Meet Nicole Durham | TheCaulkArtist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Nicole Durham and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Nicole, why did you pursue a creative career?

It’s not that one pursues an artistic or creative career as much as it pursues you, right! LOL. Honestly, art and creating have been within me all my life, since I was in grade school but life has a funny way of changing things up on us and challenging us. I pursued a career, then a family, and all those things took precedence over what was pursuing me.

I think many women can resonate with that moment where our careers and our families take over and we have a habit of putting things on the back burner for ourselves. I truly neglected my passion for years while I excelled as a professional and ‘attempted’ to as a mother but it was always there. I learned that now, women are finding balance in having it all, especially what matters to them. The age of the mom-creators/businesswomen is here and we’re running our small business while having a family, and a career that encourages some flexibility and balance.

We’re no longer singularly focused where our passions and determination come second to deemed feminine responsibilities and that movement has driven the direction for a lot of my creatives.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Professionally…I’m a 9-5 marketer for an amazing upstream oil and gas software firm called Enertia Software. I’m fortunate to work for an organization that encourages creativity and work/life balance. That’s my nice way of saying they tolerate my artistic side. Ha And when I’m not representing robust software, I’m TheCaulkArtis! A multi-media contemporary artist that creates with caulk. My core material is caulk, which is not on your traditional painting supply list. LOL. More like your trip to the hardware store list.

Yeah, it’s that stuff that you use to line your bathtub and sinks, etc. I get a lot of funny looks when I tell people my social handle is TheCAULKartist. Lots of jokes at dinners when discussing the name, product, and so many missuses of the often challenging to pronounce material’s name…It’s all in good fun and def a great ice breaker.

I first use caulk years ago while trying to multi-task between a DIY bathroom update and trying to paint a very contemporary and emotional self-portrait. At the time I was dealing with endometriosis and trying to capture my emotions on a canvas. I was literally frustrated…with my body and with many acrylic products while trying to create depth, chaos, fear, through linear effects and nothing was working correctly. While lining the edge of the tub, because staying busy was the new therapy at the time, my aha moment struck and I basically abandoned the bathroom to create like crazy into what is the Rot Frau and the first of my chaos series.

Why caulk? It’s so much like life: It’s messy, it’s sticky, it’s heavy, it’s malleable. What I was using and working with was a much more dense and pliable material than traditional acrylic texture products and with some time, love, and care I could manage it. Using caulk on my creatives is more like sculpting on a canvas and I love the industrial feel that the caulk product gives to my creatives. I can leave it in it’s raw, matte traditional form or I can jazz it up.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
While I was born in Germany, grew up in El Paso, I love me some Houston! I tell people all the time, if you can’t make it here you can’t make it anywhere! The city is so full of life, determination, and resiliance. There’s always something to do. My favorie passtime is checking out new restaurants and what I guess we’ll call TikTok Hot Spots but my menu options are often limited to the feature items because I’m something like a vegitarian…something like means most of the time. Ha. But it’s fun to find what plantbased options a lot of places have and to share how good they are. Texas being a “meaty” state, it’s not always easy but that’s ok. We try and that’s part of the fun. Recent loves were Joey’s Uptown located in the Galleria and KISS over in the Silos near all the amazing Art! That’s a perfect day, grab some vegitarian dumplings from the Dumpling House, then walk over to the Silos at Sawyer Yards and enjoy all the amazing local artists and just absorbe their vibe. Then in he evening come back and enjoy some lively club like dining at KISS or if it’s a slghtly more chill-people watching type of evening Joey’s is perfect.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
For sure the family! My biggest support system and source of encouragement ironically comes from the individuals that I dedicated so much time to. Perhaps it’s Karma working her magic and in some aspect how I try to raise, nurture, and cared for them. I want to thank them for challenging me to find myself again and assuring me they were “good” and then encouraging me to get back out there! Thanks Team. 😉

Website: www.thecaulkartist.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thecaulkartist

Twitter: https://twitter.com/thecaulkartist

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thecaulkartist

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/user_details?userid=cYrsp2weW_dBGgvgygMNOg

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzG94wRqYz_yUs6w3jywhTg

Other: https://www.artpal.com/thecaulkartist

Image Credits
Nicole Durham