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Christopher / Nitsche

DB Type

Open Calls: DB

Open Calls

Open Calls: Artianne Magazine #1

Artist Full Name

Christopher / Nitsche

Birthdate

1960
January
1

Artist Statement

My art has focused on ship forms for many years. An early influence is a family history of sailing Lake Michigan, where my mind latched early on to the taper and lines of a double-curved yacht hull. The art started while living in Western New Mexico; allowing me to explore the form as a metaphorical vehicle without literal associations to the sea. Through all my travels and experiences, the ship has remained ever-present, changing in character, material, and rationale as a carrier of meanings.
My art explores aspects of individual experiences, memory, spiritual passages, and transitional states – all through sculptures, works on paper, and site-specific installations. I work with a wide range of media and expressive ideas.
Memory is not a static thing yet etched in our minds with personal perspectives. In addition, the profound sense of palpable presence I have experienced at historic and geographic spiritual places is overwhelming at times. They feel real and are worth acknowledging.
I am inspired by vessels found in world cultures, including spiritual and ceremonial crafts. The diverse uses for ships, from actual hull forms, transporters of cargo, and the course of flowing movement drive the ways I produce my art.

WORKS ON PAPER
The works on paper have symbolic meaning. These reference my experiences in New Mexico exploring Anasazi Indian environments and my travels in Iceland visiting mythic geographic sites. These works are imbued with a spirit ship as a recognizable hull, deconstructed movement, and center expanding spiral forms.

WELDED SCULPTURES
Based off works on paper are my welded steel sculptures. I fabricate primarily with re-purposed steel, where the extant history of functional use remains present. I use a David Smith method of chalking out the composition, then selecting the found steel for the sculpture. Starting as a ship form, the sculptures show movement and symbolic depictions.

FOUND OBJECT SCULPTURES
The found object sculptures are built from toys, and game parts. The juxtaposed materials and design are cargo holds of humorous childhood and social memory associations. They reveal narrative expressions of irony, satire, and personal contexts.

INSTALLATIONS
My site-specific installation art explores the ship as a carrier of memories from repurposed lumber construction and suspended objects. They range from structured passageways to walk through, to recent works with hull-side cutaways for viewing. The installations engage the exhibition space physically and the viewer psychologically. Recent installations range from contemplations on actual experiences, to collective perceptions of memory and transition. I configure interior spaces with enigmatic floating objects, allowing associated memories to reveal themselves as ironic and allegorical signifiers.

Biography

Christopher Nitsche was born in Parkersburg, West Virginia, and raised near Chicago, Illinois. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts at Northern Illinois University studying painting, drawing and art history. He continued his studies at NIU to a Master of Arts degrees in sculpture, transitioning to installation art. He continued his education to a Master of Fine Arts degree at the University of New Mexico focusing on multi-media installations. It was living in New Mexico where the subject of the ship encompassed his art.

Nitsche’s career includes numerous solo shows and group exhibitions. His art ranges from works on paper, to sculptures and site-specific installations. His exhibition record includes the Touché Gallery, Jacksonville, Florida, the Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, Alabama, the Alexander Brest Museum and Gallery, Jacksonville, Florida, three outdoor installations at the Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum, Savannah, Georgia, the Spartanburg Art Museum, Spartanburg, South Carolina, Waterworks Visual Arts Center Museum, Salisbury, North Carolina, a two-part outdoor installation at Texas Woman’s University, Denton, Texas, the University of Wyoming Museum of Art, Laramie, Wyoming, the Fort Collins Museum of Contemporary Art, Fort Collins, Colorado, the San Fernando Valley Arts and Cultural Center, Encino, California, the Alexandria Museum of Art, Alexandria, Louisiana, the Huntsville Museum of Art, Huntsville, Alabama, the Foosaner Art Museum, Melbourne, Florida, Austin Peay State University, Clarksville, Tennessee, the Jay Etkin Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico, the Sylvia White Gallery, Ventura, California, and a traveling exhibition at museums and galleries in Montenegro.

He is the recipient of fellowships for artistic merit from New Hampshire State Counsel on the Arts and the Colorado Counsel on the Arts. He has received numerous honorariums, academic grants, and stipends for professional development. His residencies include A.I.R., Paducah, Kentucky, and the NES Art Residency in Skagaströnd, Iceland. He has given lectures and presentations at museums, universities and conferences throughout the United States. His art is included in numerous private and institution collections.

Nitsche has taught at several institutions including the Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, Georgia, Keene State College, Keene, New Hampshire, Arapahoe Community College, Littleton, Colorado, the University of Colorado, Denver, Colorado, and the University of New Mexico, Gallup, New Mexico.