After graduating from the Dunedin School of Art, Invercargill-born Nic Tucker spent a few decades teaching Visual and Performing Arts, before deciding she wanted to be a full-time artist. Her medium is complex and very interesting.
Nic is accomplished at woodcut printing. “I love the creative freedom. Printmaking has a particular magic to it. You can draw up the image in reverse (as it is in my case, landscape) and carve it but it is not until you ink and print it up that you know what it will look like. This is the magic part for me in the process.” Having had a range of exhibitions around NZ from Invercargill to Whangarei and cities/towns in between, she has gained art awards in a range of mediums but her love of carving wood and printing seems to have the biggest hold on her. “I have currently finished a series of four small works that will be part of The Print Council Aotearoa New Zealand’s Small Print Exhibition that will travel around New Zealand.” As a team, Nic and her husband Craig had to work really hard to pay off their mortgage to be able to take the risk of Nic being a full-time artist, to develop a body of work and have her works in galleries around New Zealand, to maintain their lifestyle. “My husband is a full-time frame maker for my works and is my backbone. He mounts my works and makes fitted boxes for the prints that are sent all over New Zealand as well as internationally. We are both tremendously lucky to have incredibly supportive parents that have helped over the years and supported us in our goals.
