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Healing Through Art: Rosalind Nzinga Vaughn-Nichol

  • Writer: Rosalind NZinga Vaughn-Nichol
    Rosalind NZinga Vaughn-Nichol
  • 16 hours ago
  • 4 min read

“My Secret Garden” 2022. Mixed media paper quilt, handmade papers, and collage with antique lace and textile inclusions. 38" H x 18" W x 1" D (Prayer Scapes Series). Commission for The Stacy Goldstein Breast Center at Overlook Medical Center. Summit, NJ. (Dedicated to you, Momma Esther Ewing🌸
“My Secret Garden” 2022. Mixed media paper quilt, handmade papers, and collage with antique lace and textile inclusions. 38" H x 18" W x 1" D (Prayer Scapes Series). Commission for The Stacy Goldstein Breast Center at Overlook Medical Center. Summit, NJ. (Dedicated to you, Momma Esther Ewing🌸

I came across Rosalind Nzinga Vaughn-Nicol through a video that was posted (see below). Her visual work was incredibly powerful and, beyond its beauty, carried significant historical relevance. Her work beckons the Ancestors and calls forth healing energy for the present. Garden Spices needed to feature this piece and a glimpse of her collection of work. Gate open on Rosalind Nzinga Vaughn-Nicol. - Victorine




ARTIST'S STATEMENT


I grew up in the Midwest before African American curricula existed in my school system. When I relocated to California after high school, I became aware of how deficient my education had been. That began my lifelong quest to educate myself and to retell stories that help keep my cultural heritage and history alive and relevant. My mostly abstract narratives are meant to stimulate dialogue. They are intentionally vague compositions related to complexities I feel towards a multicultural African and American heritage. I often incorporate iconography and textiles from American and African diaspora cultures as spiritual connection points in my work.


Adding papermaking to my practice started as a personal healing process. Embedding antique lace and old textiles into handmade paper bonds me to the familiar. A natural progression because I grew up in a family that did all kinds of handwork, including carpentry, masonry, ceramics, crochet, knitting, and embroidery. My maternal grandmother showed me how to recycle textiles for new uses by deconstructing garments down to their threads. The sheets of paper I make then become the basis of my mixed-media collages and paintings.

A little peek at the quilt I have been hand stitching for the past three months, I believe. Sort of been an obsession… (if you know me, you know my love of textile is forever married to my hand papermaking).
A little peek at the quilt I have been hand stitching for the past three months, I believe. Sort of been an obsession… (if you know me, you know my love of textile is forever married to my hand papermaking).

Inspired by this black bird batik fabric I had and the Beatles song Blackbird. It was written by Paul McCartney as a message of hope and encouragement to Black women in the United States during the Civil Rights Movement. Quilt working title: “We’ve Been Here Before (blackbird singing in the dead of night)” 2025. Mixed textile hand-stitched. Approx. 51”H x 36” W x 1”D.

“Faithe” 2024 (Her hair is her GLORY series). Mix media, collage, acrylic, handmade paper on canvas. 14”H x 11” W x 1.5”D.#collectivememory
“Faithe” 2024 (Her hair is her GLORY series). Mix media, collage, acrylic, handmade paper on canvas. 14”H x 11” W x 1.5”D.#collectivememory


“Hey You -- Get Off My Cloud!!” 2024. Mixed media, handmade paper with textile inclusions, collage, and acrylic paint. 48”H x 30”W.
“Hey You -- Get Off My Cloud!!” 2024. Mixed media, handmade paper with textile inclusions, collage, and acrylic paint. 48”H x 30”W.

Dedicated to my childhood sister-friend Helen who finished her battle with dementia in 2023. From childhood to the end, she never turned away from a challenge. But always with a loving heart.💛


The exhibition includes 17 works. Some old some new or unseen.


#newarknj #njpac #Nicos NJPAC in Newark



You are never alone, as long as you keep the memories of those you love with you. And the remembrance of where you come from....
You are never alone, as long as you keep the memories of those you love with you. And the remembrance of where you come from....

“So Great A Cloud of Witnesses (Heb12:1-2)” 2021. Collage, acrylic, and handmade papers, on archival paper. 26” H x 40” W.


In this piece here, “Morning GLORY” (working title), I was trying to show what worship feels like to me when the earth starts to melt off me. The cynicism, criticism, negative energy, distrust, and all the things that this world bacons us to hold onto. And you just arrive at a place where it’s just you and your creator. Pure, peaceful, no strife, no anger — just true light. A cleansing of the soul. Even though she’s holding her family and her thoughts, her braids are lightly transforming themselves into tiny little dots of concern. If she thinks of them at all….. It’s in prayer for what she’s being shown in the spirit realm.
In this piece here, “Morning GLORY” (working title), I was trying to show what worship feels like to me when the earth starts to melt off me. The cynicism, criticism, negative energy, distrust, and all the things that this world bacons us to hold onto. And you just arrive at a place where it’s just you and your creator. Pure, peaceful, no strife, no anger — just true light. A cleansing of the soul. Even though she’s holding her family and her thoughts, her braids are lightly transforming themselves into tiny little dots of concern. If she thinks of them at all….. It’s in prayer for what she’s being shown in the spirit realm.

“Morning Glory” 2024. 14” h x 11” w x 1.5 mixed media, acrylic painting with collage and handmade papers. Thanks in part to my sister, fellow PAPERMAKER, Miss Sally Rose @followers




Rosalind Nzinga Vaughn-Nicol
Rosalind Nzinga Vaughn-Nicol

Bio


Rosalind has been a mixed media artist for over four decades. In the early 2000s, she added papermaking to her art practice. She holds an Associate of Arts degree in Illustration from Fullerton City College, Fullerton, California; a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from California State University, Long Beach, California; and a Master of Arts in Education from Oral Roberts University, Tulsa, Oklahoma. She has also supplemented her papermaking practice by attending summer workshops over several years with June Tyler at Pondside Pulp and Paper in Norwich, New York.


Awards include a commission from Newark Arts, New Jersey; a Writers and Illustrators Grant from Highlights Foundation, Boyds Mills, Pennsylvania; and a grant to study Africana Traditions in the South from the Arts and Humanities Council of Tulsa, Oklahoma. She has been exhibiting in group and solo exhibitions and has worked with community arts groups, serving as a curator and board member for over two decades. Her art can be found in private and public collections, including Novartis North American Headquarters, East Hanover, New Jersey, and Atlantic Health Breast Centers in Morristown and Summit, New Jersey


Rosalind Nzinga Vaughn-Nichol

Mi xe d Me d i a A r ti st & Pa p er ma ke r

3275 N. ARSENAL AVE, INDPLS, IN 46218 ⬧ 973.207.8466 ⬧ INFO@ROSALINDNZINGA.COM ⬧ WWW.ROSALINDNZINGA.COM

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