After four years at Art College, the last three spent carving large sculptures in wood and stone, Nicola Beattie graduated in 1990 with a degree in Sculpture from Wimbledon School of Art, London. She spent the following fifteen years working solely in wood, followed by working in stone, marble, alabaster, plaster, clay and wax over the next fifteen years. Nicola returned to working in wood in 2020 on moving back to Wales where she grew up.
Nicola’s current work is inspired by architectural ruins and archaeology; castles and stone monuments native to Pembrokeshire, where she now lives and works. The main ethos of her work is to recreate the feeling of time standing still, with echoes of the past which pervade these historic places.
Drawn by these buildings for her inspiration, Nicola has been working on a number of tall vertical forms in wood and employing a variety of textures achieved with a broad range of both hand and power tools. These textures emulate erosion of the old stone buildings and their history which inspire her, through various markings and pitted surfaces describing an element of age, weathering and past conflicts. These pieces of work are not busy, but simplistic, calming and quiet; this peaceful presence is central to her work, creating a silent and pensive refuge from the outside world for a while.
A gallery review of ‘Solitude’ – one of the sculptures in this body of work from the series ‘Pileri’:
“ ‘SOLITUDE’ is a powerful columnar wood sculpture that embodies the artist’s distinctive approach to transforming instruments or echoes of conflict into serene abstract forms. Drawing inspiration from ancient ruins and weathered architecture in Wales, the piece stands like a silent sentinel – monolithic, grounded and contemplative. The tall gently rounded form is punctuated by a single vertical incision, suggesting both vulnerability and strength, presence and absence. Charred and blackened with fire – a method historically tied to both destruction and purification – the surface is then treated with mineral oil, deepening the texture and preserving its raw elemental beauty. Solitude speaks quietly yet profoundly, bridging the past and present, violence and peace, in a tactile mediation on memory and endurance.”
ArtParkS Sculpture Park, Sausmarez Manor, Guernsey. April 2025
Nicola has exhibited both abroad and throughout the UK, exhibiting at both major London exhibitions and galleries in cities elsewhere in the UK. She has exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, the Royal West of England Academy in Bristol, the Discerning Eye and RBA at Mall Galleries, alongside various open exhibitions in Cork Street and elsewhere in London, including at Bargehouse Gallery, Oxo Tower Wharf.
Alongside exhibiting, Nicola has completed a number of contemporary art commissions for both private and corporate clients within the UK.
In 2020, a bronze commission from further afield saw her work installed in Tai Po, Hong Kong, in the recently built ‘Ontolo’ – a new luxury residence by the sea in Tolo Harbour, completed in September 2020.
Alongside her studio pieces, Nicola undertook a bronze public artwork which was installed at the old Printers building in Papworth Everard, Cambridgeshire in March 2023.
Her work is held in collections in America, Australia, and throughout Europe.