“I consider myself a storyteller. With layers of texture created from paint, textiles, recycled materials, and images, my narratives emerge....
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 retell stories that help keep history alive and relevant. Choosing to remember pays homage to my ancestors and plants seeds as gifts to our children. 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 use iconography and textiles from the African diaspora as spiritual connection points in my work.
Adding papermaking to my practice started as ahealing 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. These sheets of paper then became the basis of my mixed-media collages and paintings."
Rosalind Nzinga Vaughn-Nichol was born into a multi-generational family of artisans and craftsmen. She studied drawing and painting at Herron School of Art and Design, Indiana / Purdue University, Indianapolis, IN; received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from California State University Long Beach, Long Beach, CA; and a Master of Divinity in Pastoral Care, and a Master of Arts in Education from Oral Roberts University, Tulsa, OK.