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
Nicolas Darcourt 