Niki was born in Lancashire, then raised in Cornwall, where she later studied at Falmouth
College of Arts before moving to Brighton to complete a degree in printmaking.
Discovering the versatility of printmaking and in particular its therapeutic qualities has been a life-long passion, leading Niki to teach printmaking for many years with an arts on referral charity throughout Gloucestershire. Most recently, Niki has taken time out from teaching to concentrate on her creative pursuits as well as developing a mentoring and life coaching practice. Being fully present in the moment is an integral part of her working process.
“Whilst I'm in the act of creating, I become absorbed in the making, relying on intuitive decision making to work through my prints in stages and layers. It's in this often-meditative process where I seek to ignite my imagination and fuel my joy of simply playing with shape, colour, texture and pattern. Without light we'd see no colour and it's light and dark that I use to create illusionary layers of depth and space. I'm not concerned with any conceptual idea about where I want my work to arrive at. I simply want to delight in my discoveries along the way, with my primary aim of evoking a sense of curiosity, intrigue, balance and harmony. I want my work to be both restful and joyful.”
Monoprinting is one of Niki’s favourite printing process due to its painterly immediacy.
She uses both natural and man-made recycled packaging and scrap materials to directly
print from, alongside mark-making tools that she draws and paints with into an inked-up
plate. A multi-disciplinary print maker, Niki also enjoys working with collagraph and lino printing.