Willem and Elaine de Kooning, Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner, Jean Arp and Sophie Taeuber-Arp, and Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg are but a few of the many “art couples” who have lived and worked together. It has been said that the same traits that make a good marriage also define a good working relationship.
THE magazine visited Hillsboro, New Mexico to visit the home and studios of Nolan Winkler—painter, printmaker, and calligrapher—and her husband, R. Wm. Winkler, who makes sculptural assemblages of found objects and recycled materials, to find out how they blend art and their personal lives.
INFLUENCING EACH OTHER’S WORK/COMMON THREADS
He said: I strongly feel that our mutual understanding and appreciation of each of our very different approaches to producing our art is the essential basis of our influence on each other’s work. It results in a positive atmosphere in which to create.
She said: Winkler seldom, if ever, influences the work. However, he has been a big influence on my title-making abilities. A piece that would once have been titled: Grass #1 might now be called Sometimes the Grass is Green?, giving the viewer a little help.
He said: Common threads aren’t readily identifiable or necessary.
She said: Common threads? None.
TAKING AND GIVING CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM
He said: Being highly opinionated individuals, we work at being considerate and attentive to each other’s interests. We don’t always agree, but we respect our individualities. When it comes to my own art production, while I will accept constructive criticism when offered by Nolan, I seldom seek it from her—or anyone. I seldom offer constructive criticism unless asked.
She said: If I think I’m in a jam in the studio, I’ll sometimes invite Winkler in. His criticism in those instances is a good catalyst. Other times I invite him in when I’m really pleased with what I’ve done. Some of those times he appears not to be impressed. Doesn’t matter. As far as offering him “valuable” criticism (because he never asks for it), he suggests I might have something to do in my own studio. I laugh and go back to my own work.
BLENDING PERSONAL AND PRIVATE LIVES
He said: I am ever conscious of giving Nolan the considerable time and space she requires for her art work. Our art dominates us individually and we mutually and very harmoniously blend in the other personal and private aspects of our lives together.
She said: No trick. Winkler’s easy. I greatly admire his amazing gift of creativity and I know he respects my work. He stays in his studio. I stay in mine. Personally, we disagree on insignificant things but our core value systems are similar. And since, at this point in our country’s history and behavior, we are politically in sync, life with Winkler is quite harmonious and humorous.
CURRENT WORK
He said: I am working on a series of seven to nine wall pieces based upon an El Paso entrepreneur and his forays into 1900s mining and Mexican timber land developments.
She said: I’m currently pushing to expand my vision of the image area from using mainly the central figure to an all over, different use of the space. My latest work uses a repetitive print matrix in patterned images of shapes with which I feel a comradeship.
