Jax State's Nic Tisdale Awarded Alabama Visual Arts Fellowship
08/05/2026
Art foundations professor receives $7,500 fellowship from the Alabama State Council on the Arts.
By Brett Buckner
Nic Tisdale, visiting assistant professor of art foundations at Jacksonville State University, has been awarded $7,500 for a Visual Arts Fellowship sponsored by the Alabama State Council of the Arts (ASCA).
Tisdale was one of just 23 Alabama artists and arts educators selected to receive fellowship funding this year.
“[Tisdale’s] work fuses broken digital imagery with printmaking to critique mass media’s evolution, exposing digital flaws and challenging traditional print and media conventions,” according to the ASCA website.
Tisdale learned of the award when Amy Jenkins, ASCA Visual Arts and Gallery Manager, called him with the news on a Friday in mid-June.
“It was a great way to start that weekend,” Tisdale said. “I was over the moon. This was my third or fourth time applying for the fellowship, and I’m still realizing the possibilities it opens up for my arts practice.”
Tisdale, who is from Alabaster, earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Montevallo and both a Master of Arts and a Master of Fine Arts in printmaking from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The pieces he submitted for consideration for the fellowship came from two bodies of work, “Digital Places” and “di·chot·o·my.”
“I wasn’t trying to convey anything specific to the judges,” Tisdale said. “More so, describe to them what I am interested in and how their support could greatly improve how I make my work.”
“Digital Places” is a small batch of relief prints he made during a residency that responds to Ebenezer Swamp, located in central Alabama at the headwaters of Spring Creek and an important part of the larger Cahaba River watershed.
“Due to recent residential developments in the area, many of the smaller waterways that feed into the wetland are being drained or their aquifers depleted,” Tisdale explained. “The prints I created combined multiple mediums including audio, HDRI panoramas, and VR images to capture a portion of the digital spaces that surround, inform, support, and threaten the swamp.”
“di·chot·o·my” is a series that has served as “a home base” for Tisdale, one he returns to between other projects.
“In my artistic practice, I am fascinated with the convergence of traditional printmaking – particularly cyan, magenta, yellow, and key/black (CMYK) printing with contemporary digital mediums such as video, audio, and code editing,” Tisdale explained. “My work centers on the interplay between physical and virtual realms, examining how information is stored, translated, and communicated in the digital age.”
This particular series has been an ongoing project since the pandemic, serving as his “evolving response to the curated internet around me,” Tisdale said. “During that time period, my life, like so many others, shifted to a heavily distanced and separated format, but at the same time became increasingly available and linked.”
Tisdale was intrigued by the way various technical and cultural structures of the internet presented dualities - access and restrictions, security and vulnerabilities, connection and isolation.
“My love/hate relationship with social media, and even down at the code level with various conditions and switches that depend on Boolean and logic statements such as true/false, this/not that,” Tisdale said. “This series grew out of a desire to see what arises from the tension between those extremes, how our online systems fail, and how to create something from that.”
Having a state-funded organization recognize his work, as well as the work of other artists, gave Tisdale a sense of validation for which he said he is deeply grateful.
“I have been taught by, worked with, and admired many of the artists who have been awarded this fellowship in the past,” Tisdale said. “I can say without a doubt the support Alabama has offered to its artistic community has shaped who I am as an artist today. I am deeply honored to be part of that tradition now, thankful that I get the opportunity to continue it, and glad to support our state art ecosystem in the future.”
Tisdale will use part of the award to purchase equipment for his artwork, including a combination lithography/etching press and updates to his home studio.
“I am a printmaker, and my arts practice will always be connected to the equipment I have at my disposal,” Tisdale said. “Any time I want to use the facilities, I have to factor in a three-hour commute. Having access to proper equipment in my home studio changes everything.”
The ASCA awarded a total of $172,500 in funding to 23 Alabama-based artists and arts educators.
“The Council on the Arts’ competitive Fellowship grant program empowers emerging and established artists and arts educators to hone their skills and pursue innovative projects,” said Elliot Knight, executive director of the Council on the Arts, in an ASCA news release. “These investments not only bolster confidence and professional growth but also enrich communities and inspire future generations.”
Beginning in 2027, the award amount will increase from $5,000 to $7,500 in an effort to better support Alabama’s creative community.
“Alabama’s artists and arts educators help strengthen the cultural, educational, and economic vitality of our state,” Knight said. “Their creativity connects communities, empowers young people, and preserves the traditions that make Alabama unique.”
For more information on Tisdale’s work, visit nictisdaleart.com.