Education:
Bachelor of Fine Arts, Printmaking Concentration and Art History Minor, UNC Charlotte (2021)
Hometown:
Charlotte, NC
“It sounds a little cheeky, but I've always been interested in art ever since I was young.”
Nicole Thrower was always drawing as a kid, and her parents saw her love for art and were supportive. In middle and high school, she took all the art classes she could and found herself spending most of her free time in the art classrooms.
“My senior year of high school I knew I wanted to study art in college, but I didn't learn my love for printmaking until my high school art teacher allowed me to conduct my own independent study. I spent my last few months of high school carving linoleum blocks and hand painting silkscreens. During this time I fell in love with the art and process of printmaking and was excited to learn more about it in college.”
She chose to study printmaking at UNC Charlotte and says her education in the Department of Art + Art History has prepared her for success by giving her unique experiences, connections in the Charlotte art world and beyond, and a broad base of knowledge.
“My studio courses have set me up to be the artist I am today through technical skills and conceptual thinking. Art history has given me the knowledge to be informed in not only the work I am making, but the work that I work with at the gallery. I love having critical thinking conversations and being challenged. At UNC Charlotte, I made so many connections through my professors and peers that are now critical to the Charlotte art community, and I am thankful to have created relationships that I still have years after graduating.”
Nicole currently has two jobs: working in a restaurant as a server and gallery assistant at Elder Gallery of Contemporary Art in Southend. At the gallery, she handles tasks ranging from art handling and installation to admin work.
“Since the gallery is a small team, we all have our hands on all functions of the gallery!”
She is also “always actively working towards my career as an artist.” Recently, Nicole and fellow UNC Charlotte alumna Jennifer Minnis (who also works at Elder Gallery) curated their first exhibition at the gallery, Disrupting The Matrix: Impressions, which opened on December 1, 2023. The show featured work by Nicole and other printmaking alumni from UNC Charlotte.
Her advice for current students: “Take full advantage of your time in college. Be present, be in the studios and learn as much as you can. Meet as many people as you can and form relationships with your peers and professors. Don't ever pass up any opportunities! I worked full time while I was in college and one of my biggest regrets after graduating was that I worked so much that I didn't always put as much time and effort into my education as I should have. It was work first, school second. It should've been school first, work second.”