Leslie Nichols uses a variety of found and original text to create images. She is well known for her works created on manual typewriters which are featured in Typewriter Art: A Modern Anthology by Barrie Tullett published by Laurence King in 2014 and The Art of Typewriting by Ruth Sackner and Marvin Sackner published by Thames and Hudson in 2015.
Nichols has displayed works at venues including the Huntsville Museum of Art, the Carnegie Center for Visual and Performing Arts, and the Evansville Museum. A recent Artist Enrichment Grant from the Kentucky Foundation for Women provided support for Leslie to create large-scale portraits of women working for social change in Kentucky. Her experiments in letterpress printing were made possible by a 2015 NEA Studio Residency Grant from Women’s Studio Workshop. Her work has been recognized with additional grants from the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation, the American Association of University Women, and the Great Meadows Foundation. Her residencies include Zion National Park, Vermont Studio Center, Hambidge Center, Women's Studio Workshop, and Can Serrat. Notable public collections that feature her work include the Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry, Liquitex Artist Materials, Yale University, and the Library of Congress.
Nichols earned a BFA in painting from Fontbonne University under the guidance of Victor Wang and Tim Liddy. She has an MA from Western Kentucky University focusing in gender and women's studies. She currently maintains her studio in Bowling Green, Kentucky where she lives with her partner artist Michael Nichols.
EDUCATION
2013 MA, Social Responsibility and Sustainable Communities, WKU, Bowling Green, KY
2012 Graduate Certificate in Gender and Women’s Studies, WKU, Bowling Green, KY
2001 BFA summa cum laude, Painting, Fontbonne University, St Louis, MO
GRANTS AND SELECTED AWARDS
Kentucky Museum Purchase Award, Kentucky Museum, 2020
Artist Professional Development Grant, Great Meadows Foundation, 2017
Member's Purchase Award, Evansville Museum, 2016
Artist Enrichment Grant, Kentucky Foundation for Women, 2015
NEA Studio Residency Grant, Women’s Studio Workshop, 2015
Career Development Grant, American Association of University Women, 2011
Artist Grant, Vermont Studio Center, 2011
Artist Enrichment Grant, Kentucky Foundation for Women, 2010
President’s Purchase Award, Arkansas State University, “2010 Delta National Small Prints Exhibition”
First Prize, Excellence in Art, Liquitex Artist Materials, 2008
Public Commission, H&R Block World Headquarters, 2006
Art Bar Artist, Ithaca Fine Chocolates, 2005
Individual Artist’s Grant, Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation, 2002
ARTIST RESIDENCIES
Hambidge Center, Rabun Gap, GA, Three-week residency, May 2022
Desert Mountain Residency, Truth or Consequences, NM, two-week residency, 2021
Hopscotch House, Prospect, KY, Four-day Collective retreat. 2016
Women’s Studio Workshop, Letterpress Studio, Rosendale, NY, Six-week residency, Sept-Oct 2015
Zion National Park, Springdale, UT, Four-week residency, April 2015
Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT, Four-week residency, May 2011
Hopscotch House, Prospect, KY, One-week residency, June 2010
Can Serrat, El Bruc, Spain, Four-week residency, June 2002
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS *indicates solo or two-person
2024
*TBA, LeMieux Galleries, New Orleans, LA
2023
Art of the Word, Digital Exhibition, Sasse Museum of Art, Pomona, CA
Selected Works from Type Speaks, Chauvin Sculpture Garden and Studio, Chauvin, LA
Type Speaks, Dane Ledet Gallery, Nicholls State University, Thibodaux, LA
*Painted Press, Ellis Walker Gallery, Bowling Green, KY
Stitches in Time: 200 Years of Kentucky Quilts, Kentucky Museum, Bowling Green, KY
Owensboro Art Guild Juried Exhibition, Owensboro Museum of Fine Art, Owensboro, KY
2022
*Remnants, Warren County Public Library: Smith’s Groove and Kirby, Bowling Green, KY
61st Mid-States Art Exhibition, Evansville Museum, Evansville, IN
35th Northern National Art Competition, Nicolet College, Rhinelander, WI
