About Me
I have always loved and appreciated art from a young age. Having grown up in Alberta with practical parents however, I felt it was wise to choose a career in Business. Sometimes unhappiness can be the catalyst you need to make the changes in your life that you’ve always wanted to. This was the case for me and, after an internship at an oil and gas accounting office, I made the decision to spend my life making art instead.
My new path brought me to the University of Calgary where I studied painting and earned my Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts. Although many aspects of the program were amazing, I didn’t quite connect with much of the Fine art I learned about there. Often art meant for galleries can be so conceptual that the average person can’t understand it or connect to it. Art that requires a degree to appreciate it and meant for a very select few… just isn’t inspiring to me. I am inspired by the magic of the everyday, by nature, and by stories and mythology, and by the stories my clients share with me.
I want to make beautiful, unique, and meaningful art that people can connect to and be proud to wear for the rest of their lives. I am in love with tattooing.
My art style is bold and sketchy, reminiscent of pencil drawings, sometimes with watercolor. I draw this way because sketches have a magic to them. They carry with them the idea that the subject matter is still evolving and that it isn’t held down to reality yet. In a sketch or splattery watercolor you are also able to see the human hand behind the art; you are able to see the subject matter through anothers’ eyes. Another set of Human eyes and that shared humanity also connects us to sketches. The open spaces, the splatters, the extraneous lines that break and cross, show the movement and magic of the subject matter and the art before it is completely captured. This is the way I tattoo.
Tattoos are extremely important in terms of art and self expression. No other art could be more significant or meaningful to a person than the art they will wear for the rest of their life. Getting to create these permanent art pieces for my clients is an honour that I never take lightly. I strive with every tattoo to push myself and create the best pieces of art that I am capable of for my clients.
John Ruskin once wrote that “Life without industry is guilt, industry without art is brutality.” I agree, but in a simpler sense; Life without Art is Brutality.
Thank you for reading this.
Warm Regards,
~Nikki