JANE NICOL

b. 1949 Helensburgh, Scotland

I was raised in Western Scotland by my extended matriarchal family and my solo mother (see Mitochondrial Descent series).  At the age of 16 I was accepted into Gray’s School of Art, where I chose to major in three dimensional media with a focus on ceramic sculpture. Subsequently gaining a postgraduate qualification in Education, I briefly taught Art in Scotland before moving to New Zealand.

In the years following I raised two children, ran my own successful sculpture studio while managing a high country farming station. In the 1980s I branched out into the fashion sector, working as a senior designer for a major New Zealand label, running my own label and taking home a national fashion design award.

In the 90s while managing three of my own companies, I completed further studies in the USA to gain a qualification in Psychotherapy enabling me to run my own psychotherapy practice.  I have always been fascinated by consciousness, the mind, and what makes us who we are, studying esoteric psychology in my spare time.

In 2004 an accident changed my life.  It was at this point I turned to paint.  Painting for me is not simply an action; it is a location. My paintings are fragments of reality, contextually dissociated.  I paint from a personal understanding of what it means to be estranged from experiencing the most simple familiarity with the physical reality in which I, like you, was once complacent.

I now live with my Australian husband in Maleny (QLD), Australia where my studio gallery is open to the public by appointment.