Nick McKnight Crafts Art with Neon - Inside Art With Michael Rose

Nick McKnight Crafts Art with Neon - Inside Art With Michael Rose

 

At one time, facades across downtown were adorned with glowing neon signage that beckoned buyers into shops. Contemporary artists are rethinking this material as a means for creative expression and local maker Nick McKnight has found a practice in merging the art and craft of neon lights. He makes his own compelling text-based fine art using neon and also creates practical signage for businesses in the region and beyond. He is bringing neon from outdoors into gallery spaces.

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In a nondescript building in Olneyville, McKnight’s studio is part laboratory and part artistic space. Open flames are used to bend fragile glass tubes to shape letters and forms. These tubes are then made airtight, filled with gas, and electrified. McKnight makes neon the old-school way and has studied under glass benders who are keeping this art form alive.

 

 

Asked what he likes best about working in this unique medium, McKnight is enthusiastic, answering, “I enjoy every aspect of it, from design to the finished product. The tactile nature of manipulating the glass to create lightning in a tube is fascinating every time. It is always exciting creating magic from nothing.”

 

McKnight earned a BFA at the University of Rhode Island and has shared his text works at a wide range of spaces for the last decade. This has included showing in Rhode Island at venues like One Way Gallery in Narragansett, Coastal Contemporary Gallery in Newport, as well as BankRI Gallery and World’s Fair Gallery in Providence. Around the region, he’s exhibited at spaces at Bristol Community College and the Cambridge Art Association in addition to Kerri Gallery and Hygienic Gallery in Connecticut. In 2022, his neon work was juried into the Newport Art Museum’s Biennial. Respected in the field of design as well as visual art, McKnight was in the 2024 cohort of DesignXRI’s competitive Design Catalyst program.

 

 

Through January 13, McKnight’s visual artwork is featured in a window installation at The Dirt Palace in Olneyville, where a set of large glowing letters that read (Music Fades) shine out onto the busy hub of the neighborhood. The piece is meant to reference a descriptive closed caption from a film and suggest the end of a performance or the closure of a music venue. The Rhode Island State Council on the Arts awarded this project a juried Make Art Grant.

 

Speaking about what he hopes for the feature at Dirt Palace, McKnight says, “I hope for two things. People should take a broader look at the nature of our arts and music venues and see what they are: a home and connection for creatives. The constant search for community when your home is closed without notice hurts our artistic communities and it can take years to rebuild for the owners, staff, patrons, etc.  And the other thing is hope. From change and something ending comes an opportunity to look inward and rebuild yourself, your community, or your surroundings.”

 

 

McKnight’s installation at Dirt Palace is evocative and begs busy passersby to pause for a moment and rethink the nature of text, signs, and meanings. Beyond that, it offers those who see it the chance to consider the importance of cultural venues to the local creative and economic ecosystem.

 

The commercial element of McKnight’s practice underwrites his work as a fine artist. In 2024, his work on the restoration of the Baba’s Original New York System sign on Smith Street earned a Providence Preservation Society Award. He also made the sign for RiffRaff bookstore bar in Providence and has crafted a number of custom commissions for film studios producing movies in Rhode Island. Clients across the country have sought him out for his expertise in creating glowing imagery.

 

 

When questioned about how his commercial and visual artworks intersect, this experienced glass artist answers, “My commercial work can be largely text-based, and the craft of bending glass can be tedious and difficult, so constantly bending and working with the materials help ease the process of making the artwork.”

 

He continues, “It can be parallel much of the time as my work is also text-based. I have to use the same process of design, lighting and color theory in this space as I do commercially at times. They often play off each other, and I’m often telling a story with both, but they can read very differently.”

 

 

Looking forward, McKnight hopes to expand his studio space to enable more collaboration as well as teaching in order to expand his knowledge of neon. Through his efforts, this Rhode Islander is merging craft with art. His illuminated text-based artworks are compelling and his studio is a storehouse for knowledge of making words that light up.

 

Learn more about Nick McKnight at www.nightlightneon.com and follow him on Instagram at @nightlightneonstudio.