Artist, Performer, Educator
Noa Rickey is an artist, performer, and educator. Born and raised in Minnesota to a family of artists, they grew up with a deep appreciation of craft and fine art making. Noa received a BFA in Drama from NYU Tisch School of the Arts with a minor in Irish Studies and currently is a third-year MFA candidate in Design Studies at UW-Madison. They have worked as a Research Assistant for the Design Studies Hemp Lab, a production assistant for Marianne Fairbanks and Mary Hark, and have taught an array of textile practices to undergraduate and graduate students at UW and in the community. In the summer of 2024, they received a fellowship and funding to research lace and culture in Ireland. Noa just exhibited their first solo show, O Brawling Love, at Memorial Union Class of 1925 Gallery. They returned to Ireland in summer of 2025 with funding from the US Government and UW-Madison to learn Gaeilge and continue their research into Irish culture and textiles.
With an interdisciplinary approach, Noa explores the stories people keep close to their bodies.
My work investigates the concept of home in both the grand vision of home, “who are we and where do we come from?” as well as smaller, personal questions of “what do I keep close to my home?”. Home is made with the objects we chose to populate our spaces, the clothes we put on our body, and with the direct decisions we make to connect with the land we live on and our genealogy. These questions of home have propelled me to create large scale sculptures and smaller embroidery and lace works.