New Impressions 2022, The Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum, Two Rivers, WI; MICA, Baltimore MD (2023)
The Dogwood Regional Art Exhibition, Emporium Center, Knoxville, TN
Instructors Exhibition, Arrowmont College of Art and Craft, Gatlinburg, TN
2021
Freshfields’ Annual Exhibition, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, London, UK
Lost Words, Northwind Art Gallery, Port Townsend, WA
50th Pennyroyal Art Exhibition, Hopkinsville Community College, Hopkinsville, KY
Women of Influence, Kentucky Artisan Center, Berea, KY
2020
Manifesting Presence, Lexington Art League, Lexington, KY (three-person exhibition)
Tangible Type, Holy Family College, Manitowoc, WI
Portraits, Fontbonne University Fine Arts Gallery, St Louis, MO
IdeaFest Artists, SKYPAC, Bowling Green KY
2019
*She Said, LeMieux Galleries, New Orleans, LA
National Figurative Exhibition, Lore Degenstein Gallery Susquehanna University, Selinsgrove, PA (digital catalogue)
International Womxn’s Day Exhibition, Creative Debuts, Black & White, London, England
About Face, Janice Mason Art Museum, Cadiz, KY (three-person)
2018
*In Her Words, The Downing Museum, Bowling Green, KY
*More Than Words, University of Findlay, Findlay, OH
*Portraits by Leslie Nichols, Saint Meinrad Archabbey, St. Meinrad, IN
Welcome Home, Georgetown University Gallery, Georgetown, KY
International Drawing Annual 12, exhibition-in-print, Manifest Press, Cincinnati, OH
Painted Press, Ellis Walker Gallery, Bowling Green, KY (three-person)
Illustrated Word, Kentucky Arts Council, Traveling Exhibition, twelve KY venues
2017
*Painting with Words, The University of Alabama at Huntsville, Huntsville, AL
Red Clay Survey 2014: Contemporary Southern Art, Huntsville Museum of Art, Huntsville, AL (catalogue)
New Impressions 2017 (traveling exhibition)
The Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum, Two Rivers, WI
School of Visual Concepts, Seattle, WA
Face to Face, Lemieux Gallery, New Orleans, LA
30th McNeese National Works on Paper, McNeese State University, Lake Charles, LA
2016
New Impressions: An International Exhibition of Letterpress Printing
The Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum, Two Rivers, WI
Design College Australia, Brisbane Australia
The New England Regional Art Museum, Armidale, Australia
Uncommon Materials, LeMieux Gallery, New Orleans, LA
58th Mid-States Art Exhibition, Evansville Museum, Evansville, IN
Dogwood Regional Fine Arts Exhibit, Emporium Center, Knoxville, TN
New Works, Ellis Walker Gallery, Bowling Green, KY (three-person exhibition)
The Price is Right, David Lusk Gallery, Memphis and Nashville,TN
2015
*Leslie Nichols, Women’s Studio Workshop, Rosendale, NY
Writing on the Wall, The Painting Center, New York, NY
International Drawing Annual 9, exhibition-in-print, Manifest Press, Cincinnati, OH
*Lorum ipsum, Corridor Gallery, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY
Women in Art: Herstory, LH Horton Jr Gallery, San Joaquin Delta College, Stockton, CA
Face It, Eichold Gallery, Spring Hill College, Mobile, AL
2014
57th Mid-States Art Exhibition, Evansville Museum, Evansville, IN
Sixth Annual National Figurative Exhibition, Lore Degenstein Gallery Susquehanna University, Selinsgrove, PA (digital catalogue)
Red Clay Survey 2014: Contemporary Southern Art, Huntsville Museum of Art, Huntsville, AL (digital catalogue)
Northern National Art Competition, Nicolet College Art Gallery, Rhinelander, WI
*New Works, Ellis Walker Gallery, Bowling Green, KY
*A Decade of Text, Lucretia C. Begley Art Gallery, Lindsey Wilson College, Columbia, KY
PERMANENT COLLECTIONS
Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, AR
Bennington College, North Bennington, VT
Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA
Downing Museum and Baker Arboretum, Bowling Green, KY
Evansville Museum, Evansville, IN
H&R Block World Headquarters, Kansas City, MO
Harlaxton College, Lincolnshire, England
Indiana University, Bloomington Indiana
John Brown University, Siloam Springs, AR
Kansas City Repertory Theatre, Kansas City, MO
Library of Congress, Washington D.C.
