Nyki Fetterman: MEMORIALIZE
“My art concerns the spiritual nature of simply being alive, getting to have this very human brain, having these very human feelings, and grappling with the great responsibility of it all.”
Spring 2024 Artist-in-Residence at Home ReSource
Nyki Fetterman in the mountains above Missoula, MT.
How have your material choices changed over the years?
I always have my hands on a thousand different materials. I make rugs, I draw, I make sculptures. Funny enough, I’m actually most classically trained in ceramics, but I haven’t worked in clay for years. Lately, I’ve been really focused on painting and drawing. I have a home studio which presents some challenges as far as space and resources. After school, I really had to adapt my practice to be something where I felt comfortable creating in a lot of different mediums as a means of creativity through limitation. I was living in an apartment with very little space to make anything at all. I used to work in the living room on the floor and make paintings and collages and sew things together. Funny enough, I still work on my living room floor in my house a lot. I kind of like to make art in the middle of all the things going on in my house. I think it’s because I got used to working that way, but it might be because I thrive on a little chaos.
"A Lost Cause" by Nyki Fetterman, created during her residency, using materials at Home ReSource.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
The goal is to make things. It feels like an act of resistance in some ways, to live the life of an artist right now. I have been working thematically in this one realm since a couple months into the pandemic, and while it’s kind of hard to pin down briefly, I’m going to try.
My art concerns the spiritual nature of simply being alive, getting to have this very human brain, having these very human feelings, and grappling with the great responsibility of it all. It’s about good and evil, who gets to decide what that means, and where both reside in all of us. Sometimes, it’s explored through cynical political commentary. Sometimes, it’s deeply vulnerable and personal. Sometimes, it’s a meditation on little interactions, observations, and fleeting moments throughout life I memorialize into ephemera that serves as a reminder of the beauty in all the cracks. If you think of this stuff in terms of the pandemic, of the world since, of our fractured nation, of the common dreams so many of us share but won’t admit because it could unite us, I think it will make sense. There’s a quote from a song on one of my favorite albums from last year. The song is called In A Dream by Trace Mountains.
Here’s the quote:
“The naked sun, like a stone, sinks low and you wonder, “Where it goes, will there be thunder? Where it shines will the people suffer?”
Do you have faith in it then, the way you always pretend?
Can a country be good?
Can a person learn?
To be part of the world - natural?
Human?
Animal?
Do you know what I mean? Yeah, you know what I mean. I think you know what I mean.”
“The Unjust Will Not Listen To The Reasoning Of The Innocent" by Nyki Fetterman.
Describe your Open AIR Residency experience.
My Open AIR Residency was transformative both in terms of my art practice and my inner world. I started my residency in the midst of some pretty substantial shifts in my personal life. I am from Ohio, so flying across the entire country for a residency was both very welcome and a little intimidating all at the same time. Having a month to reflect, engage with my own inner dialogue, learn to rely on solitude for comfort, make friends and immerse myself in the surrounding community, and make work through it all was a gift that really feels like it changed the course of my life.
I was at Home ReSource, where I was given the opportunity to choose from a wide variety of building materials, a spacious studio, and the use of the wood shop. I really gravitated toward wood and stone for the small-scale sculptures I made during my residency. I found myself drawn to these materials because of the juxtaposition of the warm wood with the cold stone. The mountainous landscape mirrored in the craggy, unfinished edges of the stone slabs I was working with, and the malleable properties of wood in terms of carving, cutting, and sanding. I made these sculptures to serve as small places to reflect, little altar pieces each representing small parts of my life I was grieving, things that could be left behind after my trip.
Tying the pieces back to the landscape was important to me, because as I kept describing it while I was there, I felt like Missoula was cradling me, nurturing me back to health. I took a lot of time in nature while I was in town walking, biking, and hiking. It felt important to pay homage to such a special place. I write poetry, and I used my writing throughout my work, both literally, writing on pieces, and through imagery I used on some of the surfaces.
"Float, Ethereal" by Nyki Fetterman.
What are you reading/watching/or listening to?
2024 was my favorite year in music that I can remember, and to be honest I can’t stop talking about it. Here is a year-end list of my top 10 albums in no order with some honorable mentions! (Also I’m watching Gossip Girl and I’m unsure what that says about me, but I’ll try not to think too hard about it. Can I say lol in this interview?)
1. Into The Burning Blue by Trace Mountains
2. I Wanna Run Barefoot Through Your Hair by Christopher Owens
3. Submarine by The Marias
4. Brat and it’s Completely Different but Also Still Brat by Charli XCX
5. Think Differently by Callahan & Witscher
6. Dark Times by Vince Staples
7. Shirt by Porches
8. Big For You by Zsela
9. Imaginal Disk by Magdalena Bay
10. See You At The Maypole by Halfwaif
Honorable Mentions:
Charm by Clairo, GNX by Kendrick Lamar, Night Palace by Mount Eerie, What’s Wrong with New York? by The Dare.
Nyki hiking in Montana.
What are you up to now (post Open AIR)?
For a little while, I took a break from my more traditional art pursuits to make flash! Flash sheets are the paintings on the walls at tattoo shops. Shortly after returning from my residency, I started a tattoo apprenticeship! Tattooing is something I’ve wanted to do since I was a kid! When I was in maybe 3rd or 4th grade, my dad took me to the tattoo shop while he was getting a tattoo and the artist put a stencil on me. It was like a lightbulb moment. I knew it was what I wanted to do. Life kind of got in the way. I ended up going down a very crooked path that spanned the culinary world, the world of ceramics, and being a public school art teacher, but I finally found my way back! I’ve now been tattooing on skin for a couple of months, and it is the absolute coolest thing I’ve ever done!
A recent tattoo by Nyki, completed during her apprenticeship.
Why do the arts/artists matter?
This is such a big question. Written language, pictures, film, design, music, dance…the arts are the human record. Without them, we would know so little. Art is tightly interwoven into so many aspects of your life. The arts are the toddler that dances and falls down and their drawing on the fridge. The arts are the lamp you turn on when you walk in the door. They serve as the soundtrack at the most important moments, at weddings and funerals and with friends on New Year's Eve, on your daily commute. They’re the book you read to relax and the fragrance you wore on your anniversary dinner. They are the anniversary dinner. The artist was the toddler and the person who wrote the songs and the lamp designer and the author and the perfumist and the chef. Art matters because it’s everything.
"Note To Self" by Nyki Fetterman.
Watch Nyki in her studio at Home ReSource!
Watch Nyki’s Artist Presentation to see the variety of materials she skillfully uses to create magnificent art!
