I grew up in Alberta, Canada, where three years of formal art education led to a home-based business in eastern Ontario, working freelance while my two boys were young. Acquainted with a multitude of media, styles and subjects, artwork included paintings and illustrations of any size, designing and executing murals, consultation, and custom artwork, including fabrics for Interior Designers and their associates. Working within limited budgets and deadlines extended my creative edge and exercised the capacity for improvisation.

Until moving to Texas, U.S.A. in 2002, volunteer work at schools included developing educational projects around themes of Art History, multiculturalism, and environmental issues. I reestablished my career in Texas with an entirely new body of work, exploring potential through gallery exhibitions, competitions and online exhibitions, and was honored to receive Artist of the Year in 2009 by the Visual Arts Society of Texas (VAST, Denton, TX)
Specializing in not specializing is the perfect mode for freelance, but in order to compromise with  galleries’ expectations of consistency, yet not the integrity of my work, I developed a multi-disciplined solo exhibition called, “Dancing With Trees“. The broad collection of artwork represents every relation and association with trees, utilizing a range of literal and abstract concepts. The accompanying website shares mostly photography taken during travels across the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, Australia, and Singapore; also functioning as a place where all aspects of the exhibition can be viewed, and all art can be purchased.

Resettling in the Portland, Oregon area after a move in November 2011, I continue to accept freelance commissions for artwork, including onsite installations. Contact nikki_coulombe@hotmail.com