Nicki Heenan
Born in London, Nicki Heenan moved to New-Zealand as a child. She studied Microbiology (MSc hons) at Auckland University, Art and Music at Goldsmiths. These areas of learning have formed an integral part of her work as an artist where the experimental methods of science are combined with an abstract visualisation of the landscape.
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Nicki’s paintings are very much influenced by surface and substance. Colour is rendered in multi-dimensional soft layers with glazing and wax infused with dry pigment.
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Nicki has the ability to capture the fleeting moments of the sea. She paints regularly on various windswept coastlines working with mineral pigments and watermedia or oil paint mixed with wax. The way paint is used intimates the rugged rocks and tempestuous Seas. For many years Nicki also worked as a musician and so brings a lyrical tone to her work with a strong rhythmical quality.
 |  Atlantic WaveOil, wax and pigment on board 80cm x 90cm (sold) |
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 Morterasch GlacierAcrylic on Board 25 x 30cm 2016 |  Snowdonia from BeaumarisAcrylic on paper 25 x 50cm |
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 Nicki in Switzerland |  St MoritzAcrylic on paper 35cm x 28cm (sold) |
 Viridian Wave |  Aberystwyth Pier 1Oil, wax, pigment on Linen 85cm x 90cm 2016 (sold) |
 TideOil, wax, pigment on paper 25cm x 35cm |  |
 Nicki outside her studio |  |
 |  Field of VisionAcrylic, collage on board 30cm x 30cm (sold) |
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 Black Sand, SligoOil, wax, pigment on board 30cm x 30cm |  |
 Nicki in her studio |  |
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"I paint predominantly in oil, preferring its tactile flexible quality with the ability to combine it with wax to build up the textural surface. Printmaking also informs my work; these studies often lead to bigger pieces as they are more abstracted.
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Nature is at the very heart of my paintings and provides the ever-changing muse.
Human interaction with the landscape through the creation of ancient ritual monuments and the shaping of physical geography of the land is a legacy of intervention which forms the reality in which we live. By observing and questioning the manifestations of these activities, we reveal something of ourselves within the context of our surroundings from both the past and the present."
-Nicki Heenan
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Nicki was awarded a scholarship to study at Ballinglen Arts Foundation in Ireland and has some of her work in their permermanent collection. Previous exhibition venues include:
The Mall Galleries (Royal Oil Painters Institute, Royal Society of British Artists 300th Exhibition and New English Art Club)
John Bowen Gallery, Malmesbury, Wiltshire
Tetbury Art Society, Gloucestershire
Kunsthuis, Crayke, North Yorkshire
Suvretta House, St. Moritz, Switzerland
Little Buckland Gallery, Worcestershire
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She has also exhibited in Australia and New Zealand; and was one of the final three in heat 5 of the Sky Landscape Artist of the Year Award 2016
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In her role as an Art Educator, Nicki organises workshops both in the UK and abroad