Nicole Allen | INTO NATURE'S KNOWING
April 3 - 17

Reception: Thursday, April 3 @ 5 - 7 pm,
RSVP your attendance to responses@wallspacegallery.ca

Wall Space Gallery is proud to present “INTO NATURE’S KNOWING”, a solo exhibition by Ottawa-based painter Nicole Allen. Allen’s latest body of works stems from her long-term contemplation of the innate intelligence within the generative and creative growth of botanical formations. Her expressionistic florals offer space to tap into and truly listen to their knowing, captured in her balance of intricate cascades of colour, line, and negative space.

INTO NATURE'S KNOWING

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For Allen, the age-old wisdom of plants is present in aspects of their being, including their ability to adapt to their surroundings in communication with their environment, use of spiral patterns of growth to maximize their exposure to the sun, and their innate medicinal qualities. As with Allen’s past works, titles such as “Mixed Emotions” and “Soulmate” suggest her botanical representations reach beyond mimesis towards metaphors for human states of emotional intelligence and interaction.

"My work is an exploration of the innate wisdom and the beauty I find in
nature. Through semi-abstracted floral forms, I seek to connect with the
intelligence woven into organic patterns, colors, and growth. What is nature
revealing to us through its perfect imperfections, its bold gestures, it’s
quiet movements?"

- Nicole Allen

"There is a language in the way petals unfold, in the way light filters through leaves, in the fleeting moments of bloom and decay. The vibrant hues
and rhythmic structures of flowers speak to something beyond the physical—a
resonance that draws us closer to another realm. In these paintings, I aim to
capture not just the essence of nature’s beauty, but the feeling of being in
conversation with it."

- Nicole Allen

Colour, a dominant element in Allen’s compositions, is also a major syntax in plant communication. Their tactful evolutionary selection of effusive petal colourations entices pollinators, better ensuring their reproduction and survival.

In Allen’s “Resolutions”, swaths of colourful petals vie for our attention, pulling our eye to and fro. Her palettes and free-form compositions, loosely rendered from life, temporarily freeze-frame the balance that can be found between forces if they communicate in unison; the functional order of chaos.

- Tiffany April
Curator

Born in Oakville, Ontario, Nicole Allen developed an early appreciation for painting the Canadian landscape from her father. Nicole has an undergraduate degree in Art History from Queen’s University, and an honours diploma in Applied Museum Studies from Algonquin College.

After working in the Art Rental and Sales industry in Victoria, BC, Nicole and her husband Jeff settled in Ottawa in 1997. They have two wonderful teenaged kids. Over the years, Nicole has consistently developed her painting and figurative skills through her studies at the Ottawa School of Art and local art groups.


In 2010, Nicole began exhibiting her work in the Ottawa region and now paints full time at her studio, as a member of The Loft artists collective. Her paintings are held in private collections across Canada, the United States, and Europe.