Ripley Nichols

Ripley Nichols is a visual artist who works within the mediums of printmaking, painting, and tapestry weavings. Through these different mediums, she depicts made up stories and references the worlds of comic books and cartoons.  She received a BFA from Alfred University in 2015, and currently lives and works in Philadelphia.

I have always tried to be resourceful in choosing materials to work with. When studying at Alfred University, I was lucky to have been able to jump between many different forms of sculpture and 2nd practices. At Alfred, we had a space that was called “Repo” (meaning Reusable Materials Depo) I went there all of the time for fabric, alternative painting surfaces (doors, sheetrock, marble, etc.) wax, yarn, house paint, and anything else i needed. These materials were unique and I often used them as a jumping point for starting a project, the unpredictability of this process helped me a lot creatively, concluding in the work existing as collaborations with the materials themselves. While i have since then streamlined some things about my work, I still work in this resourceful way when finding materials for a project.