Meet Nicole Eboni, she began her creative career with a foundation in studio arts, cultivating a nuanced understanding of fine art and its material processes. She advanced her studies in art history with a focus on research, archives, and collections work within museum and gallery contexts. Her experience spans supporting and developing exhibitions and curatorial practices that integrate her rigorous scholarship with innovative presentation.
Today, she is an emerging scholar whose work bridges her practice and research, combining historical inquiry with extensive experience in collections, archiving, art handling, and exhibition design. She collaborates closely with museum curators, registrars, collection managers, conservators, and exhibition designers to foster both the intellectual interpretation and the physical stewardship of artworks in exhibitions.
Nicole’s close foundation in studio arts bridges her professional background in research & archives to practice and create meaningful connections between the artist and the audience.
Nicole holds a Bachelor in Fine Arts with a concentration in Drawing and Design from Old Dominion University, and a Masters of Art, in Art History and Visual Culture from Lindenwood University. Her background in studio arts deepens her understanding of materiality, spatial design, and visual communication.
Professionally, Nicole has worked across multiple departments in museums and galleries, including collections, archives, exhibition design, and art handling. She has contributed to the production and installation of art fairs, gallery shows, and museum exhibitions, gaining hands-on experience in procurement, registrar duties, and liaising with artists, lenders, and institutions.
Her academic research focuses on portraiture and figurative art within the Black American experience, with a particular emphasis on the Civil Rights era and the Black Arts Movement. Nicole’s scholarship examines how artists such as Faith Ringgold, Betye Saar, Joyce Scott, Barkley Hendricks, and Benny Andrews used portraiture as a tool for political expression, identity formation, and historical record. Nicole draws direct connections between this legacy and the work of contemporary artists like Kara Walker, Simone Leigh, and Amy Sherald, whose representations of Black bodies continue to challenge and expand the visual narratives found in mainstream art history.
Through her work, Nicole aims to elevate the visibility of Black artists and foster critical dialogue around representation, embodiment, and cultural memory in art. Her research and practice are committed to reshaping how institutions and audiences engage with Black portraiture — not just as art objects, but as living records of resilience, resistance, and everyday life.