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We are currently creating a detailed bio for Christina Nick.
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Selected Biography
Christina Nick is a multi-disciplinary artist whose intense interest in nature, travel and the environment are reflected in her artwork. Since graduating from Mount Allison University in 1989 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts with distinction, Christina has been living her vision of bringing her experiences in nature to life through her art.
She spent years in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada, working as an art teacher, a wildlife guide and as a Park Ranger and Naturalist for the Provincial Parks system. Living in the wilds of the Coast Mountains she gained a deep respect and a lifelong interest in nature. While in Western Canada Christina spearheaded the organization of the local art and performance show called “Artrageous!” in Whistler. After a decade of successful yearly shows,” Artrageous!” gave arts and culture a higher profile in the ski town. She was also elected to the Community Arts Council of Whistler.
It was in Southern France that Christina first gained international recognition for her artwork, notably for her large welded steel sculptures. She continues to maintain a studio there, and works in welded steel, cire perdu bronze, carved stone and wood, and fibreglass resin. When not creating in her sculpture studio, Christina is painting in mixed media and drawing from life. While traveling, Christina has worked with rare and endangered species trusts in Africa and assisted in the rehabilitation of cheetahs and vultures in Namibia. She assisted in two archaeological digs in the Andes of Peru, and set up a Nature Interpretation program in Ecuador in Park Pinchincha. Christina has also worked with the desman and the bearded vulture in France, and hummingbirds in Ecuador. Christina continues to create in her studio and shows regularly in Canada and in France. She recently came back from a three-month trip in Africa where she taught art to children in Malawi and researched a rare species of vulture in northern Namibia.
Christina has passionately recorded her experiences in sketchbooks, capturing inspirations from people and animals, creating quick landscape watercolours, and writing impressions from nature. The images and thoughts in her sketchbooks become the raw materials that form the foundation of her works in painting and sculpture. Christina’s vast repertoire of sketchbooks will also be the source of a book that she plans to publish to share her many travel experiences.
The paintings and sculptures that are on exhibit at Beckett Fine Art represent Christina’s most recent work. The paintings are a fusion of different techniques and media. By introducing encaustic wax in her paintings, which is an ancient technique using molten wax and pigments, Christina has brought a new dimension to her work. Topographic maps and text create the base for layers of paint and wax media, the combination of which achieves a sculptured surface. The intent of the paintings is to give the audience a sense of the diversity of landscapes around the world, be it mountainous, seascapes, or savannah and to immerse them with different emotions and feelings. She hopes to impart the fresh insights and excitement she felt while traveling and to spark new emotions in the audience. There is a sense of playfulness as well, with recognizable scenery and abstract colour field mixed together. Christina also explores the differences between the flat surface of the canvas and the depth that can be created by layering and using perspective, which gives the pieces depth and something new to look at each time.
The bronze sculptures in the show were created in France and are inspired by her travels to different areas of the world. She uses the cire perdue (lost wax) bronze technique to produce spontaneous one of a kind sculptures. Christina tries to imbue a sense of life and movement in her bronzes.
Please email the gallery to view more works by Christina Nick.
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