Heights Arts Spotlight Showcase: Nicole Schneider

Nicole Schneider is our featured Spotlight Showcase artist, running alongside the Printers Select exhibition, from August 20 to October 17. Schneider received her BFA in printmaking from Kent State University in 2007, and her MFA in printmaking from Kent State University in 2012. Her featured pieces in this particular exhibition explores control and perfectionism through the lens of her familial relationships with other women, and how these relationships have influenced her relationship with motherhood.

“Returning to a favorite childhood pastime, quilting with my grandmother, I incorporate sewn fabric into the work both directly and indirectly. Simple rectilinear shapes from traditional quilt blocks form the basic order and structure in these works. The process of gluing and stretching the sewn quilt-square collagraphs of the prints and stretching the printed and sewn canvas of the textile paintings, bends and warps the fabric and seams, defying any attempt at perfection or order,” she says. “Mis-matched points, unfinished edges, and fraying threads speak to the messy and often unfinished business of maintaining family ties. But there is beauty in the mess, in the accumulation of daily interactions, in the struggle, and in the attempt to hold everything together all at once.”

In 2011, Schneider was honored with the Thomas D. Little Prize for Excellence in Printmaking. From 2008 to 2018, Schneider worked in various capacities for the printmaking cooperative Zygote Press, Inc., including that of Gallery Director (2012-2015), and lead printer on several projects for Ink House (2014-2018), producing editions for Michelle Grabner and Adeel uz Zafar, the 2014 Creative Fusion Residency artist. In 2015, Schneider was commissioned by the Ohio Arts Council to create the Governor’s Awards for that year. Schneider has recently shown work at the Manhattan Graphics Center in New York, and her work has been included in the collections of the Cleveland Clinic, Metro Health, The Westin Cleveland Downtown, and American Greetings. Schneider lives and works in Lakewood, Ohio.

The public is encouraged to come view Schneider’s work at the Heights Arts gallery on Lee Road, along with the Printers Select exhibition.