Nicole Chmel Brown Showcases Abstract Art with Exhibit at Greensburg Garden & Civic Center
Greensburg Garden & Civic Center is hosting its first art exhibit of the year with works by Nicole Chmel Brown. The show runs now through March 28, 2021. The center is open Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The exhibit is an expression of Chmel Brown’s wish to find joy in being alone and escaping into her own world during this uncertain, uncontrollable time. Each piece was created with its own unique set of materials that was then transformed into a piece of art. Cheml Brown uses elements found in her everyday life, from objects found on the ground to items throughout her home, including the basement. If needed, she will also scour the local Habitat for Humanity or make a trip to the local craft store to find material to fill in spaces on her canvases.
Nicole has been creating art all her life and has presented in more than 18 exhibits throughout her career. Two pieces of artwork currently on display at Greensburg Garden & Civic Center ("Needle in a Haystack" and "What was I Thinking") were also featured in The Westmoreland Museum of American Art 2018’s exhibit celebrating art made from recycled items.
Her art can be described as abstract, collage paintings using wood, metal, wire, beads, yarn, and recycled items. Her creative process, though, is not always a straightforward path. “When I begin a piece of work, I have an idea of what I want to create, but then the piece of art I am creating has a mind of its own and goes off in a totally different direction then what I was planning to do in the first place,” Chmel Brown explained. “I have no idea where this journey is taking me, but I do know when it is complete. As I finish a piece of work, I feel a void within me filled. I feel a sense of peace and accomplishment, a feeling of growth and completeness.”
In 1995, she was diagnosed with Schizoaffective disorder and depression and found peace through creating art. The voices she was hearing and the feelings of sadness and distress were driving her to distraction, but she was able to escape through her art and find a sense of tranquility. “My sickness will not run my life or overcome me. I feel like a pearl within a clam. We are all pearls within a clam. The sand (life, its lessons and its difficulties), scratches against us and forms us into a pearl within a clam shell. No one sees the sand forming that pearl. People only see your shell. They do not see that pearl within that shell, but they do see that pearl within you and others when they see your art. Like all artists, I want my pearl to shine through my work. What we can't express through our personality, we can express through our art. As I create and see what other artists create, I feel my art and their art tells a story of who I am and of who we all are. What we can't say in words, we can say through our art,” stated Chmel Brown.
Chmel Brown’s art education began in 1989 with a summer camp at Rhode Island School of Design. She then attended college at S.U.N.Y. College of New Paltz, NY from 1991-1993 followed by seven months studying abroad in Florence, Italy. She finished up her education at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA (1997-1999), earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in metalsmithing and a diploma in jewelry repair. Her passion, though, keeps taking her back to abstract collage, transferring her jewelry making skills onto canvases.
For questions regarding the exhibit, please contact Nicole Chmel Brown at chmel2@gmail.com or 724-672-6435.
