Nicole Sylvia Javorsky is a multidisciplinary artist, musician, and writer from New York City expressing the intricacies of being alive. She’s a survivor of childhood sexual abuse with PTSD who struggled to keep herself alive during her adolescence and early adulthood. Nicole's art, writing, and music explore the intersections between her healing process, existential questions, and a mystical connection to the natural world. 

Each artwork, song, or poem can stand alone to depict a certain layer or aspect of the human experience, but she also continually groups and connects them like fluctuating puzzle pieces building her ever-growing picture of existence.

She believes that living is art and art is living. Whether combining colored pencil drawing with painting and embroidery or working on a project that integrates creative writing, music, and visual art or writing about how her art connects to her daily life, Nicole is driven to make art within and across a variety of disciplines while relating the art-making process to her observations of existing on this Earth.

• Teaching Artist: Nicole loves sharing her passion for the arts with students. She’s a warm, supportive singing, piano, guitar, and visual art instructor on the faculty of DEA Music & Art. She encourages creativity and resilience in children and adults of all ages. She leads workshops in drawing, watercolors, mixed media art, clay sculpture, singing, ukulele, and more at NYC schools working with organizations like Sundog Theatre and Togetherhood.

• Journalist: She’s also a member of the Society of Environmental Journalists, often writing articles on environmental justice, climate, health, arts, and design. Her reporting can be found in Bloomberg CityLab, CNN, Grist, Bluedot Living, and more. Previously, she was a staff writer at City Limits and The Hill, as well as a fellow at The Atlantic, Mother Jones, and Report For America.

• Spirit of Care and Community

  • Back when she was a teenager, Nicole started a non-profit organization called Cubs for Coping to engage volunteers in making unique, handmade teddy bears to give to people in hospitals, homeless shelters, and eating disorder treatment programs. Cubs for Coping began with a simple belief — that we all deserve compassion, love, and thoughtfulness in our times of struggle. The organization donated more than 1,000 teddy bears and enlisted countless crafty volunteers across New York over the course of its 7 years of operation.

  • This spirit of care and community is a common thread in Nicole's work as an artist. It's important to Nicole that she share the stories and vulnerable truths behind her artwork, whether in person or in her newsletter Chicken Doodle Soup.