NICOLE STRASBURG

With a minimalist approach to the landscape, Nicole’s work interweaves naturalistic imagery and abstract sensibilities. Her focus is design influenced by natural forms. Composing from drawings and photographs, her paintings develop by adding and subtracting elements, creating a refined statement about time, place and atmosphere.

Nicole was raised from a young age on the coast of California. Residing in an area where the outdoors is as important as going inside greatly influences the direction of her creative life. Being outside is where she seeks inspiration and nature is the axis from which all her creative pursuits stem, informing and influencing all her work. Visiting the shoreline, hiking in the mountains or day-tripping to the islands are all sources filling her creative well.

Nicole’s process starts outside, absorbing nature through the act of wandering. In these moments she feels connected to something greater than herself. She returns to the studio to reinterpret these impressions through an autobiographical lens. Photographs taken in the field, prompt memories, memories influence the translation and active brushwork builds the fabric of the surfaces, reinterpreting the experience in nature. Fleeting moments gathered in the field get interwoven with the emotional remembrance of place which evolve into paintings exploring the sensory perception of land, sea, and sky.

“What I discovered, despite the uncertainty, was a deeper connection, solace comes to mind, a healing in the making of marks, growth after a long winter. The horizons in the painted landscapes beckon us forward, the passing clouds offer comfort and respite that the storm is moving on, leaving the glorious remains of being washed clean and full of hope.