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Nicole Welke (1974 - present) has never had any formal art training in the traditional sense; she began drawing as soon as she could hold a crayon.  Her mother realized that she was an artist when she entered pre-school and was the only student who could actually draw a turkey that looked like a turkey.  Once Kathleen Welke, Nicole's mother, discovered Nicole's proclivities, she immediately bought her any art supplies her heart desired.  Nicole spent countless hours perfecting and honing her abilities by doodling in class, at home, on the weekends, long drives, whenever and wherever she got the opportunity.  In junior high school she did all the illustrations for the spring concert promotional materials at school.  Soon CSULB (the local university) discovered her amazing program-creating abilities and employed her to design their concert programs as well.  Thus was born her intertwinement and lifelong marriage of music and art.  This affection runs so deep she even picked one of the best guitarists in the world with whom to share her life (Billy Burks of the Humpers), but I digress...

As talented as she is, her only employment in art has been drummed out of her by friends, companies and those who have been lucky enough to view her work.  She gained a lot of exposure working for next-to-nothing for a tattoo artist as a “helper” which in her case meant she had to clean the shop and draw everyone's tattoos. Hundreds all over Long Beach wear her art proudly.  Sadly they never did teach her how to tattoo; such is a woman's lot in a man's world.  Nicole is also responsible for the paintings in "Alex's Bar" in Long Beach which eventually lead to HBO discovering her and hiring her to create more paintings for "Fangtasia" the fictitious vampire bar in the TV series "True Blood".  She also designed the labels for BBQMF sauce, a 7 inch cover for the "White Stripes" (a rock band) and several commissioned paintings for close friends including "Sympathy for the Record Industry" owner, Long Gone John. 

Professionally she is trained as a manicurist, a field that pays the bills (somewhat) and offers some semblance of a brush in hand to make ends meet.  She also started the business "Salon Pop" with her lifelong friend, Leslie.  This has proven to be a rewarding yet extremely time-consuming activity, leaving little time to produce as many paintings as the world deserves. The shop is doing well in an uncertain economy and employs 12 people from the Long Beach area.  This is not her only time consuming activity. Others include playing in bands and doing the occasional band flyers and album cover artwork for bands such as Rocket from the Crypt, Mike Watt, X-it, and too many others to name here.  She plays the concertina, guitar, violin, bass and has an amazing singing voice; she once had a scholarship to Chapman University to study opera right after high school. 

There is almost no limit to her explosive talent that resonates honesty, irony, sarcasm, humor and even an element of the grotesquely cutesy.  In all her endeavors; music, painting, running a business or learning a new way to express herself, her voracity for life is illuminated by each of her endeavors.  Her self-proclaimed influences include: anything nautical, the paintings in the haunted house ride at Disneyland, chicken fried steak, cigarettes, Carl Sagan, Mountain Dew, fashion (from the 40's and 50's), western sound tracks, large matted eyelashes, sequins, silk, beautiful women, kittens, collar bones, D O'rsay shoes, "Night of the Hunter" (a movie starring Robert Mitchum), Hans Christian Anderson, Oscar Wilde, long legs, Gram Parsons and sitting on the porch.

My deepest and most sincere wish is for her is to earn enough money from her art to concentrate solely on it.  She makes the world a more beautiful and honest place with every single one of her creations.

- Tara Dunn