Nicole Gogolak

Nicole Nagel-Gogolak holds an MFA in fiber from Cranbrook Academy of Art and a BFA in painting from The University of Michigan. She teaches at the Wyly Art Center and Anderson Ranch Art Center. Her work combines traditional and non traditional textile techniques with mixed media materials.

“My work is inspired by the ornate and colorful imagery found in Buddhist temples and Thangka Paintings. On a recent trip to Nepal and Tibet I had the opportunity to see first hand the collision of ancient art and architecture with the growing influence of contemporary western aesthetics and consumerism. This layering of sacred and commercial is very similar to ideas and imagery found in my work. In the temples and paintings of Nepal and Tibet, richly colored and ornately ordered designs are intended to be both inspirational and meditative. Buddhist artwork manages to arrange an abundance of visual imagery both sacred and mundane into a cohesive whole without feeling chaotic. By assembling seemingly useless material into something greater than itself, my hope is that presumed worthless debris will become an object of organized beauty and meaning.”