"As a child I loved finding 4 leaf clovers as much as any other playtime activity.  In my both of my grandmothers' yards, right by the back porches, there were patches of clover and hours of time to look through them.  I also loved my Great Uncle Lige's vast amount of interesting junk.  He collected everything, even down to egg shells from his morning breakfast.  I guess that's part of my fascination for anything quirky or associated with fortune."

Music Boxes, Assemblages, and Constructions

Playing for Keeps
Music Box plays "The Wedding March"
(14" x 18" x 5")

                                  High Diving     Assemblage      (16" x 16" x 4")

Solitary Confinement      Assemblage      (6" x 9" x 3")

Love Poison No. Nine      Assemblage    (8" x 10" x 3")

"Depth Perception"    Assemblage    (24" x 36")

Mixed media works by Vicki Niolet, from Bay St. Louis, MS. feature assemblages and three-dimensional music boxes. She uses found objects to create shrines and repositories, turning ordinary items into cherished relics. She crafts focal details inside the spaces from clay, handmade paper, and photographic images of lucky charms, faces, and hearts. These elements are combined in altars surrounding castaway treasures with symbolic messages.

Niolet has been creating constructions for almost 30 years, using items from flea markets, thrift stores, and rummage sales.  But in 2005, she lost much of her scavenged collection to Hurricane Katrina. She was able to salvage some of her own materials, and combined them with other items that were abandoned on the roadsides of the neighborhoods.  This unexpected “windfall” of found objects provided a different, more significant cache of raw materials.  These items were now even more interesting because they had been washed with the “Katrina patina” and had a history all their own.

Since the last five years since the storm, Niolet has created over 250 pieces using her “Katrinkets”.  In addition to her clay and paper creations, in some assemblages she attaches music box mechanisms, playing tunes that often have humorous implications.  In “Love is a Many Splintered Thing”, a broken heart, surrounded by barbed wire, plays the familiar song that inspires the title.

In 2006 and 2007 she published two books of Katrina photos and commentary.  She also created public sculptures that are featured on the Bay Bridge and at the historic Depot in Bay St. Louis. She continues to work and live in the Old Town area while exhibiting throughout the country. She currently is represented by Ward-Nasse Gallery in New York City and The Garden District Gallery in New Orleans.