Today we’d like to introduce you to Charles Nicolosi
Charles, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My grandmother began gifting me quilts about 15 years ago. One day the idea struck me. Maybe I could try quilting. I literally started with Quilting for Dummies. I joined a local quilt guild and by experimenting I eventually decided quilting was not for me. I did a lot of online research and eventually found some things I wanted to try, including sewing and quilting acrylic painted canvases. My quilt guild’s biennial quilt show (in 2019) was approaching. I decided to make a number of experimental acrylic pieces to see if they would sell in the boutique shop. They did sell!
The next thing I know, I decided to start a small business. Considering 2020 turned out to be a very rough year for everyone, I learned how to make face masks. I unexpectedly sold over 800 of them across the US between 2020-2021.
It was still a very rough start event-wise, but I steadily learned how to make new things- things no one else was making. I started combining acrylic canvas with fabric. I added more complexity to my artwork. I started incorporating strong LGBTQ themes across all my items.
Year after year, I added more events. In 2020, I began doing Atlanta area festivals and events 2 years ago including the Inman Park Festival and Candler Park Fall Fest. I’ve been to breweries, events coinciding with Atlanta Pride, working with plant aficionados I’m now returning Inman Park for the 3rd time in 2025 and plan on doing other Atlanta events regularly, along with my regular Athens event. At times, I am astounded at how for I have come.
I retired from the University of Georgia mid-2024. I now have time to experiment so much more and plenty of time to try new events around the Metro Atlanta area.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
COVID was a weird year. Events shutdown, but online sales really helped keep me going. The University system had ground to a halt, so balancing my job was a little more difficult.
It’s always a challenge narrowing down what I want to work on. It’s hard to balance the number of something to make,.
Evaluating events and venues can sometimes a challenge, depending on the area of the city and how far it is from Athens. I have to be able to gauge the potential crowd size and venue access. Hotel costs introduce more overhead verses waking up at 4 am to drive to an events location!
I try very hard to build relationships with event managers and the best thing to come out of that is when someone asks you to attend their event. It makes all the challenges feel so much worth it.
I am just now entering my 6th year. In fact, my business license renewal is in the mail today! I’ve learned how to quickly adapt and roll with sudden changes. I don’t sweat very many unexpected hick-ups these days.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
The thing that I didn’t expect was being seen as somewhat of an LGBTQ ambassador. That may not be the right word, but over the last several years I have had people come up to me at events and simply thank me for being there and visible at events.
I have had parents and kids run up. They light up when they see some of my LGBTQ artwork. I have been become somewhat teary sometimes afterwards.
I call one series I create Y’all Means All. I make versions in both fabric and acrylic painted canvases. I sew the strips together and cut the same of Georgia out- in both the standard 6 color flag and the 11 color Progressive Pride Flag. I chose a fabric color and then hand-cut Y’all Means All from them. They are all stitched onto various fabric backgrounds, but my favorite is the We The People with portions of the preamble.
I cut and build the frames for all of my artwork, so that the size of the piece is never an issue.
Since I retired, I have begun offering customized commissions for these. My hope is to eventually include other states, but that may be a while.
The other new item that I picked up via TikTok are small sewn chickens that a friend helped name Emotional Support Chickens. I stuff them with a crunchy material that gives a nice texture. Everything is hand-cut including the felt. People love to squeeze them. So many children run up and scream Chickens! There are kids that sleep with them. It makes me smile so much more than I ever dreamed. Each chicken comes with laminated adoption card that print, sign, laminate and cut myself. Like everything else, I do in fact have gay themed chickens too.
Any big plans?
Now that I have more time, commissions are probably my best new thing! I’ve expanded to include more of my items.
I can now do so many more events after retiring. I’m already planning to do more festivals all over Atlanta in 2025.
I would love to get into DragonCon this year. That would be the longest and largest event I have attempted.
Pricing:
- Emotional Support Chickens are $10-$14
- Decorative Landscapes artwork $80-$200
- Y’all Means All artwork $70-125
- Various commissions $80-175
- Smaller artwork pieces $30-$90
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.geekinstitches.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/geekinstitches/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GeekInStitches
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@geekinstitches
- Other: https://www.geekinstitches.com/TheHub
Image Credits
The one photo of me selling a piece of artwork during a rainy Athens event was taken by Serra Jaggar, who manages the Athens events I attend at Indie South.
