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A son's creativity fills his father's art gallery
By JOY DAVIS-PLATT, Times Staff Writer BROOKSVILLE -- When engineer Nick Nicholson built his Brooksville offices in 1995, he wanted to do something a little different. So two years later, he added an art gallery, complete with vaulted ceilings and track lighting.
Despite his practical occupation, Nicholson, a member of the county planning commission, said he has a place in his heart for artists. On Saturday, the gallery will feature the work of one artist particularly close to his heart -- his son, Michael. Though he lives in Orlando, where his work is on display at a professional gallery, the younger Nicholson was a longtime resident of Hernando County. He moved to Brooksville during the fourth grade and graduated from Hernando High School. Michael, a 25-year-old fine arts graduate from the University of North Florida, still recalls telling his father that he didn't plan to follow in his footsteps. "Even back in high school, I always went a different direction than everyone else," he said. "It wasn't easy because my dad didn't want me to starve. He wants me to be successful. But I have to be honest and true to myself. I don't have a choice." The exhibit, 25 paintings in acrylic and oil, will feature works inspired by moments in time -- a woman reading a book at a fountain, the crash of waves on a rocky shoreline. But the night that changed the artist's life came on a break during his sophomore year of college when, for the first time, he picked up a brush to paint. Nicholson had dabbled in photography, but undertook a special project -- a portrait of his older brother, Scott, who was killed in a 1989 car accident. It was there, in his brother's old bedroom, that he heard his calling. "I was conflicted and didn't know which way to go with my life. Everyone has moments of clarity," Michael Nicholson said. "All we can do is try to learn what it is we need to learn from them." But that was not the first time Nicholson's brother had led him toward art. When he was younger, Michael said the only way to get the attention of his brother -- four years older -- was sharing Scott's interest in drawing comic books. "That was how I got him to let me into his room -- into his world," Nicholson said. "Drawing those characters was my "in' with him." As the pair sat, Scott drawing the pictures and Michael inking over the lines with a technical pen, they formed a bond that still holds. "There are certain moment that will stay with you," said Nicholson. "Glimpses of the world that don't fade." Some of Nicholson's work will remain on display after Saturday's exhibit, but the space will feature the work of other local artists and students. "This is a way of giving something back to the community," said Sandy Nicholson, the artist's mother and a Hernando County School Board member. "It's our way of encouraging artistic expression in young people." The exhibit, "Sensual Impressions," will be 7-9 p.m. Saturday at the Nicholson Art Gallery, 7468 Horse Lake Rd., Brooksville, inside Nicholson Engineering Associates building. Admission is free and open to the public. Dress is semiformal. Call 799-0170.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
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