Nicole Chesney’s work relays the experience of air and water and their union. Her poetic imagery is inspired by the writing of French philosopher Gaston Bachelard. She pays respect to his concepts of dream and reverie in paraphrasing him to say that it is the artist's job “to convey a sense of wonder.”

Part of the Sky Water series being presented at Heller Gallery, this series explores the literal sources of ‘sky water’ — the fog that hangs in the air and the clouds that drift through the sky. Luminous abstract compositions emerge from and fade into the matte sanded plane of the glass panels on which they are painted. In her paintings "air and water join to create an infinite, seamless 'unsilvered mirror,' where the horizon ceases and the beyond continues."

Chesney received her undergraduate education at California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, CA and at the Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, MA; and holds an MA from the Canberra School of Art, Australian National University. In 2006 she was a finalist in the prestigious Bombay Sapphire Prize in London, England. She was awarded the 2005 Rakow Commission by the Corning Museum of Glass and is the recipient of the 2004 UrbanGlass Award for New Talent and a 2001 Jutta Cuny-Frantz Foundation award. Her works have been exhibited internationally and are included in public and private collections in Australia, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Switzerland and the United States.

http://www.hellergallery.com/artists/chesney_nicole/index.php