About

I am a Scottish artist who has enjoyed a varied career. I graduated from Glasgow School of Art 1993, and worked as a bouncer, a chef, a stonemason and a blacksmith before returning to art 1999 to set up Perfect Circle, a commercial fine art company. Perfect Circle ran for 15 years, alongside Maryhill Art School which I set up with two other tutors. At the same time I set up and ran Strange Frames, a bespoke framing company. I spent 15 years collaborating with my hero, the Scottish artist and writer Alasdair Gray on his visual work and public projects. I’ve also worked for Oscar winning film designers, made huge mosaics and murals acted as the arts consultant for infrastructure projects. I now live in the countryside working from a studio that I built during lockdown, and painting the Scottish landscape among other passions.

Timeline

1999

June 1

1999

Painting and mosaics for Bar ce lona pub Sauchiehall street.

June 1

1999 – Present

Owner and Director of Perfect Circle Art. A fine art studio modelled on the classical studios of antiquity. The purpose of this was to improve his technique by taking commercial projects that would lead to learning outcomes. Perfect Circle handles fine art projects up to the value of about £500,000.

June 1

1999

Murals at the Grosvenor café. For years Nichol and his flatmates ate at the local café called the Grosvenor Cafe owned by Larry and Ghislaine Winning. In 1999 Larry asked Nichol to paint some murals for the café. One of the murals was a drawing of the west end which…

1996

June 1

1996

A painting of the new housing office in Glasgow. Nichol and another artist shared the commission to do the artwork for the new building as they were the only two who entered. The building was named after John Wheatley, the housing minister in the first labour government. He is Nichol’s…

1994

January 1

1994 – 2009

Tutor at the continuing education department of Glasgow School of Art. During this period Nichol taught some amazing artists including Muriel Barclay (link to https://www.murielbarclay.com ) and Judith Bridgeland (link to http://www.jibridgland.com ).

1993

January 1

1993 – 1999

Between Art school and 1999 Nichol had a series of jobs that included being a stonemason, a blacksmith and working in kitchens. He did a series of hand-drawn adverts for a bike shop that were the most stolen item on the subway in Glasgow at the time. He ran a…

1989

January 1

1989 – 1993

Glasgow School of Art, Drawing and Painting department.

1971

January 1

1971

Born. Edinburgh. Scotland

Notable works

The Tam o’Shanter cycle of murals at Òran Mór.

Painting the ceiling of the auditiorium at Òran Mór for Alasdair Gray.

Manufacturing the Hillhead Subway Mural for Alasdair Gray, which was based on one of Nichol Wheatley’s drawings.

Ceiling of St Aloysious – in conjunction with Page and Park.

Portrait of David Dunbar – President of the Royal Incorporation of Architects Scotland.

Murals for set of Trainspotting 2.

Concept Artist for Outlaw King, the largest film production to date in Scotland.