duck Duck Grey Duck Invitation, curated by the Northern Clay Center, Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport

            Object Lesson, invitational, University of Minnesota Department of Art Ceramics Lecturers Group Exhibition, Concurrent Exhibition with NCECA 2019, Regis Center for Art (West Gallery) Minneapolis, Minnesota

            Clay. Here. Now. Invitational Minnetonka Center for the Arts’ Partners in Art Program at Ridgedale Center in conjunction with NCECA

2018    Visions in Clay Juried by Beth Ann Gerstein LH Horton Jr. Gallery Stockton,       California

            Open House Invitational Lacuna Gallery, Minneapolis, Minnesota

2017    Open Door 12 Juried by Andra Carlson, Rosalux Gallery Minneapolis,       Minnesota

            Beauty in Chaos Juried, Squirrel House Arts Minneapolis, Minnesota

2016    Clay? VI Juried by University of Washington Ceramic Faculty, Kirkland   Arts Center Kirkland, Washington

            Juried Ceramics Exhibition Juried by Robert Harrison, Regional Exhibition in conjuction with NCECA 2016, Mulvane Art Museum Topeka, Kansas

2015    River to River Juried by Bede Clark, Regional Exhibition in conjunction with Ceramic Conference, Coe College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Visions in Clay Juried by Lisa Reinertson, LH Horton Jr. Gallery  

Stockton, California

Abstraction in Action Juried, Minnetonka Center for the Arts, Minnetonka, Minnesota

Aut Kem Invitational, in conjunction with NCECA Cellar Door Projects Providence, Rhode Island

            Graphic Clay Juried, Baltimore Clay Works, Baltimore, Maryland

2014    Minnetonka Center for the Arts 2014 Biennial Juried Regional Group Show, Minnetonka, Minnesota

            Contemporary Ceramics International Biannual-Clay & Context Juried by Ray Chen, Swope Art Museum-Halcyon Art Gallery Terra Haute, Indiana

2013    Our Earth II Juried, Flow Art Space, St. Paul, Minnesota

2012    Adjunct Faculty Show Invitational, University of Minnesota, Regis Center for Art Minneapolis, Minnesota

2010    Red Heat: Contemporary Work in Clay, Juried by Adrian Arleo, Alexandre Hogue Gallery, University of Tulsa, Oklahoma

            Jersey Shore Clay National, Juried by Mark Dean, m.t. burton gallery, Surf City, New Jersey

2009    Archie Bray at the Kolva Sullivan Gallery, Kolva Sullivan Gallery “

2008    Archie Bray Residents Present and Past, Galaxie Gallery, Chicago Illinois

2007    2007 Jingdezhen International Contemporary Ceramic Exhibition

organized through Pottery Workshop, Jingdezhen, P.R. China

Selected Awards

2019    Minnesota State Arts Board, Artist Initiative Grant

2016    McKnight Artist Fellowship Grant, ReGranted through Northern Clay Center        Artist Fellowship Program

2009    Myrna Loy Center for the Performing and Media Arts, Helena, Montana

            Awarded “Artist Spotlight Grant”

Selected Publications

2019    St. Peter Herald “Carnegie Art Cener hosts two-artist exhbition exploring meaning” September 12th

2017    Ceramics Monthly  November  Issue “Clay Culture, Minneapolis-St. Paul City Guide”  article compiling venues and resources of ceramics and the arts by Nicolas Darcourt

2015    Sun Sailor “Abstraction in Action at Minnetonka Center for the Arts” Photo and Caption of Ceramic Sculpture by Nicolas Darcourt as part of exhibition, April 27

2009    Ceramics Monthly  “Harp Overt” featured in Upfront Exhibitions and Reviews by Nicolas Darcourt volume 9 issue 4 pp. 22

2006    Ceramics Monthly “Clay Bodies by Student Bodies” by Donald Myers and Lois Peterson November issue pp. 35-37

Professional Experience

2019 – Present Gustavus Adolphus College, Saint Peter, Minnesota

                        Continuing Assistant Professor

2012-2019       Gustavus Adolphus College, Saint Peter, Minnesota

                        Visiting Assistant Professor

2019                Following the Evidence, Panel discussion exploring the intersection of art and science Carnegie Art Center, Mankato, Minnesota

2013-2017       University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, Lecturer

2017                Demonstration Workshop as part of McKnight Artist Fellowship Grant      Northern Clay Center Minneapolis, Minnesota

                        Looking and Learning, panel discussion based on ceramic objects from      participant’s personal collection, Northern Clay Center Minneapolis, MN

2013                Guest Juror, Facilitator Minnesota Scholastic Art Awards, College of         Visual Arts St. Paul, Minnesota

2010                Minnesota State University, Moorhead

                        Sabbatical Replacement

2009                Richard Notkin Ceramic Studio Artist, Helena, Montana

                        Studio Assistant

                        Ceramic Demonstration Workshop Montana State University Bozeman,                             Montana

2007-2009       The Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts Helena,                                      Montana Artist in Residence