About

      

Nicola Lane is an artist/curator, recently having secured her Masters in Curatorial Practice at Bath Spa University, now working out of her studio in Ireland.

Lane studied Fine Art Sculpture in NCAD, where she was awarded a scholarship to attend Rhode Island School of Design, to study Time Based Art in 2001. On graduating from NCAD in 2003, she went on to exhibit in a number of shows including Art in Arcadia in Larchill co. Kildare, and Sculpture in Context – in Farmleigh, Airfield and the Botanical Gardens, where she won an Award for a Work of Distinction in Any Medium.

Moving to the Midlands in 2005 she started to teach and do workshops in the local community, where she saw an opening for some form of contemporary visual art infrastructure which would serve both local artists and the community alike – which eventually led to her co-founding an artist led gallery.

She was awarded a research grant from the Arts Council in 2009 under the Artist in The Community Scheme, and worked doing free-lance jobs such as working for the Longford Co. Council in the selection process for the percent for art scheme, and teaching workshops in print and sculpture.

Lane works in a diverse range of materials, tending to make ephemeral works which combine traditional sculptural techniques with less traditional, experimental processes and materials such as toffee, paper, cake and soap. These time based works tend to disappear (melt or be eaten) over time, leaving behind only whatever record the artist has made of the action.  She also works in sound, video installation, print and photography.

Lane is deeply influenced by the writings of french philosopher Julia Kristeva who’s theory of abjection chimes with the themes in her own work. Kristeva’s theory explores the dynamics of the relationship between things which we find simultaneously compelling and disturbing. Lane’s approach to these themes however can be playful and iconoclastic, preferring to engage the viewer on a sensory level as well as a cerebral one, and in doing so makes the work more accessible.

This drive towards the democratisation of art underpins a collaboration which Lane undertook with her partner, artist Karl Somers in 2011…The Platform. The Platform was a pop-up gallery which aimed to expose the midlands to a broad range of artistic practice, and to create a context where audiences felt invited to engage and participate. At that point, contemporary art was poorly represented in the area, and The Platform aimed to give a point of access to it. This project ran for a year and a half, in the setting of the courtyard of Tullynally Castle, a Historic House & Garden in Westmeath. During this time six art exhibitions were put on, alongside numerous other cultural events in the space, such as book launches, traditional music sessions, foodie film nights among other things.

Since putting The Platform on hold, and returning to her home town Dublin, Lane has undertaken her masters in Curatorial Practice in Bath College of Art, Bath Spa University, as a remote learner. She now combines this with her art practice, allowing each discipline to inform and influence the other freely.