The artwork of Sheboygan’s Kimberly Nysse is the focus of a new exhibition at Lakeland University’s Bradley Gallery.
“True Story” will open Friday, Nov. 15, with a 4:30 p.m. reception with the artist. The exhibit is open until Dec. 18. Lakeland’s Bradley Gallery is open Monday-Friday from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. It is closed Saturday and Sunday and when classes are not in session.
Nysse is a freelance artist and costume designer with years of related work experience, as well as a portfolio of varied accomplishments, including awards, exhibitions and academic achievements. Whether it is drawing, collage, photography, ceramics, encaustic or painting, her work insists upon mindfulness and reverence for the process.
Adopted at a young age, Nysse said her search for self has been more intense than it is for most, and her self-portraits are a direct extension of that continuous search.
“I acquire the deepest knowledge of myself by exploring the most intimate truths, and then abstracting from that perception of reality,” she said.
Her background and education are in costume design for the theatre. The connection from stage to canvas is apparent. Her art is bold, saturated in intense color, and larger than life. Working mainly with acrylic on hand-stretched canvas, Nysse’s style ranges from realism to the abstract, with carefully measured geometry forming the backgrounds and patterns seen throughout her pieces. Although her self-portraits are intensely personal, they also reveal universal emotion as they concretize the fundamental, yet ever-changing, views of herself and her existence
She is a student at Holy Family College in Manitowoc and lives and works in Sheboygan.
