About Nicole

M. Nicole van Dam at work in her studio

The artwork and poetry you find on this site are by the international Impressionist artist, author and poet M. Nicole van Dam®. Nicole works in many media, such as oils, acrylics, water color, pastels, pen and ink, and silk. In each work, one can find a passionate and joyous celebration of nature’s beauty and diversity, Nicole’s primary inspiration.

Nicole, a California native born of Dutch immigrant parents, was educated on the East Coast and is now living by California’s Central Coast with her much-loved husband and their mischievous pets – a Leonberger dog, a rescue Chihuahua dog mix, and two Bourke’s Parrot birds. Nicole writes about her artistic endeavors, pets and vegetable garden at her news blog, Our1Earth.com, and you can learn more about her inspirations at http://Inspirations.bz.

Career Overview:  M. Nicole van Dam’s art has been exhibited publicly many times at various venues, and has been on exhibit at a gallery/business/public venue continuously for more than a decade, which is an unusual accomplishment for most artists. Since approximately 2008, Nicole’s fine artwork has been on display at Santa Barbara, California City Hall.  Similarly, commencing public exhibition in February 2011, Community Memorial Hospital acquired a large collection of M. Nicole van Dam works, following a display of Nicole’s artwork and poetry for the hospital in 2010.  A 2006 M. Nicole van Dam solo exhibition was recorded by the Montecito, California History Committee, and Nicole has been named an artist to watch by the “Montecito Journal.”  A retrospective of M. Nicole van Dam works has also been published, entitled “M. Nicole van Dam, A Retrospective 2010.”  (See also Nicole’s  Portfolio )

In addition to fine art exhibitions, M. Nicole van Dam is also an internationally licensed artist and author.   As an international artist, Nicole’s work is licensed by international manufacturers for many products, such as glass plates, footwear, tile wall murals, collectibles, etc., and as a result people around the world have purchased Nicole’s work.   Nicole has been written up in collector newsletters, including international newsletters that published Nicole’s poetry as well as her other creations. Examples of the many products made using licensed images of Nicole’s art can be seen on this site at the Licensing menu tab.    M. Nicole van Dam has also authored books which combine her art with her poetry, humor and philosophy, and current gallery exhibitions often include recitations of her poetry and philosophy combined with her art, in large part taken from her book “Tempo – The Rhythm and Rhyme of the Artist.”  M. Nicole van Dam also authors and illustrates children’s books, including “Inca Dink, The Great Houndini” ™ (licensed for the iPhone/iPad and narrated by BBC personality Dominic Byrne) and “Rosie and Emma Plant a Seed“™ and “This Little Puppy.”™

More recently, Nicole has also enjoyed teaming up with other talented creatives and writing music lyrics and doing a bit of voice over narration – you can learn more about this at “TuneSmith.bz.

Earlier Influences: Nicole’s parents are a tremendously positive influence in her life, and she attributes much of her success and love of the arts to them. They shared with her their strong work ethic and honest professionalism, in addition to their love of the arts. Through her parents, Nicole was exposed from an early age to beautiful European art at a wide array of museums, and Nicole was particularly influenced by the amazing Dutch Kröller-Müller Museum. While at the Kröller-Müller Museum, Nicole clearly remembers seeing Vincent Van Gogh’s “Sunflowers,” Pablo Picasso’s “Nude Descending a Staircase,” and other great works, all in the Kröller-Müller Museum’s then uncrowded setting that encouraged close engagement with the art. While Nicole’s parents’ preference is the Dutch Masters, Nicole’s preference became the great Impressionists – particularly Claude Monet and Vincent Van Gogh with their lively colors and movement. Nicole also enjoys the compositional freedom of early Modernist Marc Chagall, the beautiful lighting techniques of Johannes Vermeer, the sfumato techniques of Leonardo da Vinci, the cheery interplay of simplicity and complexity of Andrea della Robbia, and the style of Louis Comfort Tiffany. When you look at the majority of Nicole’s compositions (for example “Passion Flower” and “Chef at the Farmer’s Market”), you can see these influences at play.

