Collect Raindrops: The Seasons Gathered
by: Nikki McClure

Hardcover. NY, Harry N. Abrams, 1st, 2007, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, pictorial boards with a black cloth spine, 112 pages. Armed with an X-acto knife, artist Nikki McClure painstakingly cuts out her images from a single sheet of black paper and creates a bold language that translates the complex poetry of motherhood, nature and activism into a simple and endearing picture. The nature of her work inherently draws the eye inwards, as each element has to be connected to the one next to it in some way, creating a fragile network of shapes and lines. Nikki McClure makes serene pictures of nature and her lilting portraits of animals offer a peaceful oasis from the visual overload of city life. Her work also depicts the virtues of hard labour and patience, which is inherent in her process as well as in the images themselves: weathered hands, washing dishes, people sweeping, mothers caring for their babies and farmers working the land. Clean copy.