Artist Spotlight: Nicola Woodcock
A new season reunites us with beloved Nancybird artist Nicola Woodcock. After a standout collaboration in 2021, we were destined to work together again. Read on as Nicola shares her delight in seeing her work out in the world and invites us outdoors with our latest collaboration, Wanderer.
Nicola is an Eora / Sydney based artist. Working in her studio on Guringai country where she draws inspiration from the diverse bush surrounds. Photos taken by Samantha Mackie.
We can’t express how joyful it’s been working with you again. What’s been happening in your creative world since we last caught up?
I’m so happy to be working with you again too. Our 2021 collaboration was my favourite project from the last few years! Being able to wear my own art is so much fun and I love it when friends send me photos of people, they encounter in the world wearing my Nancybird artworks.
I played another game of ‘spot my artworks out in the world’ last year when some of my native still life pieces found their way onto set for the filming of ‘The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart’. They were used to decorate 'Thornfield', the grand estate house on the flower farm!
In between these unusual projects I’ve continued to create new work for exhibitions, art fairs and I’ve also been entering art prizes. Last year I was a finalist in the Northern Beaches Environmental Art Prize and in 2022 I was a finalist in the National Emerging Art Prize.
Can you share the stories behind the artworks we have used in our latest collaboration, Wanderer?
The Daisy Field design is inspired by a summer trip to the Snowy Mountains. We walked to the summit of Mt Kosciusko in January where the lush vegetation was so spectacular. I found it marvellous that these plants lie hidden under snow for a good part of the year and then they are revealed, and they are so fresh and pristine.
The pink flowering gum blossoms are directly based on a tree I pass by close to home on the edge of a car park! Not very romantic I know but the display it puts on in the summer is such a joy to witness, and in the winter these huge sculptural gum nuts remain on the branches. It's one of my favourites.
How do you choose your still life subjects, what elements are you drawn too?
When it comes to still life I always work from life, so my subject matter depends on what’s in season. Sometimes I’m able to find sprigs in friends’ gardens or in car parks or growing wild on the side of the road. Other times I will haunt my local florist for the most unusual looking natives from the flower markets.
Most recently I decided to give my large collection of dried flowers a second chance in the spotlight and currently have a mini release at Michael Reid Southern Highlands featuring my ‘Preserved’ stems. I’m drawn to the paradoxical nature of many of our native plants, they are delicate and yet they are so robust.
What are you currently absorbed in?
When I’m working I generally listen to audiobooks rather than podcasts because I love getting into a story. In a busy household with two teenagers and an almost teen it’s one way I can consume content that is just for me!
I’m really into classic literature at the moment - my degree is in French and European Studies and the element that I really enjoyed was the literature, so 30 years later I’m revisiting some of those texts and also delving into new realms like Dickens for the first time. I love learning about social history and realising that the way we live now is so heavily impacted by the past.
Follow Nicola
@nicolawoodcockart
nicolawoodcock.com
