Nick Werkmeister

Biography:

I grew up in a small town in western Nebraska called Maywood, population 215 people. My dad and grandfather were both farmers growing wheat and corn on farmland my grandfather bought in the 1970’s. I grew up farming, fishing, and hunting. When I graduated highschool I got a degree in welding and then moved to Lincoln Nebraska for work. I worked several welding jobs before finding a position I liked at a mechanical company where I learned to be a pipe welder and fitter.

In 2009 I decided to go back to school to get my bachelors degree. I enrolled in the art history program at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln and began taking sculpture classes as an elective. I gravitated towards sculpture and eventually had taken enough credits to get a degree in studio arts as well as art history.

After graduating from college I spent considerable time in NYC viewing art and trying to find work in the industry before deciding to move in 2014 to work for a friend on a cannabis farm in trinity county California. In 2015 I began building my own cannabis farm in Hayfork CA and eventually got it fully licensed by the state and then sold the business in 2021. Since selling the business I have tried a few different lines of work including art assistant and professional cooking. I am currently pursuing a full time career as an artist.

Artist Statement:

I am most interested in exploring processes within art. I enjoy and find meaning in the way a process that is left alone long enough creates its own art without the need for predetermined results or ideas to guide it. I specifically look towards the processes that formed the universe itself as a source of inspiration. I am inspired by mathematics and nature and do not see a stark difference between the two. I believe that mathematics is the way the universe reveals its processes so that they can be better understood by us.