Nicole Waller's Projects

BFA Student

Major: Textile & Fashion Design

Graduation Year: 2017

Artist Statement:

Nature holds a rich vocabulary of colors and shapes that enrich my textile and fashion design. I am interested in how nature ornaments itself; raindrops on a fall leaf, or the radiolarian; the intricate mineral skeleton of shells. The complex structures and vast array of colors inspire me. I’m drawn to overly decorative or beautiful cluttered pieces that hold simple lines, break from predictability, and elegantly enhance the silhouette not specific to gender stereotypes.
I seek wonder and question in my work; to engage the viewer and confront subjects like Anxiety. I rouse emotion that I want the viewer to connect with; take them with me on a journey through shape, texture, and sound. Within a piece I develop characters, ushering both the fantastical and ethereal into reality while dreaming a world in which these garments could exist as every day ware.

Biography:

I started school with a passion and readiness to illustrate. I had built worlds and narratives about characters off on fantastic adventures and I wanted to learn and become a stronger storyteller through drawing and painting. After taking an Intro to Fashion class I discovered what I loved most about illustration are the characters; designing what they would wear and why. What were these characters expressing about themselves through fashion? I’m a fantasy artists but a story teller at heart.

Some inspiration is Amano, stephanie pui-mun, Tsukiji Nao, and many more, I’m drawn to created worlds, and really overly decorative or beautifully cluttered illustration and fashion designs. I take the most of my inspiration from all of nature. I find so often that nature in every way is phenomenally beautiful. The weather, the ocean. They are immutable forces and there’s something so powerful, and scary about that. Bringing nature into my practice I like to break from predictability, and bring a sense of the decorative parts, and fantasy into my work.

In my spare time I replicate costumes from my favorite T.V. and Anime series, going to conventions around New England. I’m an equine enthusiast, pop-culture nerd, dwelling in alien worlds, with a passion to bring these spaces within my mind to life. I love making things, unreal and wonderful.