Bayou Artist: Nicole Duet

Nicole Duet is both an artist and professor with a passion for art that continues to evolve. Working as an artist and as an Associate Professor of art at Louisiana Tech University has connected her to the world and to people in ways that make continual growth possible.

article by APRIL HONAKER and photography by KELLY MOORE CLARK

A long debate exists among creatives regarding the importance of talent versus hard work in relation to success, and strong arguments exist on both sides. Those on the side of talent argue that talent is innate and that successful artists are naturally predisposed to greatness, while those on the side of hard work argue that talent is irrelevant and that anyone can learn to be successful in the arts through instruction and practice. Which side is more true? The reality likely lies somewhere between the two. Although many artists discover they possess some natural aptitude at an early age, that aptitude alone is rarely enough to lead them to success.

According to best-selling author Stephen King, “What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.” Because artist and professor Nicole Duet discovered her natural talent later than the majority of her peers, she went through a period of intense, self-directed study and practice to make up for lost time. During her last year as a theater major at California State University, Northridge, Nicole took a life drawing class that led her to completely change directions. She finished her Bachelor of Arts in Theater but said there was a moment in her life drawing class that changed everything. The model got off the stand, and Nicole completed a quick gestural drawing of that transition. “I felt like I captured something,” she said, “and I knew I wanted to be able to do that again.”

That moment and the class as a whole sparked a new passion for Nicole, and she finished it transformed. “When I got to end of the class, I felt like I was in an arena, where I didn’t know anything but had grown a great deal,” she said. The experience made her want to chart a new course, and she spent some years after piecing together training from a variety of different places and teachers. “Suddenly there was this thing I was really focused on–obsessed with,” she said. “One thing led to the next, and it was like filling in the missing pieces.”

During this period, Nicole saw as much, read as much, studied as much and practiced as much as she could. “Once I made the decision to pursue art, I left theater behind, and it was on to the next thing,” she said. Fortunately, Nicole found the time and space she needed to pursue her new passion by house sitting for a friend in New Mexico. While there, she painted from 8 in the morning until the natural light was gone. She also spent a lot of time walking the desert and seeking out teachers who could help her develop keen observation skills. Along the way, she studied under southwest artists David Leffel and Joan Potter. She also immersed herself in a variety of workshops and was introduced to several of the Old Masters including Rembrandt and Caravaggio.

Painting in that style, she gained gallery representation and began to take on commissions, but just as success was growing tangible for her, she felt a tinge of discomfort. “I felt like I was making the work my teachers made and not my own,” she said. “It didn’t feel authentic.” Despite her rising success, Nicole knew something was still missing, and she decided to go back to California to continue filling in the gaps and shaping her identity as an artist.

In California again, she continued to build her repertoire in unconventional ways, and took some time to decide where her time and money would be best spent. In Los Angeles, she studied with teachers skilled in animation, such as Glenn Vilppu and Karl Gnass, through animation union workshops. Then, although she knew extending her education with a Master of Fine Arts would be a departure from her education thus far, she began testing the waters in universities across southern California as an art model. According to Nicole, universities at the time tended to emphasize conceptual and abstract art, but she figured working as an art model would give her a first-hand glimpse of what was being taught in their programs. After about two years, she chose to earn her master’s at California State University, Long Beach, and said she took courses with some of the greatest teachers she’s ever studied with there.

Throughout Nicole’s studies and even before pursuing her master’s, transformation was a recurrent theme, and she became deeply interested in the idea that paint or marks could appear to become something else. She recalls a specific moment when she stood before a self-portrait of Rembrandt in which he wore a beret adorned with a gilded ribbon. There was a moment when the shadow cast onto his forehead by the beret seemed to become air. “I felt like it was atmosphere and light,” she said. “It came alive in that way.”

Still today, transformation remains an important concept to her. “Almost always light is an important aspect of the the narrative and mood of a painting,” she said. Nicole is an avid photographer, and she often paints from photographs, spending hours mining them for a certain gesture or ray of light that begs to be explored. She enjoys seeing how paint can change an image. However, her process has changed some over time. She used to work almost exclusively from her own photographs, and she would paint one photograph at a time, including multiple people and things each time. Now, she is more likely to combine elements of multiple photographs and has started working from photographs that are given to her as well.

This new approach, she said, is a little more like staging, so her background in theater continues to exert an influence on her work. “Painting has always been a way for me to connect with people–not in person but in the image,” she said. It’s also always been about creating a character, which ties the work to theater. But now the paintings are getting simpler in terms of what’s in them,” she said, “and fuller in terms of the connection. Now the more I look, the more I take away. I’m trying to figure out how many resonances can come out of a single element.”

According to Nicole, this approach to her work is so new that it’s still evolving, which makes it difficult to describe. However, she said, “It’s more about a single person in an environment, and it’s about the way being in a space affects us.” All the elements of a space from the time and place to the lighting and atmosphere play a role. As she composes a painting, Nicole considers what the elements in the painting communicate about the person–the character’s–inner state of being, as well as what story those elements tell. “The elements that are part of the scene take on a symbolic quality like elements of a set do,” she said. “My theater experience helps me empathize and has an effect on how much I can communicate. It’s almost like it drives the brush sometimes.”

