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Nicola Vruwink

@nicolavruwink

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Artist | Educator | Designer
Curator @goatgallerylanders
Desert Rat @louieslanding

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On the eve of All Hallows’ Eve, a little departure from my usual studio practice and teaching duties…

Each year, I have the pleasure of creating an elaborate outdoor Halloween installation for a special client, with a new theme and an entirely new set of creative challenges.
This year’s theme: BOOGEY NIGHTS. Think mummies at the disco.

A cast of handmade mummies striking their best Saturday Night Fever poses, practicing karate, taking selfies, and serving up eyeballs and goblets of blood. Add a larger-than-life marquee, disco balls, and plenty of purple and orange twinkling lights, and the party is on.
An opportunity to flex my creative muscles (and, quite literally, my actual muscles), work with unexpected materials, and indulge in some unapologetic Halloween absurdity.
Happy Halloween!

#halloween2026 #boogeynights #mummiesjustwannahavefun by @nicolavruwink

A quick visit with my friend Bernard @b_leibov at Boxo Projects @boxoprojectsjt for an artist-in-residence talk gave me a chance to check in on my installation from the 2025 Joshua Treenial @joshua_treenial.

Installed nearly a year ago, the sculptural letterforms were constructed primarily from repurposed clay from my studio practice, mixed with sand and pine needles from my yard, along with cast recycled glass elements.

The work was designed to weather, deteriorate, and devolve over time, allowing the desert environment to become an active participant in its evolution.

Following two atmospheric rivers shortly after installation, I was both surprised and not surprised to find that some forms had crumbled while others remained remarkably resilient. At the time, the word NOW was still standing strong. On this latest visit, however, NOW has become NO. An unintended but rather fitting edit courtesy of the desert.

A little resilience, a little entropy, a little letting go. The tensions between human intervention and the natural environment are something I plan to continue exploring in future work. by @nicolavruwink

A mixtape was an act of love. @nicolavruwink brings music and memory into her work while honoring her grandmothers and their need to create.
🤠Exploring the High Desert this weekend? Make the High Desert Collection part of your visit. Find Nicola’s piece on display @shopacme62 and explore other display locations through the link in our bio.
➡️Watch Nicola’s full studio feature on our Youtube channel. by @nicolavruwink

For artist @nicolavruwink, the piece she created for the High Desert Collection became a way to connect with her family’s creativity and reflect on her mother’s experience with breast cancer.
🌵If you are in the High Desert, you can see Nicola’s piece in person through the month of October in @shopacme62
➡️Watch the full studio visit on YouTube, and find where to see the High Desert Collection this October through the link in our bio.
💖@angela.pau.art by @nicolavruwink

There is still room for joy.

And while RAGER isn’t exactly a show about joy, it is about community. About creativity. About continuing to make things, ask questions, challenge assumptions, and connect especially when the political and societal realities around us can make it tempting to shut down, tune out, or give up.

Making art is not an escape from these times. It is one of the ways we move through them.

Art gives us space to question, resist, laugh, rage, grieve, and maybe sneak in a little mirth.

Gathering around art reminds us that we are not doing any of this alone.

As RAGER has come together, it has brought me ( @nicolavruwink ) genuine joy (along with a fair amount of head-shaking). These six artists bring intelligence, anger, humor, generosity, and wildly different perspectives to the gallery, and remind me why we keep making and why we keep showing up.

We hope YOU will come show up with us.
RAGER opens this Sunday, September 13, 5–8 PM.
Alice Clements will provide a participatory performance piece at 6:30 PM.

RAGER includes work by Alice Clements, Carlos Ramirez, Ichiro Irie, Judy Lichtman, Alice Lang, and Macha Suzuki.

Come contemplate. Come question. Come laugh. Come rage. Come be part of the community.

GOAT is throwing a RAGER.

RAGER
Goat Gallery | 1025 Single Tree Rd, Landers, CA
Opening Reception, 5-8 pm Sunday, September 13
Exhibition Dates, September 13-October 18

@aclemmm
@c.ramirez2323
@ichiroirieart
@judylichtman
@alicemlang
@gtmacha

Extra big thanks @pbdove for all the installation help & guidance. And additional help @jamesrieck & @f.vanduerm it takes a village! by @nicolavruwink

As we mark the official last Friday of summer, I share my 3x3 Lamp with you. 100% influenced by my studio’s move to Landers, an unincorporated area of the Mojave Desert, this and other recent ceramic work aim to capture the hues of a desert sunset, contrasted with textures reminiscent of windblown sand and rugged terrain.

Two additional lamps are currently on view in the ‘Light Show’ at @heythere_projects , which will remain open for one more week and conclude on Thursday, September 10.

