Deirdre Nicholls

Most recently exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy 200th Anniversary Exhibition in Edinburgh, Deirdre Nicholls is a sculptor and watercolourist working in bronze, plaster and resin.
Her sculpture focuses on rare and endangered UK farm animals, using colour, scale and form to draw attention to overlooked species and to slow the viewer’s perception of what is seen.
Working from sustained observation and research, she develops figurative and animal forms through drawing and modelling into three-dimensional work that balances physical accuracy with psychological presence.
Nicholls' drawing and watercolour is an important part of her practice; she works en plein air in her native Scotland, in France, Italy and in rural England.
Her work is listed in ArtUK and is held in public and private collections in the UK and internationally. She has exhibited at the Royal Academy, Royal Scottish Academy, Royal Ulster Academy and Paisley Arts Institute (Winner of the PAI Sculpture Prize 2025). She lives and works in the Scottish Borders and is represented in Glasgow by Compass Gallery.

BA(Hons)Winchester School of Art
PGCE:University of Sussex
MBA (OU)
MA Classical Studies (OU)

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2026 Royal Scottish Academy 200th Anniversary Exhibition
2025 Royal Ulster Academy Annual Exhibition,
Paisley Art Institute Annual Exhibition (Sculpture Prize)

2024 Royal Scottish Academy Annual Exhibition, Compass Gallery
2023 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition.
The Scottish Gallery
2022 Cookham Arts Festival, Olney Park Sculpture Exhibition

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2019 John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford
2013 Beyond Surface: Portrait Heads, Summerhall, Edinburgh

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS and COMMISSIONS

Glasgow City Chambers — Bust of Nelson Mandela
University of Edinburgh — Bust of Professor Sir Tim O’Shea
University of Edinburgh Business School — Bust of Ian Rushbrook
University of Edinburgh — Bust of Frank Rushbrook CBE
The Incorporated Trades of Edinburgh — Heraldic Shields

SELECTED COLLECTIONS

The Robert Burns Association, Georgia, USA — Bust of Robert Burns
Edinburgh Burns Society — Bust of Robert Burns
Edinburgh Corn Exchange — Bust of Bert Demarco