Liquitex, Piscataway, NJ
New York Public Library, New York, NY
Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
Ringling School of Art and Design, Sarasota, FL
Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY
Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry, Miami, FL
School of University Studies, WKU, Bowling Green, KY
Southwestern Illinois College, Belleville, IL
St Louis Community College, Kirkwood, MO
University of Evansville, Evansville, IN
University of Michigan, St, Ann Arbor, MI
Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY
Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA
Women’s Studio Workshop, Rosendale, NY
Yale University, New Haven, CT
Zion National Park, Springdale, UT
Private Collections in Canada, Norway, Spain, New Zealand, and United States
BOOKS
The Best of Tupelo Quarterly: An Anthology of Multi-Disciplinary Tests in Conversation. Tupelo Press: North Adams, Massachusetts, 2023.
Cathie Ruggie Saunders and Martha Chiplis, For the Love of Letterpress, Second Edition. New York: Bloomsbury Visual Arts, 2019
Ruth and Marvin Sackner, The Art of Typewriting. London: Thames & Hudson, 2015.
Barrie Tullett, Typewriter Art: A Modern Anthology. London: Laurence King, May 2014.
PERIODICALS
Leslie Nichols, “Textual Portraits: Alice” Uppercase: 55, p. 97, (October 2022).
Leslie Nichols, “Textual Portraits” Ecotone: Craft, (Dec 2017).
Leslie Nichols, “Alice (Terrell 1904),” “Marie-Eve (Beauvoir 1949),” and “Kathy (Stanton 1892)”, TQ12, Tupelo Quarterly, (June 2017).
John Seed, Painted Words POETSartists74, (May 2016).
“Leslie Nichols,” POETSartists 42, (January 2012): 26-27. www.poetsandartists.com
“I’m more the drunken slut kind of feminist . . .” (image) Granta Online, June 15, 2011. www.granta.com
Liquitex Artist Acrylic, “Excellence in Art,” Art in America, Aug. 2008.
Steve Smith, “Artist of the Month,” The Artist’s Magazine. August 2005. www.artistsmagazine.com
FILM
Kentucky Life, Program 1613. Produced by Cheryl Beckley. KET (April 17, 2011) (Emmy Nominated)
Art on the Block, Producer Daven Gee. KCPT 19 (Aug. 9, 2007) (Documentary)
SELECTED NEWS MEDIA
Patty Winsa, “Traditional artist uses typewriter to peck out portraits,” The Toronto Star, (Toronto, Canada), November 26, 2015.
“Artist Creates Portraits Of Modern Women On A Manual Typewriter With Historic Feminist Texts,” Women You Should Know, November 20, 2015.
Kristine Mitchell, “Images of Contemporary Women Revealed through Textual Portraits,” My Modern Met, November 12, 2015.
Chelsea Campbell, "My Dear Sister: Leslie Nichols in the Studio," Women's Studio Workshop, In the Studio. Oct. 30, 2015
Lori Gilbert, “It’s written on her face,” The Record, (Stockton, CA) Feb. 21, 2015.
Kayla Breese, “Northern National Art Competition juror explains the art of judging art,” The River News (Rhinelander, WI), July 24, 2014.
Rick Poyner, “Rediscovering the Lost Art of the Typewriter.” The Design Observer. May 28, 2014.
Maria Popova, “A Visual History of Typewriter Art from 1893 to Today,” Brain Pickings. May 2014.
Daniel Binns, “Pictures in text: Is this type of thing the last word in art?” Metro. (London, England), April 21, 2014.
Kristin Hohenadel, “Striking Designs Form the World’s Typewriter Artists.” Slate. April 4, 2014.
Katie Ferriell, “Review: Exploring the Female Perspective,” WKU Herald, (Bowling Green, KY), April 17, 2012.
Elizabeth Hise, “Breaking Routine,” Tableaux, (St Louis, MO) Sep. 2009.