The overall impact of Nicole’s diverse background is a body of artwork that has its own recognizable style and feel. As a California native born of Dutch immigrant parents and educated in the East, Nicole’s work expresses strong West Coast, East Coast, and European influences, artistically blended with Nicole’s unique Impressionist flair. Nicole’s style and distinctive color palette gives each work a new feel which is joyously whimsical, and yet somehow also reminiscent of a time when life was less hectic. It is this feel to her works that is the basis for Nicole’s motto: “Art that makes your heart sing with the memory of what could be.”

Following you can scroll through some of the images in Nicole’s portfolio. There is a more formal portfolio at the Portfolio tab of this site, as well as a fun “cubed” version of Nicole’s portfolio, where you can see more of Nicole’s artworks.  You might also enjoy our slide show of some of Nicole’s many art and poetry/philosophy reading exhibitions.

Nicole’s education is diverse. Nicole attended Harvard University while still in High School, while ultimately degreeing from University of Pennsylvania, Cornell University, and University of Southern California.

Early Career: Nicole’s first public recognition as an artist rather inadvertently began when she won a Newport Beach, California city logo contest, shortly followed by her solo creation in approximately 1978 of a mural of the constellations on the curved surfaces of the Harvard-Smithsonian Observatory dome (the long-standing Harvard-Smithsonian observatory relationship is now referred to as the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics). In her younger career, she also served as Art Director for a small local high school magazine (“Flotsam & Jetsam”), where her flowery style arguably first emerged, and where she stood out for her magazine cover that opened with a gate fold, like magical gates for the reader to enter; After high school, while in college, she served as Art Director of University Television at the University of Pennsylvania, and as a cartoonist for the school newspaper. Nicole’s writing career also began with early recognition, including her winning first prize in an Orange County, California poetry contest in 1974, for a poem that began, “A cat prances on the wall, After the flakes he chases, Hop-pounce-tumble-and-fall, Silly winter races.” In terms of her writing, after graduating, in addition to publishing non-fiction writing pertaining to business matters such as “Multimedia and Software Agreements” published by the The Daily Journal Corporation in connection with the Digital World 95 Conference, Nicole combined her love of art and business in the “Art Avenue” column (which was published in both the “Equine Image” and “Canine Image” magazines).

Current Career: M. Nicole van Dam is an internationally licensed artist and author. As an international artist, Nicole’s work is licensed by international manufacturers for many products, such as glass plates, footwear, tile wall murals, collectibles, etc., and as a result people around the world have purchased Nicole’s work. Nicole has been written up in collector newsletters, including international newsletters that published Nicole’s poetry as well as her other creations. Examples of the many products made using licensed images of Nicole’s art can be seen on this site at the Licensing menu tab. In 1978, Nicole as a solo artist did a mural of the constellations and astrological symbols inside the Harvard/Smithsonian Observatory dome.

Exhibitions and Access: Nicole’s art has been exhibited publicly many times at various venues, and has been on exhibit at a gallery/business/public venue continuously for more than a decade, which is an unusual accomplishment for most artists. One of Nicole’s solo exhibitions in 2006 has been recorded by Marjorie Cronshaw on behalf of the Montecito, California Montecito History Committee, and Nicole was named an artist to watch by the “Montecito Journal.” Since approximately 2008, Nicole’s fine artwork has been on display at Santa Barbara, California City Hall. More recently, Community Memorial Hospital acquired a large collection of M. Nicole van Dam works scheduled to commence display in February 2011, following a display of Nicole’s artwork and poetry there in 2010.  You can find M. Nicole van Dam creations for purchase at Create.bz, and examples of the many products made using licensed images of her art can be seen at Artstudio.bz . A retrospective of M. Nicole van Dam works has also been published, entitled “M. Nicole van Dam, A Retrospective 2010.” M. Nicole van Dam’s current gallery exhibitions often include recitations of her poetry and philosophy combined with her art, in large part taken from her book “Tempo – The Rhythm and Rhyme of the Artist.”

