NIARUS WALKER
Artist
My paintings reflect the transience of life with references to consciousness which encompasses
time, memory, experience and identity
Niarus
Like a dream, life is transient, mysterious and illusive. When I first thought about art and the reason that I make it, I realized that what I was doing was sharing experiences which others may or may not have had. My work varies in its physical manifestation, however it is singularly a way of communicating how I see the life.
Experience, as part of life itself is momentary and we retain those experiences through memories which in turn forms our identity. Collected within our memory are objects, people, and events, which help create what we know of ourselves and our world.
Memory is important to me because of a lifetime of memory loss and forgetfulness. At 48 I was told that I was ADD, while getting treatment for breast cancer. That revelation cleared up so much for me and helped me understand myself much better.
The other revelation was that the art that I make matter. For so much of my life I couldn't see the relevance of it and questioned the what and the why of it. One clear symptom of ADD other than my forgetfulness is my inability to focus on just one specific genre or type of art or even one type of medium. I need to continually explore and play with various media.
For a long time I have been intrigued by the Vanitas and my mortality is always on my mind. I do not fear death because I believe that the soul is eternal, but the transience of time is ever before me. Ironically before my diagnosis I felt strongly that I should explore the idea of the Vanitas, in that I needed to examine the brevity of existence and consider what is really important.
Currently I am painting works inspired by Dutch and Flemish Vanitas genre with an eye towards contemporary issues and figurative works which focuses on memory and experience with references to identity and consciousness
Niarus Walker is a visual artist, art educator and curator and was born in Dominica, W.I, the land of 365 rivers and amazing outdoor experiences. She received a BFA form Moore College of Art and Design, Philadephia and an MS in Art Education from Florida State University.
Niarus currently lives and works on St. Croix, USVI, the island of beautiful sandy white beaches and great outdoor adventures. She has been a practicing artist and Art educator working on St. Croix on the middle school and high school levels for 25 years.
She has exhibited locally, nationally and Internationally including the United States and Demark.
Her works are primarily in private collections. She has curated a number of exhibitions and has had several solo and group exhibitions over the 25 years.
Until 2019 Niarus was a volunteer to The Caribbean Museum Center for the Arts on St. Croix, serving as board member, President of the board of directors, Curator and general supporter of CMCARTS
Niarus is currently working on a project called TAKE5-V.I. a platform for enhancement and promotion of artists who live and work in the Virgin Islands of the United States.
My work takes on various manifestations from the genre of still-life to figurative paintings and drawings and sculpture. These images are physical symbols of things that are ethereal such as memories and experiences. Every image is metaphoric and represents the mystery of experience and memories. Memories and experiences are tied to identity.
I work in mixed media, water color, oils, acrylic and drawing media because I find that certain mediums are better suited to a particular story and the spirit of the idea chooses that medium.