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Nicole Kutz

Nicole Kutz

2019 Commission Artist

Nicole Kutz is an artist and curator based in Nashville, TN. She received her MFA in 2017 from the Savannah College of Art and Design with a concentration in painting.

Her work meditates on life’s transience by using handmade pigments and dyes to create ethereal abstract worlds. She frequently draws inspiration from Wabi-sabi, as well as the Japanese artforms of shibori and kintsugi, and ultimately finds beauty in the work’s imperfections. Her pieces have been shown in galleries, corporate institutions and private collections throughout the world including: Los Angeles, Atlanta, Miami and London. Https://nicolekutz.com

The individual selected will receive:

  1. $5,000.
  2. Their art, bio and contact information will be reproduced and shared with Valor’s partners as a holiday gift. The Title will be memorialized on a web page with the art, creating a series of art focused on inclusion over time. The work will be celebrated in social posts and announcements.
  3. The artist will be interviewed on the art and its inspiration on the Atlanta Startup Podcast, reaching thousands of innovators.
  4. The artist will be invited to Valor’s signature in-person events in the following year.

Applications for 2025 are OPEN!


  1. An original idea
    Original Art that helps people experience a new level of understanding of and appreciation for the transformative power of inclusion. The theme for this year is Inclusion in the Age of AI.  For 2020, our art was themed around healing. We’re looking for an artist that can work with the now, and create something timeless.
  2. The artist
    Working artists who embody inclusion in their art, background and life experiences. Full time artists, emerging artists and student artists are especially encouraged to apply.
  3. Geography.
    This commission is limited to artists who live in our investment area, which is the US Census South. You are not visiting–you identify as Southern and make your home in the South currently. We’ll validate this by your drivers license or other form of residential ID.
  4. Media. 
    This award is media agnostic. However, because the artwork will be reproduced as a limited  signed and numbered series, we do need it to be reproducible for no more than $50 per copy. Surprise us! Watercolor, silk painting, laser cutting, 3D printing, lost wax, wearable art–if it’s a visual media or wearable and we can give it to our partners, it’s a great media for this commission. We will reproduce ~90 limited, numbered editions of the original work that we will ask the artist to autograph and number, so they can be distributed by us to the Valor investors.
  5. Display / Gallery. Your original work becomes the property of Valor, and will be displayed in our Art of Inclusion Gallery.
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