Nikki Purcell

MFA ’21 Metal Design

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Nikki Purcell is a 3rd-year graduate student in the Metals program. She is from Houston, Texas. Nikki attended Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas. In 2015, she graduated Cum Laude with a BFA in Jewelry and Metal Design, with a minor in Geology. She spent 2016 studying enameling with Jan Harrel at MFAH’s Glassell School of Art in Houston, Texas. In 2017 moved to the East Coast to start her graduate work at ECU. In 2019, she was the Gallery co-chair for the 2019 Material Topics Symposium: State of Adornment. In 2020 she was the Gallery Chair for the 2020 Material Topics Symposium: Contemporary Clarity.

Statement
My work represents different emotions that come with dismantling learned value systems. I use black paint, recurring textures, and gold frames as repeating elements throughout my work. The build up and break down of materials creates evidence for myself and the viewer that these emotions are happening and they build up over time. These value systems include work ethic, success, and emotional repression. My goal is to explore and address these values, in order to determine which are worth keeping, and which are better to let go.

Internal Landscapes

Thesis Abstract

After years of self-reflecting on my emotions, I can now express a fuller range. Internal Landscapes represents different emotions that come with dismantling learned value systems. Black paint, recurring textures, and gold frames are repeating elements throughout my work. The relationship between these three elements is meant to represent dissociation and repression, how the cultural value of strength fuels these coping strategies, and the desire for a more dynamic perspective. The accumulation and dissolution of these materials represent the process of these emotions building up over time, and the consequences that arise. Historically gold frames represent the worth of the object they surround as highly valued. The frame’s gold “value” is being used to describe social values. These value systems include work ethic, success, and emotional repression. To avoid becoming problems for others, we often repress self-empathy and sterilize any bad feelings we have, and it takes deliberate effort to break this cycle. This body of work aims to explore and address these values to determine whether they are worth keeping or not.