As a young woman I kept journals and sketchbooks filled with writing, drawing, and doodling, so the evolution of my artwork as a scripto-visual exploration has been a natural confluence of text and image. Portraiture is the genre I most frequently use to explore the relationship between text and image in order to question and discover constructs and commonly held assumptions about identity. The inclusion of text in these works alludes to the idea that our lives are the creations of our minds; how we identify ourselves and label others is a product of social construction. I loosely see my work fitting into a figurative tradition informed by minimalist visual sensibilities merging with feminist ideas.

My current work asks questions about heritage, accountability and responsibility. Looking Forward is a typewritten work on paper which reflects these topics by incorporating the text from the Equal Rights Amendment originally drafted by Alice Paul and a quote from Lucy Stone "I think, with never-ending gratitude, that the young women of today do not and can never know at what price their right to free speech and to speak at all in public has been earned."

born:1979, St Louis, Missouri

education:

WKU, MA in Social Responsibility and Sustainable Communites, expected 2013
WKU, Graduate Certificate in Gender and Women's Studies, expected 2012
Fontbonne University, BFA, 2001

selected awards/honors

Career Development Grant, American Association of University Women (AAUW), 2011-2012
Artist Residency with Grant, Vermont Studio Center, 2011
Artist Enrichment Grant, Kentucky Foundation for Women (KFW), 2010
Purchase Award, Delta National Small Print Exhibition, Arkansas State University, AR, 2010

selected publications

Arkansas State University; 2010 Delta National Small Prints Exhibition. Jonesboro, AR. p. Cover, 1,5,12, 2010
Liquitex Excellence in Art Award. Art in America. p. 62, August 2008
National Drawing Annual 2006, exhibit-in-print. Cinncinati, OH: Manifest Press p. 66-67, 2007

selected solo or two-person exhibits

Leslie Nichols, The Carnegie, Connector Gallery, Covington, KY 2011
Leslie Nichols and Michael Nichols, Blackburn Visual Arts Center Gallery, Carlinville, IL, 2011
New Works, Houchens Gallery, Capitol Arts Alliance, Bowling Green, KY 2009
TypeStyle, Drive Gallery, St Louis, MO, 2008

selected group shows

Inner & Outer Landscape: Contemporary Self-Portraiture and Representation, A.D. Gallery, UNCP, Pembroke, NC, 2011
Dogwood Regional Fine Arts Exhibit, Bennett Galleries, Knoxville, TN, 2011
from the tongue, Lotus Salon, New York, NY, 2010
Translations, Fine Arts Gallery, Victoria College, Victoria, TX, 2010