niki sutherland
B. 1984
Born in the Okanagan Valley of B.C, Sutherland mainly grew up in Calgary after the family relocated to Alberta in the early 90’s. She graduated high school in 2002 and spent most of the next 15 years raising her daughter and working a variety of odd jobs and part-time gigs as a bartender, healthcare aide, housecleaner, sales representative, receptionist, etc. For several years in the early 2010’s, she and her daughter lived in the mountains of Kananaskis where she found work at a ski hill lounge. It was during this time in the remote nature of the rockies that she learned to paint. Her early work depicts detailed renditions of these surroundings; snow-covered mountains, extraordinary Alberta skies – painted in oil on canvas.
After their return to Calgary, Sutherland met her husband, and in 2018 the three of them left Alberta for Ontario where she enrolled as a fulltime student at OCAD University in Toronto. Over the next seven years, through the COVID19 pandemic and yet another relocation to rural Bruce County, Ontario, she finally completed her program in the spring of 2025.
Sutherland holds an Honors BFA with Distinction from OCADU in Drawing and Painting, as well as a minor in Sculpture and Installation.
The multidisciplinary artist is currently based in Port Elgin, Ontario where she works in collaborative engagement with material and place from her home studio. Rooted in natural curiosity and intentional observation, Sutherland employs a method of artistic research to support and prescribe a framework for her process; compiling source material, references, and documenting reflections, her work is informed by nature and the embodied experience of making and knowing that characterizes her practice.
Community Collaborations
In the summer of 2025, Sutherland approached Emma and Graham Cubitt, owners and architects of the accommodations space, the Paisley Mill; a historic former flour mill in Paisley Ontario that they operate remotely from their home in Hamilton. The proposal focused on the Mill’s underused, 1000sqft main-floor venue space that is currently available to the public to rent for events and private gatherings. Sutherland’s initiative described a transformation of the space’s design and usage to focus specifically on providing artists and creative groups an affordable, accessible venue to host pop-up exhibitions, art markets, performances, workshops, and more. The model would rely on the generosity of the Cubitt’s to allow subsidized rental rate for artists, curators, and creative groups – to which they graciously agreed – laying the groundwork for the Studio at Paisley Mill. With an aim to support the vast and varied rural artists in the Bruce County area, the Studio is a space to generate professional opportunities and creative engagement with the many surrounding communities.
In addition to her studio practice, Sutherland volunteers her time as a coordinating director of the space, developing the media and marketing and overseeing operations. Still in the early stages of development, the Studio is quietly building its reputation as a unique space to share and experience art.