Nicole Garneau was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1970. She earned a BA in Theatre from University of Illinois at Chicago and an MA in Interdisciplinary Art from Columbia College Chicago. Her performance work currently consists of the presentation of regular concerts with the percussion ensemble Big Smith; site-specific, movement-based solo and collaborative performance art that often addresses a political issue; and text-based works that highlight her ability to articulate emotion and intellect in a clear, witty, and moving way. She is a longtime resident artist and board member of Insight Arts and works in the Office of Community Arts Partnerships at Columbia College Chicago.

In 1993-94 Nicole worked as an actor in the Theatre of Moscow South-West, performing in Russian. Her own work is informed by feminism; struggle against white supremacy; the politics of the female body; sexuality; spirituality; violence against women and children; the prison-industrial complex; the death penalty; her experiences living and working in Moscow, Russia; and the 1995 Chicago heat wave disaster. In addition to making her own art, she has been deeply involved in the facilitation and production of art, writing, and performance by youth utilizing the liberatory education models of Paolo Freire and bell hooks. She is interested in creating performance and visual art work that is directly political, critically conscious, and community building.