About Nicki
Nicki is an Asian Pacific Islander American artist and educational practitioner. She was born and raised in the Richmond District of San Francisco. She received her BA from Pitzer College (Education and Community Engagement) in 2021. Her work documents her continuous exploration of ascribed/prescribed identity, (re)appropriation, perception, and belonging through various artistic mediums— such as relief printmaking, painting, and sculpture.
Email: naquino@students.pitzer.edu | Instagram
Artist Statement
My work documents my continuous exploration of ascribed/prescribed identity, (re)appropriation, perception, and belonging through a variety of artistic mediums— specifically, installation, relief printmaking, painting, and sculpture. Art making is one of the tools that I use to make sense of the world and better understand the complex relationships between history, power, and personal/shared identity. I often incorporate so-called “traditional” Chinese, Filipino, and Native Hawaiian motifs and techniques, as well as popular Asian American iconography in my pieces as a way to reaffirm, honor, and put into question the experiences of Asian American, Oceanic and “third culture” individuals in diaspora.
CV
Experience
Resident Artist, Balay Kreative; San Francisco, CA - March 2024 - Present
Youth Education Instructor, Dragonfly Designs; San Francisco, CA - August 2022-July 2023
Adult Education Instructor, Root Division; San Francisco, CA - June 2022-December 2023
Studio Artist, Root Division; San Francisco, CA - July 2021-December 2023
Filipinx Teaching Artist Program Fellow, Root Division; San Francisco, CA - July 2021-July 2023
Spring Teaching and Tutoring Fellow, Breakthrough of San Francisco; San Francisco, CA - Jan 2017-June 2017
Event Organizer and Merchandise Coordinator, Claremont Zinefest; Claremont, CA - Oct 2018-Apr 2019
Education
Queer Ancestors Project 2023 Cohort, San Francisco - 2023
Pitzer College – BA in Education and Community Engagement, Minor in Asian American Studies - 2021
Exhibitions
“With a Twist: Stories of Her Own” (2024) | Arc Gallery | San Francisco, CA
“Queer Ancestors Project” (2024) | Strut SF | San Francisco, CA
“Lunar New Year/1st Anniversary Exhibition” (2024) | The Tamper Room | Fremont, CA
Root Division Annual Auction (2023) | Root Division | San Francisco, CA
New Growth (2023) | Root Division | San Francisco, CA
“Taste” Root Division Spring Auction (2023) | Root Division | San Francisco, CA
“MORE IS MORE!” (2023) | 4 Star Theater | San Francisco, CA
“Nightmare Vacation” Solo Show (2022) | Root Division | San Francisco, CA
“RD Makes” (2022) | Root Division | San Francisco, CA
Fellowship Exhibition (2022) | Root Division | San Francisco, CA
20th Anniversary Exhibition (2022) | Root Division | San Francisco, CA
“Unfurl” (2022) 80 Albion | San Francisco, CA
“RD Makes” (2021) | Root Division | San Francisco, CA
Root Division Annual Auction (2021) | San Francisco, CA
Virtual Group Exhibition (2021) | (415) Public Gallery | San Francisco, CA
Arts Festival (2018) | Claremont Zinefest | Claremont, CA
“Ephemeral” (2018) | Pomona College Studio Art Hall | Claremont, CA
“Good Head” (2017) Trapxart | Avalon Hollywood | Los Angeles, CA
Awards
Futures Fund (2023) | Chinese Cultural Center | San Francisco, CA
Press
“Zines and the Socially Conscious Creative Process of Nicki Aquino” (2019), The Outback News