Nonney Oddlokken

Nonney Oddlokken’s most recent work has been deeply inspired by experiences as a child raised by an agoraphobic aunt and her working mother. While her mother worked as a waitress, she spent a great deal of time with her aunt who was unable to leave her home due to mental illness. Looking back on this experience, she muses, “What could have been a catastrophic environment was instead turned into a world of magical realism.” For her, her early life was filled with her aunt’s magical creations such as baby birds leaving sticks of gum at the windowsill and a child named “Toots” that lived in the huge pear tree just outside their door. The amalgamation of these memories alongside Catholic references, Cajun folklore and a sprinkle of New Orleans Voodoo have led the artist to her most recent work, “Tiny, Little Fables,” which employ handmade papers, found imagery, embroidery, and hand-stitched gold embellishments.

Oddlokken is native of New Orleans, whose works have been exhibited throughout Louisiana, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, the Gulf Coast, Oklahoma, South Carolina, in addition to having work in the Southern Ohio Museum of Art’s permanent collection.