BIO
Nicole Duennebier received her Bachelor of Fine Arts at Maine College of Art with a major in painting. Her BFA thesis work was most influenced by research into the coastal ecosystems of Maine. In 2006 she was awarded the Monhegan Island Artists Residency. On the island she continued her work with sea life, and perceived a natural connection between the darkness and intricacy of undersea regions and the aesthetic of 16th-century Dutch still-life painting.
In 2008 Duennebier moved to the Boston area, and now lives and works in Malden. She is a 2016 and 2022 Massachusetts Cultural Council Painting Fellow and her work can be found in the permanent collection of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston and New Britain Museum of American Art. Writing about Bright Beast, her 2013 solo show at the Lilypad in Cambridge, Cate McQuaid of the Boston Globe said Duennebier’s “technical mastery gives the artist what she needs to seduce the viewer; the content lowers the boom.” Duennebier has also been featured in the Portland Press Herald, Art New England and Hi-Fructose Magazine, among other publications. Duennebier has worked alongside her sister Caitlin Duennebier for a number of collaborative exhibitions, most recently “Love Superior, a Death Supreme” at Simmons University. She was also featured in a solo exhibition, Pushing Painting, at the David Winton Bell Gallery at Brown University.
ARTIST'S STATEMENT
Natural phenomenon—dermoid cysts, fungus, invasive flora/fauna—and my love of candied, old-master opulence have a constant presence in my work. Through painting with attention to detail, I’ve become accustomed to the fact that nature itself, or anything living really, never totally allows you to have a perfectly idealized experience. Everything is always spewing, dripping, rotting a little. Similar to 17th century still-life paintings with those vibrant lusty fruits that show the light fuzz of beginning decay, I don’t see these works as allegorical depictions. To me it is more the realization that both the rot and the fruit are a textural attraction in their delicacy; both take the same concentration and care to paint.
The classic chiaroscuro darkness in still-life is a primordial soup, a pool of black that springs forth a decadent, and sometimes horrible, growth. I’ve always been attracted to the obsolete idea of spontaneous generation, all that awful stuff popping into existence for no reason. The paintings reflect this; they are more spontaneous generations than firmly rooted in actual living organisms.
CV
Education:
2001-2005 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Maine College of Art, Portland, Maine.
2000-2001 Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts, Hartford, Connecticut.
Solo Exhibitions:
2022 FEAST, Nucleus Portland, Portland OR
2021 Floral Hex, 13FOREST Gallery, Arlington MA
2020 Mignon Grotto, Shelter in Place Gallery, Boston, MA
2018 Pushing Painting, David Winton Bell Gallery, Brown University, Providence RI
2018 View into the Fertile Country, 13Forest Gallery, Arlington MA
2014 The Great Season, 13Forest Gallery, Arlington MA
2013 Bright Beast, Lilypad Gallery, Cambridge, MA
2010 Painting Post Academy, Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts, Hartford, Connecticut
2009 The Amalgamate, New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, Connecticut
2008 Germinal Series, Aucocisco Gallery, Portland, Maine
2008 New Paintings, University of Maine Museum of Art, Bangor, Maine
2007 Bitters: Out of the strong came forth sweetness, Aucocisco Gallery, Portland, Maine
Two Person Collaborative Exhibitions:
2021. Sister Season of Sorrow, Satanic Temple Gallery, Salem MA
2019 Love Superior, A Death Supreme, Trustman Gallery, Simmons College Boston MA
2017 Temple of Flies, Carol Schlosberg Gallery, Montserrat College, Beverly MA
2016 Fragment of Sister Head, Lens Gallery, Boston MA
2015 Battle for the Sweetlands, SPACE Gallery, Portland ME
Awards:
2022 Painting Fellow, Massachusetts Cultural Council, Boston, MA
2016 Painting Fellow, Massachusetts Cultural Council, Boston, MA
2015 Somerville Artist of the Month, Somerville, MA
2014 Somerville Artist’s Fellowship, Somerville, MA
2014 Juror’s Award, Biennial Project, Marfa TX
2005 Best in Show, MECA 31st Annual Art Auction, Institute of Contemporary Art, Portland, Maine.
2004 Artist to Artist Award, Maine College of Art, Portland, Maine.
2003 Payson Merit Award, Maine College of Art, Portland, Maine.
2003 Harley L. Flaws Memorial Endowment, Maine College of Art, Portland, Maine.
Residencies:
2019 Pace House Residency, Stonington ME
2016 Hewnoaks Residency, Lovell ME
2014 Baie Sainte-Marie Artist Residency, Nova Scotia, Canada
2010 Full Fellowship Award, Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, Vermont
2006 Carina House Monhegan Artists Residency, Monhegan Island, Maine
Selected Group Exhibitions:
2020 Unmasked: Artful Responses to the Pandemic, Southern Vermont Arts Center, Manchester VT
2019 Enormous Tiny Art Show, Nahcotta Gallery, Portsmouth NH
2019 Dark VS Light, juried by Ruth Erickson, Gallery 263, Cambridge MA
2019 Call of the Wild, 13Forest Gallery, Arlington MA
2018 More then a Riot, Good Gallery, Arnold Worldwide, Boston MA
2018 13WOMAN, 13Forest Gallery, Arlington MA
2018 Suggestivism, Spoke Art Gallery, New York NY
2017 HABITAT/ION: MassArt Juries Alumni Exhibition, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Bakalar Gallery, Boston MA
2017 Room with a Thousand Doors, WOWxWOW gallery, Scotland
2017 Maine-stream, St. Botolph Club, Boston MA
2016 Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellowship Exhibition, New Arts Center, Newton, MA
2016 Tenfold, 13FOREST Gallery, Arlington MA
2016 Suggestivism: Resonance, Spoke Gallery, San Francisco CA
2016 Parts Unknown, Aviary Gallery. Jamaica Plain MA
2016 Collaborative Exhibition, Motherbrook Arts Center, Dedham MA
2016 Vestiges, Gauntlet Gallery, San Francisco CA
2016 Ordinary Matter, Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, Boston MA
2015 34, Isles Arts Initiative, Boston Sculptors Gallery, Boston, MA
2015 Blue is the Warmest Color, Distillery Gallery, Boston MA
2014 Painting Intricacies, Nave Gallery Annex, Somerville, MA
2014 Biennial Roadshow Marfa 2014, Biennial Project, Marfa, Texas
2014 Hatch, Inside-Out Gallery, Somerville, MA
2014 Secrets of the Sea, Atrium Art Gallery, Lewiston, ME
2013 Hundreds, Lincoln Art Project, Waltham MA
2013 The Foundry Equation, Foundry Works Building, Cambridge, MA
2012 Central Street Panels Project, Vernon St. Studios, Somerville, MA
2010 MARC at 20, Monhegan Artists Residency, Monhegan Island, Maine
2009 Spineless Wonders, Atrium Art Gallery, Lewiston, Maine
2009 Across the Border, Peter Buckland Gallery, New Brunswick, Maine
2009 Flower Power II, Clark Gallery, Lincoln, MA
2009 Summer Salon Group Show, Aucocisco Gallery, Portland Maine
2008 CMCA's 2008 Juried Biennial, Center for Maine Contemorary Art, Rockport, Maine
2006 CMCA’s 2006 Juried Biennial Exhibition, Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockport, Maine
2005 Index Show, Institute of Contemporary Art, Portland, Maine