Artists In Jackson: Nicole Cure
“I don’t like to be pushy with my art. If they want to come look, they can come look and bring their own viewpoint.”
Call Nicole Cure a natural. She never studied art, never felt like she worked hard at it, and even took a 10-year creative hiatus when her kids were born.
“I never worked hard at it. I was just born with a natural talent,” she says.
That talent is paying off now that Nicole runs a drawing and interior design business out of her home studio. She named the studio Ardis J Studio after her grandmother, Ardis Jane, from whom she inherited some of her artistic ability.
That natural talent does not mean Nicole doesn’t work hard on her sketches. She often spends 10 to 20 hours on each piece.
Her customers are now asking for more and more of her custom pieces and original work.
“It’s been fun and crazy busy,” Nicole says. “And I have more work than I thought I’d ever get.”
She says word of mouth is what works. After trying the art show scene for a few years, Nicole found it to be a slog, even if she got a custom job or two. Now, she’s called it quits on art shows, and her workload is still doing just fine.
Nicole works in her small studio in Hanover, which she built a few years ago as her kids went off to school. She found her basement studio cramped, and her handy father-in-law built it in no time flat. Nicole’s studio hosts little tots drawing lessons during the summer, where she teaches basic drawing techniques to first through seventh graders.
“It’s a blast,” she says. “You can usually tell within the first session if the child has a natural ability.”
For her work, Nicole draws inspiration from the world around her: kids, family, animals, and the rural setting. Customers ask her for lots of animal drawings, like horses and dogs.
“I think I’ve done every breed of dog 10 times,” Nicole says.
To experiment, Nicole dabbles in other creative projects, like furniture and interior design. The furniture thing came about because she likes to make her own pieces.
“I would rather not pay top dollar for anything. Furniture is really fun to me,” Nicole says. “I garage sale like bonkers. I love it – it’s a total addiction.”
In fact, if she were to do it over again, Nicole would concentrate on interior design work. She does a few projects here and there, using a style she calls “modern shabby chic,” but she really wants to redo an entire house.
“I use crazy colors. I just have an eye for it,” she says. “Like, my kitchen’s a bright teal. People wake up when they go in.”
Nicole’s kids have an eye for art, too, she says. Two may be better than she ever was. Take her oldest daughter, who draws all the time. Nicole calls her “phenomenal.”
Maybe there’s an art gene in there after all. Take a look around Nicole’s studio, and you will see four pieces hanging up created by her kids.
“I’ll never take them down,” she says.
Buy the Artists In Jackson book | Ardis J Studio on Facebook