In addition to painting, Nicole continues to explore characters and scenes through drawing. Graphite in particular is very elemental for her. It’s very different than working with the fluid, liquid color of paint. “It’s all about the subtlety of different shades and values and how they can communicate,” she said. However, she doesn’t see a clear distinction between drawing and painting and instead feels they’re connected. “Sometimes I paint in a drawing-driven way, and sometimes I draw in a painterly way,” she said. Although there is some overlap in her treatment of the two media, she believes viewers relate to them differently. The senses respond differently, both for the artist and the viewer.

And of course, the time, place and other elements of her work also contribute to its emotional impact. Nicole describes herself as an emotional person with a strong interest in interior life. “I am someone who has an external and internal life,” she said, “and sometimes those things don’t add up. There are ways that plays out in the work in the sense that maybe the characters are not always connected to the environment they’re in.” This dissonance is a feature she attributes partly to being adopted and the instability that comes with missing an important piece of her identity.

Nicole said sometimes she finds shape-shifting comes easier to her as a result of her background, which is a sentiment echoed in an interview with Gillian Welch, a singer-songwriter she admires. In the interview, Welch said, “I do think that the abiding mystery of my origins has definitely had a profound effect upon my writing. There is that thing in the back of my mind, where I think I don’t really know who I am. And it may make it a little easier to shift around in my narrative voice.” Just as Welch inhabits a new character for every song, Nicole inhabits a new character each time she creates a new work. Maybe this ability comprises an unspoken kinship among those who’ve been adopted.

In addition to being adopted, Nicole lost her mom, when she was very young. Although not solely responsible for her decision not to decision not to have children, these circumstances played a role in that decision. “I was never one of those girls that babysat, so there was not a lot of exposure to kids,” she said. “It didn’t come naturally to me.” For Nicole, choosing not to have kids is just a different path. She still has as many demands on her time. They’re just different demands. Nicole recalls a moment when she realized that she was going to have to work harder to achieve success. Upon completion of her first life drawing class, she had undergone such a huge amount of growth that she felt compelled to visit the professor one last time to say goodbye. During the visit, he said, “Keep in touch and let me know when you have babies.” Nicole was surprised that those expectations were still so strong at the time but admitted her optimism was probably naive.
With those few words, her professor essentially destroyed the sense of reverence she’d had for him. “It was like a switch flipped,” she said, “and I took it as a challenge. All of the women I know have had similar experiences, but it made me work that much harder.” Although Nicole has made a conscious decision to devote more time to her career as an artist and professor and to experiencing life in her own way, she admires her friends who are moms. “I look at them with their kids with wonder,” she said, “and I think, ‘What an amazing thing that is!’ I have a deep respect for the ones who do it beautifully, even if they feel they don’t do it perfectly. Seeing that relationship at work is amazing.’’

As an artist, Nicole doesn’t necessarily strive for perfection, but there is always a higher bar to be set. “I have in my mind something I think painting can do that I’m still working toward–an ideal,” she said, “but perfectionism has a dark side that can inhibit discovery, so I try to be healthy about it. I try to accept where I am at and where my painting is, and that’s a constant practice.” Although being a successful artist inevitably requires a certain set of technical skills, Nicole hopes that when people view her work they see more than technical skill. She hopes they see light in darkness. She realizes people will have varying reactions to her work. Some may feel uncomfortable or dislike a piece as a matter of taste, but she said, “I hope I can make an image compelling enough that even if that’s their first response, it’s not their only response. I think especially when the work is emotional, it’s not always about making something beautiful. It might be about exploring isolation and solitude and whether people want to spend time with that.”

When composing a piece, Nicole thinks extensively about how all the elements will work together. In a sense, she considers how the viewer might respond to certain changes just as a director would in staging a play. “It’s always about creating an experience,” she said. “Rather than something to be looked at, it’s something to be entered into. It’s about making choices that guide the act of perception, and that’s part of creating the experience.”

For Nicole, painting goes beyond the normal and expected ways people live their lives. It goes beyond the ordinary, surface level, even if it does so through depicting everyday scenes. According to Nicole, painting allows people to find parallels in their own lives in the same way they might find those in novels, movies, plays or other works of art. In a way, seeing oneself or one’s life through an artist’s lens can bring about a level of clarity that could not be achieved on one’s own.

As an artist, Nicole aims to recreate for viewers an experience like the one she had while viewing Rembrandt’s self-portrait. “When they walk away, I hope they see the world differently,” she said. In an effort to continually see the world with fresh eyes, Nicole has lived her life not only open to change and growth but seeking it and following it. Working as an artist and as an Associate Professor of Art at Louisiana Tech University has connected her to the world and to people in ways that make continual growth possible. “Painting and teaching make me think about what it means to be human,” she said, “and my own assumptions are almost always not enough. They’re not the whole picture.” The constant interchange with students and other artists keeps her actively engaged and thinking about making. “It’s that constant learning thing that everyone who teaches talks about,” she said.

Since that first life drawing class, Nicole has grown into a style that feels authentic and continues to evolve. “I started out from nowhere and nothing,” she said, “and things have evolved to a degree that still amazes me. How does someone with no background in art end up teaching it and loving it?” In Nicole’s case, courage and persistence have been key. She said, “I think the way we get from one thing to the next is by noticing the things important to us and being willing to follow them, even if we don’t know where we’re going.”