Children’s Books – “Inca Dink, The Great Houndini”™ and “Rosie and Emma Plant a Seed”™ and “This Little Puppy”™: M. Nicole van Dam authors and illustrates children’s books for the “Once Upon a Time™ children’s book series. Nicole is the author and illustrator (and co-narrator with Dominic Byrne) for her children’s book, “Inca Dink, The Great Houndini.” “Inca Dink, The Great Houndini” is written in sing-songy rhyme, a bit reminescent of Seuss. The main characters of “Inca Dink, The Great Houndini” are Hilary Mouse and Inca Dink, a Leonberger dog magician in training. “Inca Dink, The Great Houndini” is available in traditional print and digitally (narrated with Dominc Byrne version is digital primarily for Apple Inc. iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch). Merchandise has been created themed towards these two “Inca Dink, The Great Houndini” characters and is available at Great Houndini.com.  “Rosie and Emma Plant a Seed“™ is a joyous and beautifully illustrated children’s book about a young girl Emma and her Leonberger dog Rosie, who find a mysterious seed and plant it. As the mysterious seed grows, so do Emma and Rosie’s adventures and the delightful, curious characters they meet, including Sigmund Owl and a very cheeky sparrow.   This unique book is a lovely way to share the wonders of gardening and nature. Also important, this book teaches about teamwork and friendship. “This Little Puppy“™ is a fun-filled, dog-themed twist on ‘this little piggy’ – a delightful read aloud picture book for all ten fingers and toes. Nicole enjoyed a happy writing collaboration with Jay Topping on “This Little Puppy.” Nicole created a blog for her children’s books at Once Upon a Time Children’s Books Blog

Adult Books – “Tempo – The Rhythm and Rhyme of the Artist“™ and “Through the Artist’s Eyes”™ and the SuperQuick™ How-To series: M. Nicole van Dam is also the author of several adult works, including “Through the Artist’s Eyes” and “Tempo – The Rhythm & Rhyme of the Artist.” Each of these books pairs her artwork with her poetry and philosophy, such as the combination in “Tempo – The Rhythm and Rhyme of the Artist” of the “Voting Booth” painting with her poem “Politics”.  Nicole has also authored a set of how-to books for creatives and entrepreneurs under the SuperQuick™ brand.

Music and Voice Over: Nicole enjoys teaming up with other talented creatives and writing music lyrics and doing a bit of voice over narration, and is currently working on a musical. You can learn more about this at “TuneSmith.bz.

M. Nicole van Dam attributes her creativity in making these diverse works to the inspiration, love and infinite patience and kindness of her family and friends. When not creating, you are most likely to find Nicole enjoying her garden and pets, as shown by her blog at Our1earth.com.

Following you can scroll through some of the images in Nicole’s portfolio.  There is a more formal portfolio at the Portfolio tab of this site, as well as a fun “cubed” version of Nicole’s portfolio, where you can see more of Nicole’s artworks.  You might also enjoy our slide show of some of Nicole’s many art and poetry/philosophy reading exhibitions.

To summarize:  Creating engaging works that inspire, enchant and cheer, Nicole has been forging her own unique niche in the Impressionist artworld, earning excellent reviews and various one-man shows. Nicole’s work is enjoyed around the world, both as fine art and through Nicole’s work as an internationally licensed artist/designer, as well as a published poet and author of adult and children’s books. Nicole’s children’s books that she wrote and illustrated, including “Inca Dink, the Great Houndini” (excerpts of this children’s book can be seen on this site under the “Inca Dink, The Great Houndini” menu tab above), have shared Nicole’s love of rhyme, nature and animals with our precious younger generation. Nicole’s book “Tempo – The Rhythm and Rhyme of the Artist” is an excellent introduction to Nicole’s work, with its unique, colorful and inspiring blend of art, poetry and philosophy, that will make you smile. Excerpts of “Tempo – The Rhythm and Rhyme of the Artist” can be seen on this site under the “Tempo – Rhythms and Rhyme of the Artist” menu tab above.

Below is a screen show sharing some of Nicole’s blog posts on a variety of things that might interest you – you can click on whichever post interests you to read the full post – ENJOY!

We thank you for your support and interest in Nicole’s work!