Seasons of Resilience
Nicole Thibodeau & Claire Coté
Wildflower Playhouse Gallery, Taos, NM
June 10 - July 20, 2025
Opening Reception, June 20, 4:30 - 7 PM pm
Reception: Friday, June 20, 4:30 - 7 pm, artist talks 5:30 pm
Exhibition Dates: June 10 - July 20, 2025
Location: Wildflower Playhouse Gallery, 1339 Paseo Del Pueblo Sur, Taos, NM 87571
Hours: Open during events/by appointment, theater@wildflowerplayhouse.org, (575)770-3252
Seasons of Resilience is an exhibition of mixed-media works by artist friends, Claire Coté and Nicole Thibodeau. The two-person show is a culmination of years of creating in nature, imprinting ecological processes through the seasons. It is a celebration of our public lands and waters and their more-than-human inhabitants. Works in the show are created in specific local places in collaboration with the elements and seasons. Materials used to create the work include oil paint, watercolor, cyanotype, black tea, drawing, clay, sound, found objects and lake and river water. The exhibition will also include a collaborative installation of natural materials, sound, photography and citizen science.
The work in the show is the result of finding sanctuary in nature through the seasons. For Claire, this has been in the form of daily morning walks, observational photography, sound recording, sketching and writing at Eagle Rock Lake in Questa. For Nicole it has been through painting and drawing sessions at El Nogal trailhead near Taos. Both places are aquatic ecosystems and easily accessible to human visitors.
“My premise was simple: show up at the lake with an attitude of gentle curiosity, walk, observe and reflect. After a year of doing this four days a week, I’m completely addicted! I’ve accumulated hundreds of photos, videos, sketches, sound recordings and observations. I now think of these plants, trees, birds, animals, insects and even the rocks, lake and Red River as my neighbors; we should all get to know our neighbors!” says Claire.
These intentional and consistent times in nature are part micro-adventure, part art foray, part self-care, part place-care, and part citizen science. Art outcomes reflect Claire and Nicole’s own version of this ongoing, outdoor action-research, which they then take back to work on in their studios.
“This ritual of returning to the same places through seasonal and personal changes has become a practice of generating resilience and also provides inspiring opportunities to observe Nature’s tenacity and intelligence,” reflects Nicole.
Nicole and Claire have an exhibition history together. In 2023, they created The Blue Show at the Questa Public Library. At the end of 2024, they compared notes and realized that their practices were overlapping again and began planning a show for 2025.
Both Nicole and Claire grew up in Northern New Mexico and left the area to pursue their education and travel. Nicole holds an MA in English and MFA from Fort Hays State University. She works as a literacy tutor at Enos Garcia Elementary and UNM while creating out of her El Prado studio and in the wilderness. Claire received a BA in Cultural Anthropology and Fine Art from UNM in Albuquerque and then studied in Southwest England, where she received her MA in Art and Ecology from Dartington College of Art. As an artist-mother, and director of LEAP and Voices of the Northern Rio Grande, Claire creates her work on outdoor adventures, and at her Sunshine Valley home and studio.
On Friday, June 20th from 4:30-7 pm, all are invited to a reception to celebrate Seasons of Resilience at the WildFlower PlayHouse, in Taos, NM; artist talks will be presented at 5:30 pm. Seasons of Resilience is hosted by the WildFlower PlayHouse in their rotating exhibition space, coordinated by Taos artist, Melissa Lind. The exhibition is also part of the Taking. Up. Space. initiative facilitated by Rise and Repaint. T.U.S. is a grassroots, female-focused community global art Exhibition movement empowering women and nonbinary artists to take up more space and exhibit their art. There are over twenty exhibitions taking place around the world this year and Seasons of Resiliencein Taos is one of them. See more from this initiative by viewing the #takingupspace2025 hashtag.
Learn more about Seasons of Resilience:
Claire Coté www.clairecote.com @clairecotearts IG/FB
Nicole Thibodeau www.nicolethibodeau.com @creativelexicon IG/@nicolethibodeau.artist FB
WildFlower Playhouse: WildflowerPlayhouse.org @wildflowerplayhouse
