The Wake

“This is probably the most difficult job I could ever have,” said Trever Nicholas, looking at a gallery filled with his artwork. Nicholas, whose most recent installation showed at Augsburg College this summer, is a graduate of the University of Minnesota’s Master of Fine Arts (MFA) program.

The life of an independent artist is full of possibility and uncertainty. “I can pursue any curiosity I want to,” Trever told me. The unbounded freedom an artist has, however, comes with no guarantee of support or financial stability. Whether that sort of trade-off is worthwhile is a question artists must ask themselves.

Nicholas’ installation at Augsburg, titled Sphericity, was part of that school’s Summer Emerging Artist Series. When looking at the works in the gallery, I was struck by the perfect symmetry in so many of the pieces. Spirals etched in graphite on a piece of paper were simple yet captivating, and household items like extension cords were laid out in the most deliberate patterns. Spherical cardboard constructions of varying sizes rested on the floor and gazed in all directions at the other works on the walls.

“Right from when we’re born, we start learning by pattern,” the artist says. “I’m interested in how hard it is to get away from that.” This exhibit reminds people of the repetition in their lives and provokes questions about why patterns are comforting.

Nicholas digs into the details of everyday life. “I follow the type of things that grab my attention when I’m in Target or Wal-Mart,” he says. “I might look at something and see if there’s a way I can incorporate it into a piece I’m working on.”

The work he presented at Augsburg was the culmination of Nichols’ residency at the Anderson Center in Red Wing, MN. “It’s really a good opportunity,” he says of the residency. “They provide you with studio space, food, a small stipend, but unless you search this sort of thing out, you aren’t going to find it.” During his residency, he focused entirely on making art. This came as a luxury to Nicholas, who works evenings to help pay the bills.

Nicholas says that artists can feel overwhelmed when they’ve just completed an undergraduate or even graduate art program. “You know there are things out there, but you don’t know where they are. There’s no book to go pick up that says, ‘Hey, this is where it’s at.’ At times, it can be very discouraging.”

This is why such an important facet of the art world is its sense of community. By volleying criticism and ideas with their peers, artists can gather a more complete understanding of their own work. Especially in a tight-knit group like an MFA program, a sense of community helps foster a collaborative and progressive environment.

“The MFA program is a bubble to be in for a while … it’s structured, and once you get out, it’s a totally different world,” Nicholas told me. When asked if it helped prepare him for a career in the arts, he replied that the people he met there have become good friends and invaluable assets. Now all that remains for an artist to find is an audience to share their work with.

Fortunately, the Twin Cities is an area that has embraced the arts, and sees creative endeavors as something more than frivolous. “There’s a lot of support here,” Nichols agreed. “And there are some interesting things going on — a lot of great galleries.” With a balance of large and small art centers, Minnesota is simultaneously a place to see works from around the world and to witness the burgeoning creative output of local artists. Bigger establishments, such as the Walker Art Center and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, feature exhibits that tour the country. But Trever Nicholas’ work has found a home in venues like the Soo Visual Art Center and Franklin Art Works.

Seeing art is an important and easy thing to do in a city like Minneapolis. You don’t need to be an aficionado to walk through a gallery and give your opinion. Art is open to interpretation and it is there to be seen and questioned. “A lot of times people just want the right answer, and they go straight to the artist’s statement,” Nicholas said. “People can bring a lot of their own opinions into things … I try to present a playfulness so that a four-year-old could be intrigued by it, and at the same time an academic person can say ‘I see some serious thought going on in this piece.’” The bottom line is that artists are interested in what you say, no matter who you are, and your support of local art, music, and theater is what gives the Twin Cities its personality.