bio
Nicholas Cladis is an artist currently residing in Iowa City, IA. He has taught papermaking courses at Fukui Prefectural University (Japan) and the University of Iowa Center for the Book (US) and has been a visiting artist at other institutions in Japan and the United States.
For many years, Nicholas lived and worked in Echizen, Japan — an area with over 1,500 years of papermaking history — and continues to maintain an active relationship with the community there. His relationship with Echizen and his Japanese language skills have inspired and enabled Nicholas to facilitate an array of cross-cultural arts exchanges, exhibitions, and workshops.
Nicholas is the recipient of awards from the Japan Foundation NY, Andy Warhol Foundation, Stanley Foundation, National Endowment of the Arts, Iowa Arts Council, and Fukui prefectural government, among others. His works are in collections worldwide and he exhibits nationally and internationally.
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Nicholas’ installations and works on/with handmade paper are meditations on time.
Deep time, ecological time, cultural time, personal time, end of time.
His work is meant to provide space — space for contemplation and togetherness.
A space for reading. A space for searching.
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