About

Nicky Sanderson's prints, collages and multi media pieces are created, as it were, from the inside out, in order to understand and interpret the layers of landscape. Her deep interest in what lies below the surface of the land stems from her years of study and exploration of Scotland, interpreting the built and natural environment as a guide for visitors. Her work conveys the sheer substance of the land, and rejoices in colour.

Professor Peter Davidson, University of Oxford

ARTIST STATEMENT

"I hear it in the deep heart's core" (WB Yeats' Lake Isle of Innisfree)

As a visual artist I endeavour to discern and convey the material substance and depth of meaning within my chosen subject.  

I look for what lies beneath, for example, the layers of geology, the interaction of time, nature, and humankind on a landscape or place. As I search for both the essence and substance of a subject, I acquire a connection with place through personal study trips, with maps or photos, by reading poems or prose related to the theme, and from looking at how other artists have approached similar challenges.

My working process involves the consideration of all possible explorations of my theme, before discerning the way to embody it in my work. This can be through any combination of paint, collage or print, always governed by a strong feeling for colour and the substance of my materials. 

Images emerge from the very nature of paint and pigment, ink and collage, used with mediums such as varnish and wax layered onto paper, muslin or canvas. I have been working recently with silkscreen print on marine charts as well as making small 'jewel-like' pieces and studies of the daily offerings on the beach.

My intention is to awake interest and engagement in the observer, to lead them to see something unnoticed before, to feel enriched by the experience.

Recent and ongoing points of focus include the Islands of the Firth of Forth, the coastal area of Portobello in Edinburgh, and the layers of landscape on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, the Calanais Stones and the peat cuttings that surround them. Human intervention on the land and water, from the past or present, has long intrigued me alongside the natural patterns occurring in sand, rock and water.

My inspiration has been sustained by many summers of working as a 'Blue Badge' Scottish Tourist Guide. This has meant acquiring an in depth knowledge of Scotland in order to interpret the land verbally for travellers, and visually within my art practice.

My studio is at Coburg House Studios and Gallery in Leith, Edinburgh, Scotland. 

ACADEMIC RESUMÉ

2016 - 2017 

Critical Professional Development course, Leith School of Art         

1994 - 1996             

Calligraphy studies, Edinburgh College of Art

1979 - 1981            

Postgraduate 2 year Higher Diploma in Fine Art (Printmaking), Slade School of Fine Art, London

• Tutor for Wild At Art Ltd, luxury art holidays in Scotland
• Scottish Art History trainer for STGA (Scottish Tourist Guides Association)
• Print and Collage tutor for Arran Visual Arts, Isle of Arran