| Nicole Bartelme | |
|---|---|
| Born | 17 April 1967 Minneapolis, Minnesota |
| Nationality | American |
| Field | Photography, Collage, Painting, Interior Design, Graphic Design, Poetry, Performance |
| Training | Rhode Island School of Design |
| Patrons | Henry Buhl, Aaron Schwartz |
| Influenced by | Berenice Abbott, Kurt Schwitters, Sebastião Salgado, Romulo A. Yanes, John Law |
Nicole Bartelme (born April 17, 1967) is an American artist and a pioneer of The TriBeCa Film Festival in Manhattan, New York City.[1] Bartelme works in several genres and media, including photography, interior/set design, poetry and sound. Bartelme received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1989. Her studies included Illustration, Film and Textiles.
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As Director of the TriBeCa Partnership in 1997, an initiative of the umbrella organization, Association of Community Employment Programs (ACE), Bartelme left in 2000, to form a new entity: The TriBeCa Film Festival. Proceeds were designed to support ACE's out reach programs for The Homeless in New York City. Her premise for the Festival involved independent films that embrace a common humanity among people with unique sound tracks.[2] “The power of film is the power of storytelling: Independent Film – Independent Thinking” was the Festival’s mantra.[3]
The first public call for entries, “Documentary Films: Give Context to World Issues” was printed in the DownTown Express, December Issue, 2000. On December 9, 2001 within an hour after the website tribecafilmfestival.com was launched over 800 inquiries and congratulatory notes were posted.[4] After the attacks to the World Trade Center, Bartelme negotiated and relinquished trade mark and intellectual property rights to The TriBeCa Film Center. Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro and Trina Wyatt subsequently commenced with the TriBeCa Film Festival in April 2002.
Bartelme’s entity the TriBeCa Film Festival, LLC was transformed into TriBeCa Native, LLC with a non-profit component designed to raise funds dedicated to celebrating the history of the neighborhood while helping cure conditions of societal challenges throughout Manhattan. Its initiatives include TriBeCa Chocolate® and TriBeCa Trail. TriBeCa Trail’s first maker on the historical architectural walking tour begins at the corner of Hudson and Vestry Streets. On November 8, 2008, a plaque commemorating Christian Frederick Martin, designed by David Yurman, was unveiled to commemorate C.F. Martin Guitars, 175 years, seven generations of quality guitar making at its first location in 1833.[5]
Bartelme’s most celebrated exponents of assemblage are influenced by constructivism, with the injection of abstract expressionist painting and printmaking. Some ‘pieces’ are fronted with silk screen on glass pane. These non-traditional portraits are arranged collections of photographs, personal documents or items the sitter provides for the work. Many are oil pigments painted on copper with a reference to journalism’s graphic formatting. Columns and headlines are illustrated through torn fragments of texture that represent the body of text/words, punctuated by cast bronze periods.[6] Like artist Kurt Schwitters, Bartelme is fascinated by fragments once beautiful and precious. Personal and universal objects evoke connections, found on sailing voyages to Venezuela and frequent trips to flea markets from New York to Munich. Several images reference Bartelme’s photographs documenting eight winters of living on the historic Pennacook, a Moran red tugboat built in 1898.[7] These black and white images capture the individuals that lived on Pier 25, in Manhattan during the 1990s.
Editor, Photographer of the TriBeCa Guide 2000, for the Association for Community Employment. 360 pages dedicated to the shops, artists and restaurants of the area known as 'Triangle Below Canal' in Manhattan.[8] Her photographs also extend into the culinary industry. Works document ingredients and food presentation/philosophy. Published in numerous magazines, some of which include Black Book, Brutus, Gourmet, Bouley Magazine and brushstroke Magazine.[9]
Bartelme’s work in sound and in poetry of Hafez have been recorded on The Green Sea of Heaven, translations by Elizabeth T. Gray Jr., White Cloud Press and Water From The Well, by Reza Derakshani, Pomegranate Records, 2001. Much of the content recited in the poetry, literature and lore are inspirations for her visual works. Interiors, both commercial and residential as well as Set Designs are an extension of Bartelme’s paintings/photographic collages. Patterns and textiles are the foundation. Backdrops have textures filled with reference, woven together with tension both torn and whole. Dancers held high reveal unfolding costumes that serve as a foreground scrim to conceal or reveal their movements.[10] “Being connected to the TriBeCa Community serves as a lynch pin for my creative endeavors” Bartelme said, “It’s a think tank of colleagues and shared ideas”.[11]
