Nicola Russell is an American-Canadian artist based in New York City. She earned a BA in Studio Art with a minor in Philosophy from Hobart and William Smith Colleges (2019), followed by an MFA from the New York Academy of Art (2024). In 2018, after studying at the Leo Marchutz School in Aix-en-Provence, France, she began painting landscapes en plein air—an ongoing element of her multidisciplinary practice.

Her work spans portraiture, landscape, and figurative painting, unified by a deep interest in human emotion and the environments we navigate. Her current body of work, Subway Series, reflects on the quiet rhythms of urban life and the absurdity of existence. Working primarily in oil on panel, she uses heavily thinned paint to create dry, muted surfaces that echo the fleeting, often overlooked moments she captures. Through intimate portrayals of anonymous figures on the New York City subway—often caught in moments of solitude, fatigue, or inward reflection—Russell invites viewers to discover tenderness, humor, and beauty in the mundane details of daily life.

Education

2024 MFA New York Academy of Art, New York NY                                                                   

2019 BA, Studio Art, minor in Philosophy, Hobart and William Smith Colleges (HWS), Geneva NY            

2018 Leo Marchutz School of Painting & Drawing, Aix-en-Provence, France        

Press 

CanvasRebel - https://canvasrebel.com/meet-nicola-russell/

Membership

Alumni Association of the New York Academy of Art 

Shows/ Exhibitions/ Residencies

AANYAA Artist in Residence at Fieldstones, 2025

NYAA Deck the Walls, New York NY, 2024

NYAA Take Home a Nude Art Auction at Sotheby's, New York NY, 2024

Forum Gallery, New York Academy of Art Summer Exhibition, New York NY, 2024

NYAA 2024 MFA Thesis Exhibition, New York NY, 2024

NYAA Tribeca Ball Hallway Exhibition, New York NY, 2024

Everyday Rituals NYAA Student Curatorial Committee fall exhibition, New York NY, 2023

Living Gallery Pop-Up Art Show, Brooklyn NY, August 2023

Rocky Neck Plein Air Exhibition, Gloucester MA, August 2023

NYAA Tribeca Ball Hallway Exhibition, New York NY, Exhibition 2023

The Beautiful, Brief Existence NYAA Student Curatorial Committee spring exhibition, New York NY, 2023

Walls NYAA Student Curatorial Committee fall exhibition, New York NY, 2022

Porter Mill Downstairs Gallery, Beverly MA, December 2021 

Color Gallery’s Red show, Marblehead MA, April 2021

Porter Mill Online Exhibition, Beverly MA, December 2020

HWS Annual Student Exhibition, Geneva NY, 2019

Leo Marzutez Salon des Refusés Exhibition, Aix-en-Provence France, May 2018                                

Awards

Bonnie De-Witt Fund Award 2024

NYAA SURP Teaching Assistantship Volunteer Program Award 2023

NYAA Academic Merit Award 2022

HWS The Arthur Dove Award 2019 (Recognition of quality of work and the purchase of a select work of art) 

HWS The Katherine Gracey Merrill Award 2019 (For academic excellence in the fine arts). 

Summa Cum Laude HWS 2019

BCS Headmaster’s Commission Award 2015

B.C.S Tankard Award for Most Outstanding Students

BSC Class Art Award ( 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015)

Duke of Edinburgh Award – bronze and silver