Corner Gallery Hosts Works of David Prince

Photo Credits:

Taylor Nadauld

NIC Photography Instructor, Jessica Raetzke, admires the work of David Prince

For David Prince, the search for artistic inspiration is just a matter of looking in his backyard.

“If I was going to make a sculpture for a plant, what would it look like?”

Prince is already experienced in asking, and answering that question for himself, but he answered it for others when he brought his latest series of artwork to North Idaho College on Monday, giving students a taste of what sculptures look like when the natural world and a creative mind come together.

Prince gives credit to his exploration of yards and gardens for his nature-based creations that resemble something that might happen when “Alice in Wonderland” surrealism meets Dr. Seuss’s childlike whimsicality.

“I got interested in that idea of a yard as an underutilized space by artists and started getting interested in using my own backyard as a source of making art.”

The show was held in The NIC Corner Gallery of the Boswell Hall, where students were greeted with refreshments and invited to walk through the gallery at their leisure to explore Prince’s various creations.

Taylor Nadauld
David Prince

Prince spent a lot of time in Giverny, France, home of Claude Monet’s gardens. It was there that Prince became intensely interested in gardens, nature, and the manipulation of nature to create art.

“I spent a lot of time in the Monet gardens taking photographs,” said Prince. “[I] got interested in how he would compose plants, almost the way he would compose a painting where he would set up different plants next to each other to create color, contrast, and create a composition with the actual plants, which he would then paint, and so the gardens sort of operated like his studio.”

“I was just interested in gardens and yards as a place that’s sort of halfway between public and private space and there between wild nature and controlled space.”

Taylor Nadauld
“Orange Sculpture with Cactus” by David Prince

As far as art goes, Prince says that sculptures are unique because they  ” are like a 4-D experience”.

“A sculpture is something that you walk around, and in the time it takes to walk around it, it changes, depending on your perspective and your orientation in the room; and so it creates almost a story depending on how you’re looking at it. Anybody who experiences it is going to have a different experience depending on how they come in contact with it.

Prince also offered some advice for students at NIC who may be trying to pursue art and make a living.

“Putting in work is the most important thing,” said Prince. “And finding a balance between pushing what you’re doing and just going for it; and making lots of stuff.

“In terms of  how to make things work in the art world, if you want to be an artist, I support myself through a variety of means. Right now I’m a teacher, which is my main source of income. I do sell some work but it wouldn’t support me on its own. I get some money from visiting artists’ gigs and applying for grant and fellowships.

“People…find ways of doing what they want to do.  I actually have a lot of friends that work in design, especially online information design, like web design. It allows them to do their art in edition”.

This is Prince’s first exhibit to be entirely based in ceramics. He said those interested in his work can expect more ceramic pieces, as well as more videos.