Nickola McCoy

I believe that art is an alternative language that is universal. No words are needed. It is as old as time and as relative as the earth is round. I believe in the power of art to conceal, to heal, to reveal and to conceive. My work represents the ever revolving door of the human mind's desire to dream, and imagine, to examine and determine. I will not limit myself for the pleasure or the pockets of anyone. My work is of me and is me. It has always been and will always remain me and the world as I perceive it. I will continue to create for the pure pleasure I get from creating what is uniquely mine, as it is conceived and birthed in my mind's eye. This is my oath to myself and to all who may find a moment of beauty or mystery in my work. Let your mind too be challenged by what is uniquely yours, your mind and your vision. No one on this earth has your view and no one can tell you what you feel is wrong because it belongs to you and you alone. Challenge the world and its perceived notions of beauty....be yourself, as only you can!

Biography: Nickola McCoy was born on 25 October 1974 on Grand Cayman, the eldest daughter of eight children born to a Jamaican mother and a Caymanian father. Her art is entirely self taught, a true Cayman artist, her feeling for Caribbean art and culture is self evident. She has lived most of her life on Grand Cayman in the Cayman Islands and studied briefly in the United States. Her travels have taken her to Russia where she worked with orphaned children and to Cuba where she assisted with medicinal aid and vaccination programmes in under funded hospitals. Her life has seen many varied areas of work including time as a police officer, a dive instructor, a postal worker, an insurance administrator and a teacher. In 2000, following a spinal injury and three months of immobility and intense physiotherapy, she gave up her then career in insurance. This became a turning point in her life and she began to take her first love, the arts, more seriously. She redirected her focus on the two things she loved most Art and Children, she began working at the St Georges Anglican School with young children teaching motor skills through the practice of art. A year later in 2001 she was asked by the education department to set up an art curriculum for a public primary school, teaching basic art skills for students ages 5-12. Ms. McCoy worked with the George Town primary School for two years as the pri8mary source of art for the entire school. In 2003 she began volunteering at the National gallery of the Cayman Islands as an outreach art instructor, under the tutorship of Mr. Tony Crosbie and Mrs. Leslie Bigliman, the former director of the National Gallery. In 2004 Ms McCoy was approached by the National Gallery of the Cayman Islands to fill the position of Education and Outreach Facilitator. After twelve months in this position Ms McCoy relocated to Cornwall in the United Kingdom in order to further her own art education and to continue working in a place that has inspired artistic endeavour for centuries. Her last series entitled "The Black Hat Series" comprised over 40 paintings and has now been sold to private collectors and institutions nad her work continues to appeal to serious collectors and corporate buyers. Now back in her homeland she continues to confound those who would pigeonhole her work and produces fine art of high quality in a range of different styles. Her first love remains the abstract expressionism which originally brought her to prominence, there are always a number of works in progress and a larger inventory of her work, past and present, can be viewed at her primary website. Works for sale at the Morgan Gallery can also be seen at the gallery website, a link to which can be found on this page.

Country: Cayman Islands

E-mail: jo_ker05@hotmail.com

Site: Arteccentrix