My paintings examine the concept of home as a condition shaped by agency, chance, and broader social systems.
Using abstracted architectural forms, shifting landscapes, and recurring motifs such as houses and moving boxes, I create images that exist between abstraction and representation. Geometry and color structure the work, while these forms function as metaphors for environments in flux—reflecting displacement, transition, and self-determination. Using traditional European oil painting devices such as perspective with Modernist color theory, Maynard constructs then disrupts this exactitude with brash gestural painting.
The work considers the psychological dimensions of home in relation to belonging, stability, and change. At its core, it reflects a capacity for reinvention, where changingenvironments mirror the resilience required to navigate them.
Nicole Maynard is a contemporary painter who blends architectural precision and painterly abstraction to explore how social systems, chance, and human agency define the concept of home. Maynard's unique style bridges the gap between strict geometric calculation and assertive brushwork by using traditional European perspective and Modernist color theory to construct landscapes that she then intentionally disrupts.
Originally from Boston, Massachusetts, Maynard earned an MFA in Painting with a minor in Printmaking from the University of Pennsylvania in 1996. Career highlights include exhibiting extensively in group and solo shows throughout the Northeast and Florida, featuring seven solo exhibitions at the Bowery Gallery in New York City, and completing a long-term artist residency at the Bakehouse Art Complex in Miami. She currently resides and works in New Jersey, positioned between the major art hubs of Philadelphia and New York City.
Bakehouse Art Complex, Miami, FL Artist-in-Residence, 2017–2023
Center for Emerging Visual Artists, Philadelphia, PA Affiliate Artist, 2026
Bowery Gallery, New York City 1999, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2013, 2017
AS220, Providence, RI, 2011
Rochester Contemporary, Rochester, NY, 2005
Davidson Gallery, Roberts Wesleyan College, Rochester, NY, 2005
Printmaking Council of New Jersey, North Branch, NJ, 2000
Villanova University, Villanova, PA, 1999
Johnson & Johnson World Headquarters, New Brunswick, NJ, 1999
2026
Take Care (of Us), CFEVA in partnership with the Science Center, Philadelphia, PA (curated by Natasha Zeta)
2023
Blue Chips, Club Gallery, Miami, FL (curated by Phil Lique)
7th Annual All Florida Exhibition, Alliance for the Arts, Fort Myers, FL (curated by Grace Gdaniec)
2022
The BluPrnt, Bridge Red Studios, Miami, FL (curated by Robert Chambers)
Miami Girl Power, Art to Save Lives Contemporary, Miami, FL
Artists Open Miami, Miami-Dade County Open Studios
Waves, Arts Warehouse, Delray Beach, FL
Taplin Gallery, Miami, FL (curated by Mark Runge)
Art Basel Studio Tour, Bakehouse Art Complex, Miami, FL
2021
Viewpoints, Audrey Love Gallery, Miami, FL (curated by Eduard Duval-Carrié and Laura Novoa)
2021
Portfolio Series, Coral Gables Museum, Coral Gables, FL
2020
Women in the Arts, Amerant Bank, Coral Gables, FL (curated by Espacio Visible)
2019
Between the Legible and the Opaque: Approaches to an Ideal in Place, Bakehouse Art Complex, Miami, FL (curated by Adler Guerrier)
Material Abstraction, Flow 305 Gallery, Miami, FL
National Juried Painting Exhibition, University of Southern Mississippi (curated by Bill Scott)
50th Anniversary Exhibition, Bowery Gallery, New York City
2018
Bakehouse Artists, Audrey Love Gallery (curated by Danielle Damas)
Bedrock: Paintings by Nicole Maynard-Sahar and Jason Aponte, Swenson Gallery, Miami, FL
2017
Pinta Contemporary Art Fair, Miami, FL
2016
Three Painters, Fountain Street Gallery, Framingham, MA
2015
Curious Encounters, Gallery 51, North Adams, MA (jurors Denise Markonish and Jay Clark)
Institute of Contemporary Art Miami Education Programs Manager, 2022–2024 | Professional development leader for Miami-Dade County public school art teachers | Teaching Artists training and supervision | Visiting Critic New World School of the Arts and Design and Architecture Senior High School (D.A.S.H.)
Miami Country Day School, Miami, FL Elementary Art Teacher (PK–5), 2019–2022
Miami International University of Art & Design, Miami, FL Professor of Fine Arts, 2018–2019 | Thesis Writing and Contemporary Art Theory and Practice for MFA students
Lafayette College, Easton, PA Professor of Fine Arts, 2001–2003
Additional teaching, visiting artist appointments, and museum education roles held at New World School of the Arts; Memorial Art Gallery (Rochester); Massachusetts College of Art & Design; New Bedford, Massachusetts Public Schools, and others.
