Nicole Moan

born 1977, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Nicole is a full-time artist born into a family of artists. Her last formal art training was a beginner’s ceramic class at a community college where she was told everything she did was wrong. Initially resisting the urge to follow in her parents’ footsteps, she became a licensed auto mechanic. Nicole claims her experience fixing cars informs the unique way she thinks about design. Eventually, her love for hand building ceramics lured her back into the artistic realm.

Nicole learns best through trial and error and her home and studio are an experimental playground. Exterior and interior walls, floors, and walkways are covered with beautiful ceramic mosaic work. Her bathroom is especially stunning. It’s like being immersed in a pool of water, with mermaids and lily pads on two walls, ceramic transcriptions of her father’s paintings on the other two walls, and a countertop consisting of a liquid plastic wave with embedded shells.

Aside from ceramic tile, Nicole is well known for her wearable sculptures or  ceramic corsets. While clay tells her what it wants to be and she’s often inspired by the emotional impact of nature, her corsets also focus on more practical concerns. Wishing to provide a more comfortable fit than what traditional corsets offer, her ceramic corsets hug the entire torso. This avoids the uneven pressure along the abdomen caused by corsets reliant on wires or boning. Using clay also allows her to sculpt elaborate designs. Her corsets can be elegant, witty, dark, or intimidating. Each corset is unique and can be designed to fit any body type.  Nicole's wearable sculptures have garnered national and international attention.