06 PM | 03 Sep

Feature artist Nicole Tattersall #surfboards #melbourne #arts #geekgirl

Based in Melbourne, Australia Nicole Tattersall is a self taught artist whose works vary in mediums such as stencil art, watercolour, ink and installation. Her main source of inspiration is mother nature coupled with the city lights of Melbourne. Throughout her school life she excelled in art and graphics, though it wasn’t until late 2004, 3 years after completing secondary college did Nicole start to create works for placement in galleries and pursue her creative career. 

Nicole’s style has change several times throughout the years from the simple outlines to the urban inspired stencil works and now starting to explore more experimental techniques. Using a selection of mediums, she favours acrylics, pens, markers and spray cans.

Being passionate about animal rights has lead Nicole to create works for WSPA Australia and to aid in their campaigns, with her own works or by being an advocate by speaking about issues.

Using her Events Management skills Nicole has curated and organised a selection of group exhibitions and art events; Random Collective, Art On Your Sleeve, Street Art For Ashes, Melbourne Curvy 6 book launch at Magnation and Split Personalities, a duo show she did with fellow artist Megan Dell.

Artist Statement “I create works in various mediums that lend themselves to convey the context of the piece and the overall feel of the work, this can be from the innocence and creative minds of two children dressing up as ghosts to the dirty look created to interrupt streets of a busy city. 


Using stenciling as a technique came about when I wanted to start to customise my own surfboards and was exposed to a large variety of applications for stenciling when I visited the Melbourne Stencil Festival in 2006 at Rose St.

In contrast watecolours, ink and charcoal are another preferred medium which allow for a level of naive-ness to be expressed. 

Animal rights, the protection of the environment and the thought of using ones imagination are reoccurring themes in my works and are heavily influenced by my time spent at various beaches, surfing, my family, trips away, the urban jungle of the city and world news”.

Works by Nicole currently reside in private collections throughout Australia as well as Internationally.

jump-surfboard

jump-surfboard

About the Surfboards My first major exhibition was “Artsticks 2” held at the Surfing World Museum in Torquay in 2006. The theme for the exhibition was the surfboard as the canvsa and I had painted various stencils onto a board given to me by friend, which had been snapped at the nose. The board has since been repainted over.

I first got into stenciling as a technique to customise my own surfboards and was exposed to a large variety of applications for stenciling when I visited the Melbourne Stencil Festival in 2006 at Rose St. I’ve since developed and gone beyound the humble surfboard and get friends to paint mine for me now.

When Megan Dell and I were thinking about “Split Personalitoes”, a duo exhibition we had at No Vacancy Gallery in February 2010. I felt it was time to go back to my roots. After doing some asking around I was able to get my hands on some broken boards and started to work out what I wanted to paint on them. “Face & Fringe” is a classic stencil of mine so had to be included. I love my animals and what better than a sea turtle! “Jump” features a girl in bathers jumping off a pier, which is a very beachy thing to do. “Surfing Aisling” is named after a very good friend of mine who I use to go surfing with until she moved north to warmer waters. It features a girl just hanging out on her board, which is what me and her use to do alot together. Chatting about all the things one does over coffee, just in this case in between sets.

I felt that to display the boards properly they needed to be suspended by leg ropes so that their movement would reflect that of a surfers lifestyle.

Patchworked – Solo Show At Large Gallery 208 High St, Northcote, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Exhibition Opening: Friday 17 September 2010, 6pm – 9pm Exhibition: Friday 17 September – Thursday 30 September 2010

Website: www.atlargegallery.com or www.nicoletattersall.blogspot.com