Noon News, interview with Jennifer Blome, KSDK News channel Five, St Louis, Jan. 15, 2007.
David Bonetti, “Artists Celebrate Elliot Smith,” St Louis Post Dispatch, (St Louis, MO), Oct. 2, 2004
Matt Steiner, “Pictures are Worth a Thousand Words,” Montage, (St Louis, MO), Sept. 16, 2004.
David Bonetti, “Women Only,” St Louis Post Dispatch, (St Louis, MO), May 9, 2004.
Rich Krechel, “Newish Kid on the Block,” St Louis Post Dispatch (St Louis, MO), Oct. 2, 2003
Teri Maddox, “A Peak at Treasures,” Bellville News Democrat (Bellville, Il), Jan. 16, 2003
SELECTED LECTURES AND PROFESSIONAL PRESENTATIONS
2022
Public Lecture, “A Picture is One Thousand Words: Textual Portraits,” Online, University of Utah Book Arts Program, Salt Lake City, UT
Guest Presenter, “Illuminations,” SKY Writers and Art Club, SKYCTC, Bowling Green, KY
2021
Workshop, “Calligram Workshop: Drawing With Text,” Online, Zion National Park Volunteer Month, Springdale, UT
2020
Visiting Artist, Sante Fe Workshops Writer’s Lab, Sante Fe, NM
Juror, Locally Grown, Juror, Locally Grown, Northland Pioneer College, Holbrook, AZ
2019
Artist Talk, Harlaxton College, Harlaxton, England
Workshop, “Calligram Portrait Workshop,” Harlaxton College, Grantham, England
2018
Featured Lecture, “AAUW Career Development Grantee,” AAUW Kentucky State Conference, Owensboro, KY
2017
Keynote Speaker, “Recognizing your Potential,” Emerge: Women’s Professional Series, YWCA Bristol, Bristol, TN
2016
Public Lecture and Workshops, Glasgow Middle and High School, Glasgow, KY
Artist Talk, ArtWorks, Inc., Bowling Green, KY
2015
Resident Artist Talk, Women's Studio Workshop, Rosendale, NY
Lecture, Art Insights Series, Southern Utah University, St George, UT
Resident Artist Talk, Zion National Park, Canyon Community Center, Springdale, UT
Artist Talk, WKU, Bowling Green, KY
2014
Featured Lecture, “Gender and Storytelling in Typewritten Portraits,” Casper College Humanities Festival, Casper, WY
Gallery Talk, Lindsey Wilson College, Columbia, KY
2013
Paper Presented: “Visual Art as a Site of Social Responsibility and Sustainable Communities” Social Responsibility and Sustainable Communities Symposium, Carroll Knicely Conference Center, Bowling Green, KY
Lecture and Discussion, “Women Writing Women: Gender, Art, and Society,” Institute of Citizenship and Social Responsibility, Bowling Green, KY
Presentation and Workshop, “Writing Portrait Workshop,” Art Education Mini Conference, WKU, Bowling Green KY
Gallery Talk and Workshop, John Brown University, Siloam Springs, AR
2012
Paper Presented: “Textual Portraits: Envisioning Social Heritage,” The 2012 Interdisciplinary Nineteenth Century Studies Conference, session titled: “Picturing Nineteenth Century Women in Black and White” Lexington KY
2011
Resident Artist Talk, Vermont Studio Center, Johnson VT
Workshop, “Calligram Garden Workshop,” Women and Kids Learning Together Camp, WKU, Bowling Green, KY
2009
Workshop, “Calligram and Typestyle Portrait Workshop,” Harlaxton College, Grantham, England
Workshop, “Calligram and Typestyle Portrait Workshop,” Art Education Mini-Conference, WKU Bowling Green, KY
2008
Workshop, “Writing Portrait Workshop,” Art Education Mini-Conference, WKU, Bowling Green KY
Framing Lecture, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY Demonstrate and lecture about archival framing methods
2003
Graduate Studio Critiques, Pittsburgh State University, Pittsburg, KS
Artist Talk, Southwestern Illinois University, Belleville, IL
Artist Talk, John Burroughs School, St Louis, MO
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