Nicole Woodbury, A Sovereign Mind

Artist: Nicole Woodbury

Title: A Sovereign Mind

Medium: Porcelain and mason stains

Dimensions: 13 x 9 x 8 inches

Price: $2500

Artist Statement: Line upon line, the strata of the earth records an ancient history of becoming. Layer upon layer, knowledge and experience presses into us—knowledge acquired precept upon precept—each moment shaping perception, identity, and choice. In this piece, I imitate the geological process with mason-stained porcelain, compressing coil upon coil, layering, folding and sanding. The form twists, opens, and closes in on itself, suggesting an organic mind at work: expanding to receive, contracting to discern, turning ideas over until they take shape. Growth is often nonlinear—cyclical, intuitive, and layered rather than straight. At our core is an innate sense of identity forged in a crucible of experience. This work reflects an ongoing process of becoming. We are not fully formed; we are forming. Each fold is a choice. Each exposed line is a history. Each twist is an act of agency. If we can bend our minds around accepting the layered nature of who we are—contradictions, intuitions, strength, vulnerability—then we begin to claim the authority that has always been ours.
Sovereignty is sacred co-authorship with God. It is trusting that our own spiritual impressions matter, that our voice is divinely endowed, and that our stewardship over her mind, body, spirit, and story is holy work. Sovereignty, like stone, is built line upon line.

Artist Bio: The varied mediums of Nicole Woodbury’s expressive work, capture that sense of awe and wonder she feels from nature by blending the beauty of mathematical and scientific elements with creative expression. In undulating forms of marbled porcelain, in steel and glass expressions of celestial orbits, and in the delicate curves of white string, she uses organic patterns to express truths and principles that we are purposefully and powerfully made and that the care with which our Heavenly Parents designed the Heavens and the Earth, They also used to design each of us.
Woodbury studied at Brigham Young University and received a Bachelors of Fine Art in Studio Art with an emphasis in 3D design. She and her work were recently featured in the BYUtv show ARTful, season 4, episode 4. She has been featured in several juried shows across the country. Including Rouge, Women’s Voices at the Bountiful Davis Art Center, and the Sears Museum in St. George. She completed a month long Artist Residency in 2025 at the Buffalo Creek Art Center in Gardnerville, NV.

Her work has been featured in Exponent II, the 11th International Church Art competition for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saint, the 34th-37th Annual Spiritual and Religious Shows at the Springville Museum of Art, as well 101st Spring Salon. She was a feature artist in a trio exhibition with FE Gallery in Sacramento, CA in 2021. In 2022, she received a purchase award in All Are Alike Unto God, the 12th International Art Competition of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. She was invited to participate in Women Out West: Professional Artists of Utah, and has participated in several shows at Compass Gallery, Provo, UT. She is a co-founder and organizer of the Certain Women Art Show, 2018-2026. 

Woodbury was born in Texas, but she also lived in Kentucky and Europe as a youth. She loves being a mother and spends much of her time caring for her five young children with her husband, Clayton. She believes that being a mother is an incredibly creative pursuit that feeds her artistic voice. She hopes that being a mother makes her a better artist, and that being an artist makes her a better mother. She now lives in North Salt Lake, UT.