Nicole Sleeth is a Canadian oil painter. Closely observing emotional intimacy both in herself and others, Sleeth centres the female gaze while examining relationships between private introspective worlds and outer public presence. Guided by an imaginative realism approach, her work employs bold colour themes, the female figure, and the natural landscape as she searches for truth that extends deeper than factual representation. 

Classically trained in Ottawa at Bob Grant's Fine Art Studio, Sleeth continued her education through direct study with Alyssa Monks and Christopher Pugliese at the New York Academy of Art, Max Ginsburg at the Whidbey Island Fine Art Studio, and mentorship with Edward Povey. She holds an Honours Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Ottawa. Sleeth is a recipient of project grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council. Her work has received multiple awards and has been featured in Riddle Fence, Focus Magazine, Boulevard Magazine, and more.

Sleeth established her painting practice in Vancouver and Victoria, BC from 2011 until 2022, when she relocated to Newfoundland. Her work has been exhibited in commercial and public galleries in Canada and the United States. Her work is held in private collections in Canada, the United States, England, Argentina, Singapore, and in the Civic Art Collection of the City of St. John’s, Canada, and The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery (Newfoundland, Canada). She lives and works in Carbonear, Newfoundland, where she is inspired by the landscape and quiet rural living.

Notable Exhibitions

• 2026 Indelible Mark, Ashdale Gallery, North Vancouver BC
• 2026 An Atlas of Uncertainty, The Rooms, St. John's NL
• 2025 Arts & Letters, The Rooms, St. John's NL
• 2025 Here We Can Be Free, James Baird Gallery, Pouch Cove NL
• 2024 WOMAN, James Baird Gallery, Pouch Cove NL
• 2023 The Kingston Prize, Gananoque ON 
• 2023 Salt Spring National Art Prize, Salt Spring BC
• 2022 WOMAN, James Baird Gallery, Pouch Cove NL
  
• 2022 Visage, Rockslide Gallery, Victoria BC 
  
• 2022 The Audacity of Taking Up Space, Penticton Art Gallery, Penticton BC
  
• 2022 Sooke Fine Arts Show, Sooke BC (Award of Excellence recipient)
• 2022 Present/Imperfect, Fortune Gallery, Victoria BC 

Artist Statement

I create oil paintings of the female figure and the coastal Canadian landscape, both together and separate. My approach is guided by imagination and memory while rooted in a representational style. Colour is an important element, with recent paintings featuring bold palettes that are driven by emotional expression rather than an attempt at realism.

I am interested in the differences between inner emotional worlds and outer public presence: how we experience ourselves versus how our selves are perceived by others. Which is true? Either? Both? Or neither at all? Truth and its unveiling are central to the work. For example, when painting the female figure, I consider the charged and gendered history of the muse in Western art history. It is paradoxical that in the classical female nude, a woman’s identity is simultaneously idealized and erased. And yet who is the viewer, and who is the viewed? As a woman and a painter, I am both.

I find freedom and peace through solitude in the natural landscape of my home in Newfoundland. In the barrens, in the forest, on rocky shores, I become invisible, unseen; the ocean does not care about me. Escaping all notice grants me the mental space to examine my relationship with place, to delve into worlds unseen, and reconcile my experiences and emotions. My landscape paintings are not a record of the location they represent, but rather an exploration of my emotional state while there.

I work with traditional materials - oil paint on linen or wood - punctuated by hyper-saturated fluorescent colours. Working alone in the studio is essential to my practice; it is a haven of privacy and focus. Through these works, I hope to create moments of connection for viewers, where they might recognize a part of themselves, not able to be put into words.

Our Work Together

Nicole Sleeth continues to explore the landscape through her ongoing series Close to Home: a return to simplicity, to human connection, and to what technology cannot achieve - physical works made by hand and by heart.

We look forward to supporting her as she further nuances her practice. Please give Nicole Sleeth a warm welcome to the TAD community.