Find me online at littleneocreative.com/

Over the past decade, I have come to think of the TTC as an extension of my studio. It is where I honed my drawing skills and it has become my ideal place to sketch, even if it is a little bumpy sometimes.

I distinguish myself from Toronto's talented pool of subway artists by adapting my TTC sketches into different media.

At first, I used my sketches as the basis for glazed ceramic tiles. I like the idea of creating subway art on the very medium that covers subway station wall. Ceramics and glaze honour and reflects the organic strength and the fragility of my human subjects. The process of firing makes the malleable clay permanent and creates wild, vibrant and unpredictable glaze colours. The final tile is decorative and utilitarian, breakable and imperishable, and always, above all else, like each of my subjects, unique.

In 2013, I began drawing transit travellers onto maps, inviting the viewer to share the sense of location we feel as we chug through traffic or zoom through the underground. In March and April of 2014, the images were made available to the public via video screens throughout Toronto and Edmonton transit systems. This was a very satisfying gallery - as the subjects became the viewers. It felt like the work was coming full circle.

Moving forward, I am interested in creating art that reflects the lives of real people. As I enter into the world of public art, I am actively seeking out projects which allow me to reflect the values of community and inclusive beauty.

Recently, I have received a microgrant from Art Starts and Platform A that is allowing me to connect to the Lawrence Heights community. I am introducing Grade 6 students to clay. They are creating artworks which will be incorporated into a large map of the region (and take-home pieces too! Don't worry!). I will be drawing and painting important buildings, as well as local volunteers, nurses, teachers, and other community members and adding their faces to the mix media collage. The piece aims to reflect the community the warmth and the realities of the area accurately.

If you have a project or community and art related idea and are looking for a , please feel free to message me!

Nicole

Thoughts about art and community:

I believe that the art that genuinely reflects real, diverse people is the art that endures.

It is with that mindset that I find my subjects and draw what I see, not the imagined ideal.