by Gina Scarpa and Mike Bandy

 

On last night's episode of Work of Art: The Next Great Artist, Nicole, the freelance design consultant, was eliminated. Her piece, "Mic Mac", a plaster mold covered in seeds and nuts and dedicated to her grandfather's Algonquin ancestry, was not well received by the judges. We caught up with Nicole today in an exclusive interview to talk about how she felt about her piece, what's coming up next for her, and the possibility of a relationship with Miles.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What made you try out for Work of Art?
A. Nicole: How I live my life is experimenting and trying new things and taking risks. When I heard of Work of Art, I thought it would be fun and I thought it would be such an interesting adventure. I thought it would be a great platform to explore.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: How do you feel about the work that you created, given the time constraints, in the competition?
A. Nicole: It's a challenge and I think that outside of the show, normally, I might not make the same work because it's very controlled. I would make similar work but not those exact pieces. It's controlled with material, time, but it's exciting what comes out of that.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What was your reaction when you found out that this week's challenge would take place in Connecticut?
A. Nicole: I thought it was really funny. I was like, "This is my challenge!" I'm from Connecticut. When I was there, I was a little bit overwhelmed. I have a very strong connection with the materials that were so familiar to me. The air smells the way I remember growing up. It felt really great.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Do you feel that you did your grandfather proud with your piece?
A. Nicole: I think that piece ... how it was portrayed on the show... it had to do more with the form of seeds and how when they die, they give life. That kind of triggered a lot of undercurrents. I think he'd be really excited in general for the show. He was an adventurer.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: There was a lot of talk on the show regarding the flirtation between you and Miles. Is what we saw accurate, and is there a potential relationship there?
A. Nicole: I think everybody is hopeful. Watching it, I was like, "Get together!" and I could see why people thought that but we're just totally good friends. We have a similar sense of humor and we're just buddies.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What was your favorite challenge?
A. Nicole: My favorite was the second one, with the discarded objects, the electronics graveyard. I just think it was my favorite because I was coming out of doing a portrait painting. I hadn't done a painting in three years. When I saw these objects that I'm so closely connected to, having studied industrial design, it made me feel less guilty.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Who are you rooting for in the finale, and why?
A. Nicole: You know what? I gotta go for the ladies. Peregrine is my homegirl. I love them all. I want to see them all do amazing but I gotta go for the ladies.

 

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: What's coming up next for you?
A. Nicole: I'm working on a bunch of exciting new projects and I'm really stoked about them. I'm doing a couple different things right now which is exciting. I don't like to do just one thing. I also just launched these brass knuckle rings with my design collective a week ago so that's really fun.

 

Work of Art: The Next Great Artist airs Wednesdays at 10/9c on Bravo.

 

(Image courtesy of Bravo)

 

Follow Gina at twitter.com/ginascarpa

 

For more Work of Art links, visit SirLinksALot.net