#ceramics #ceramiclamps #desertsky by @nicolavruwink

As I head into the last weekend of summer before I fully transform back to Prof Nicola, I’m taking a moment to recap and share all things studio-related.

📸1: First up, my work is currently on view & in good company at the Sasse Museum @sasseartmuseum in Pomorna in a group exhibition celebrating artists who also teach. As the saying goes: those who can, teach. The exhibition includes one text-based piece and 3 organic crocheted cassette tape pieces. Squirrel is not part of the exhibition, but she is just too cute not to post this pic.

📸2-3: Also currently on view, I have two ceramic lamps in the @heythere_projects Summer Show, but this show ends September 10; the time is dimming to catch all the fabulous artist-made lamps.

📸4: Next up: my high desert gallery space @goatgallerylanders will open our first September show with a real banger. RAGER, a 6-artist exhibition, opens on September 13 with a reception from 5-8 pm. Hope you’ll hop on over to Goat’s IG for more information

📸5: And staying in the high desert, this summer I contributed to the Keep A Breast High Desert @keepabreast Collection of artist-bestowed bust casts. With a family history of breast cancer (mom & sister) and the chance to collaborate with my dad @johnvruwink this project is close to my heart. For my piece, I learned paper quilling from him, and I’m honored to show my work alongside so many incredible artists when the show opens Friday, September 18 at the Likker Barn in Pioneertown, CA, with a reception from 6–9 pm.

📸6: Peace out, my friends; here’s to another rewarding semester teaching design at @smcedu

📸7: Back to school new do compliments of the amazing @mamasinster by @nicolavruwink

Think of this as a work in progress, but one that delighted me far too much to keep under wraps.

Next steps: a bit more glaze, then the addition of plants.

To be continued….
Stoneware and glaze
Somewhere around 40 x 32 x 10 by @nicolavruwink

Wrapping up summer with pretty pastel pattern.

When I grow up, I will be a lamp.

9 x 7 x 3 inches
Stoneware & glaze

#stoneware #pastel #pattern by @nicolavruwink

Happy to report my latest lamp projects are successfully wired up and delivered to Hey There Projects @heythere_projects for their de-LIGHT-ful summer show.

Swing by tonight, July 18, from 6–9pm for the opening reception to see my debut lamps on view alongside radiant works by many talented artist from local & beyond.

Can’t make it tonight? Don’t worry! The exhibition will continue to light up through September 10. by @nicolavruwink

This post confirms two things. First, I love a good assignment, especially one that presents a problem to solve and invites exploration and play. Second, I can’t always contain my excitement.

This piece is still a work in progress, created for Hey There Projects’ @heythere_projects summer group Light Show.

Tonight’s challenge is to finish it up by adding the lamp components, fingers crossed it all comes together! If you want to see whether it turns out as planned (or hoped), come to the opening at Hey There Projects @heythere_projects this Saturday night in Joshua Tree. The reception runs from 6–9 pm.

And if you can’t make the opening, no worries, the show continues through September 10. by @nicolavruwink

Upon hearing the news of Bonnie Tyler’s passing, I was instantly and, for obvious reasons, reminded of this early crocheted cassette-tape piece and the memories connected to it.

Like many of my cassette-tape creations, it carries two distinct sets of memories; eventually, a third was added. The first dates back to my high school days when “Total Eclipse of the Heart” was everywhere and I was in a show choir at a contest. A competing school took the stage with the entire choir in maroon choral gowns and cream stoles, standing in a pyramid on the bleachers, all facing backward. As the music began, a single performer turned to sing the opening phrase. One by one, the others followed until everyone faced the audience. I couldn’t decide if it was brilliant or brilliantly hilarious. I think the latter is true, and it’s stuck with me ever since (and I would have given anything to be that first soloist to turn around).

Fast-forward to the early 2000s, around 2005, after my move from Seattle to Los Angeles. I had begun exhibiting my work, though I hadn’t yet had a solo show. This piece debuted at the Riverside Art Museum during a time when my significant relationship, AKA my marriage, was unraveling, and in many ways, so was I. On the upside, it inspired this piece.

Happily, shortly thereafter, the third memory became attached. Somehow, though I can’t find a photo, this piece ended up featured on the cover of the LA Times Arts and Entertainment section (print was a big deal back then!). Soon after, a woman in Calabasas reached out to purchase it, marking my first significant art sale in Los Angeles.

Fun fact and it all circles back as later this month, I will be installing several cassette-tape pieces for an upcoming show in Pomona (which is not far from Riverside); more details coming soon! Thanks for reading this far (if you still are). RIP Bonnie Tyler, and thank you for all the memories.

#bonnietyler #totaleclipse #cassettetapes #crocheted #nicolavruwink by @nicolavruwink