UPDATE 11th December 2023 - We are pleased to exhibit at Showcase Ireland Creative Expo 2024 🤩🧑‍🎨. Come to stand L23 ‘Outsider Art’ and see for yourself the mounted and framed prints stocking retail shops in Ireland and internationally. At Showcase Ireland, we are offering:

• Eye-catching art prints of collections made for Trade only 📊

• Beautiful products that promote a side of Ireland your customers will love 🫶

• A range of products, framed and unframed, in sizes from A5 all the way up to A0!

• Discounts exclusive to Showcase Ireland visitors who visit me and order stock within 30 days of your visit 🥳

• Irish-made products by independent producers supporting the local economy 🇮🇪

• Find out more in this short introductory video

WHO I AM

I am Nicola McKenna and I work as an intuitive self-taught Outsider Artist, making art that displays emotions. I take a feeling and make it visual, making the intangible seen.

WHAT I PAINT

I mostly make figures that show honest experiences of difficult emotional struggles. Imaginative and bold, they help you see the difficult things - whatever that means to you - with acceptance and love. As a mother, my job is to raise my children without shame, and I take the same approach to art-making. I permit rawness to come into my practice and stay there.

INFLUENCES

Intuition is a big part of my job; I listen to it in order to create figurative Expressionist artworks. My style is termed Outsider and is relatively new and very contemporary. Outsider is also described as Raw, Brut, or Bold, historically it is known as Fauve/Fauvism or Expressionist/Expressionism. I enjoy the work of artists Marc Chagall, Jean Dubuffet, Joan Miró, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and more recently, Matt Sesow (USA), Kelly Wilder (Italy), Elena Rossi (Italy), and Megan Badger (USA)

PROCESS

My process involves tuning in to a force, and it tells me what to do. I do what I’m told, as if taking down dictation so to speak. I work hard to tune out the fear, and hear instructions that challenge me. And when I follow them, when I trust and believe, the process becomes easy and kind. My faith is tested and this results in artwork that is stronger for the risk. 

If we filter or refine something, we risk changing it to something that is unhelpful, so my work can appear rough, wild, vibrant. It can be colourful or monochrome. I often work in layers and textures, I include lettering and sgraffiti; materials are graphite, acrylics, and ink. I am a self-taught artist - I have learned my skills by doing, playing, failing, playing again. I love being self-taught and a self-starter.

RANDOM INFO

Bold Art is my one-woman business of ‘inside emotion on outside art’ on mounted prints, canvas, and digital image for retail and wholesale trading.

Bright and bold, my figurative and abstract works grab and intrigue with their individuality and charm.

I bring armfuls of courage and craic* to you and I hope, acceptance and love ❤️🧡💛💚🩵💙💜

For our planet, I use pre-loved art materials, reclaiming canvases, paints, and inks. My prints come from a local independent printer.

Self-taught, I’m a ‘Shan’ McKenna of Monaghan blessed with bravery and Blarney. It has brought me far!

*’craic’ is the Gaelic word for entertainment, banter, and fun☺️🥰😉

ANY QUESTIONS?

Drop me a line here, I’d love to hear from you.