Juliet St John Nicolle is a contemporary artist based in Jersey, Channel Islands, working primarily in paint, drawing, collage and print. She has exhibited work since 1994 in Jersey and shown at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in London.
Detail is a key element to her work and this is seen in often small and incredibly intricate artworks which pull the viewer into the frame. The palette is a vibrant yet considered mix of blues and greens; yellows and oranges; pinks and purples; and purposeful dark outlines.
As the artist says of her work, it uses a “hypnotic movement through its symbolism, which draws you into a completely different stream of emotional consciousness. The paintings move with the viewer’s emotions and change with the energy around them”. The result is an artwork which appears different each time the viewer looks at it.
Juliet was diagnosed with autism later in her life and the work she makes is an invitation to see a fragment of her unique world. Acutely aware of her surroundings, she presents a narrative through her art which blends the two worlds of the neuro-divergent and “human” world, as she calls it. Just like her own spoken language which she uses, her artwork is a unique form of communication and is full of imagery and symbolism shown through repeated motifs such as eyes, humans, hands, heads, circles and energy waves. The viewer can look for these images as helpful ciphers in how to read the work and discover some of the meanings behind each piece.
The artist's 2022 series The Sea's Soul outlines the importance of the Ocean and its soul to all of us on Earth. This collection of fine gouache works and collages was made as a response to the worsening state of the oceans on the planet. The Sea’s Soul, Erosion I-VI shows the erosion of the very soul of the ocean as the colour fades from it in a tragic yet beautiful series of six paintings. CCA GALLERIES International presented 28 pieces from The Sea's Soul in April 2022 as Juliet's first major solo exhibition. The exhibition allowed us a valuable glimpse into the artist’s consciousness as she navigates the “neuro-typical” human world and the artworks show a completely unique angle to a well-known subject.
Juliet has exhibited regularly with pieces selected every year for the Jersey Summer Exhibition at CCA Galleries International.
In 2022 the artist started a new journey in print, working at Worton Hall Studios in London to make original handmade silkscreen prints. Here she created two new silkscreen editions which were showcased for the first time at the London Original Print Fair 2023. The editions are titled ‘Beyond Asperger’s, Connecting Hope of Two Worlds’ and 'Beyond Asperger's..Navigating Energy and Communication Within Two Worlds'.
Juliet has embarked on an exciting new phase in her career, exploring the techniques and openings of silkscreen; opening in the sense of working to a new scale which she has only recently felt the ability to achieve. These new editions open a new chapter and explore the boundaries of the process.