NELLEKE NIX
bio
Nix maintains a primary studio in Washington State and a studio in New York. Work is included in the permanent collections of The National Museum of Women in the Arts in WjTBCashington DC, The Rhode Island Museum of the Holocaust, The Victoria and Albert Museum London England, The Bank of South America. Special collections of The Allen Library of the University of Washington, and many private collections. She completed commissions in Seattle (WA), New York (NY), Amsterdam (Netherlands), Sandomierz (Poland), Rosas (Spain), Santa Fe (NM), Tari Papua (NG), Valley of the Queens (Egypt). A MFA degree was received at the Royal College for the Visual Arts in The Hague, (Netherlands). As an emerging artist she completed summer courses at the Beaux Arts in Paris (France). She received extension credits from UW in Seattle, and a certificate degree in advanced Publishing from Stanford (CA). Nix is also the author of many Artist’s Books. Material is found during travel to remote places where she not only interacts with the locals, but also collects fibers and pigments to work with. She has been a member of SoHo20 since 1996.
statement
“My body of work deals with change and growth. I believe human beings do not change but everything else does. We humans are the cause of some changes, to these and to natural changes we adapt. As such we are not changeable but adaptable.
I was born in the Netherlands just before World War II, a war initiated by intolerance, and witnessed my world turn to ruins. Sometimes it seems as if I am forever shoveling debris. My work reflects a chaos which is put in order with technique.
Here we are in 2011, and in my artwork I am shoveling still. There are more tolerant people but only because there are more people. A huge section of the human population is still intolerant of differences. I am tolerant because after 1945 society in the Netherlands was tolerant. When a child I was shown in front of my eyes why intolerance has terrible consequences. Intolerance is shown in the manner in which animals are treated. Fear, superstition and hate of what is alive but different from us slowly make us eliminate a portion of the living world. Where there is lack of tolerance only a strong adherence to the principles of Rights in all cases can make a difference. But there should not be enforcement of these crucial Rights. Enforcement makes us all intolerant of some aspect.
While creating art I treat the piece worked on as pre-existing but in the throws of change. I explore surface, color, depth, medium, technique and possibility. Subject matter often reflects rescue. I observe what is happening in the world, especially in the world of women, who I trust will in growing numbers participate in preserving what is now at risk.” — Nelleke Nix, 2011
work
Dutch Dunes, Encaustic, oil, aryl, porcelain on panel, 35”-60”, 1994-2011
Active Denial (Self), 2018
Measuring the harvest moon, Digi photography, 16×20, 2011