career - Niki Purcell

Niki Purcell’s training and career

Niki Purcell has drawn and painted for as long as she can remember — she describes it as her calling from early childhood. She grew up beside the sea in Greystones, Co. Wicklow, with views of the Sugarloaf, Bray Head and the Wicklow Mountains, a coastal landscape that still runs through her work today.

She studied Fine Art at the National College of Art and Design (NCAD) in Dublin, graduating with an honours degree in 1995. She has worked as a professional painter continuously since, now in her fourth decade of practice.

Exhibitions & collections

Niki’s work has been shown extensively, nationally and internationally, including at:

– The Hugh Lane Gallery
– The Douglas Hyde Gallery
– The RHA Gallery
– The Guinness Hopstore

Her paintings are held in a number of important collections, including the Office of Public Works (OPW). FULL BIO

Where she works

Niki lives and paints on the Wicklow/Wexford border, in an old coastguard station overlooking the coast. Her studio sits at one end of an open-plan living space, with a large window looking straight out over the water — a view that finds its way into much of her work.

Influences

Niki names Ivon Hitchens, Van Gogh and Turner among the painters who’ve shaped her approach — Hitchens for the way he simplified landscape into shape and palette while keeping it recognisably atmospheric; Van Gogh for his bold, physical use of paint; Turner for his sense of atmosphere and the way his paintings draw a viewer into their own mystery.