I wrote just last week about how integral creative collaboration is to me as an artist, and the wonderful relationship I’ve found and fostered with my beloved photographer Justyna Kulam.

We’re not islands, and I believe that collaboration makes us better. We learn things, we improve, we find new paths and insights and ways of living, being and working which feels exciting to me.

Every time I connect with someone new I feel excited. I feel held, I feel supported and seen. I feel like our arms reach out, we hug: a simple embrace. Creative warmth and energy fire from one screen to the next; it feels like the world got bigger and smaller all at once. It’s digital, but it’s very real.

And I certainly felt this the very first time I met Anna Kora Bartyzel…

*A self taught artist, Anna’s work focuses on our human interactions with nature - drawing upon questions which amplify our reliance on the earth’s resources and materials.* ***Photo:*** ***Justyna Kulam***

Before we spoke I felt a real affinity with Anna through our work: her work engages natural patterns - 'nature's geometry’ - and utilises foraged natural organic matter; the emotion her work provokes feels primitive, elemental and meditative - a sense of simplistic accidentalism - but her actions and processes prove anything but. Exacting and with quiet control. “…Each meticulous and meditative action touches upon our own communication with nature, how as humans we change its story everyday and how it changes ours” she explains: this artistic tension won me over.

And then I spoke to her…

*The work of* *Anna Kora Bartyzel. In a recent series of work Anna forages thorns before creating intricate abstractions which symbolise our relationship with nature.* ***Photo*** ***Jutyna Kulam***

*The work of* *Anna Kora Bartyzel. Meticulous and exacting, Anna works intuitively with her medium creating exquisite natural abstractions for her most recent Collection ‘Flawed Mortality (2023)’*. ***Photo:*** ***Justna Kulam***

*Foraging in rural Sussex for her most recent Collection ‘Flawed Mortality (2023)’*. ***Photo:*** ***Justyna Kulam***

And as gentle and effortless as her craft, she emits a considered and warm wholesome energy that intuitively I was drawn to. Anna is self taught and has been immersed in traditional and nature-dependant ways of living growing up in rural Poland. She’s been creating her entire life and her involvement in apprenticeship and sculptural arts communities lead her to develop a deep knowledge of green wood carving, with an intrinsic devotion to accuracy and precision involved with bespoke joinery. In short, she hand makes the most exquisite bespoke frames for all her own work: So then I really knew I HAD to collaborate with her.

And so here we are. Embarking on our first project together.

“As a visual artist, framing to me is a vital process of my making; incapsulating and preserving a piece of work, gives me the sense of honouring the art and the future generations of viewers to come.
It’s a completion, a wholeness a respect you give to an artwork and the artist .
One I find very satisfying, coming from a joinery background my art and framing reflect the slow precision that makes each frame so special to me.” - Anna Kora Bartyzel

All of my work in My Summer Sale drop* has been lovingly held and curated by Anna: sustainable bare walnut, expertly measured and crafted: my bespoke linen artwork carefully positioned and mounted; Her hands and work holds mine with a precision and accuracy that creates the perfect amount of tension between the organic and the industrial. My work feels love; and I am in love.

And I hope you will be too.

*Behind the scenes:* *Anna Kora Bartyzel* *busy framing the works.*

“Working with Nikki and her art is a perfect translation of that meditative process that inspires me . Her work speaks of a slowness with a motion, an action with freedom and a language that is open to the viewer.
Beautifully chosen by Nikki I have worked with solid black American walnut, a wood which is subtly powerful, elegant and deep with earthy colour which compliments Nikki natural and raw tones.
I’m very excited to be part of Nikki’s journey of creation, and so glad she is a part of mine” - Anna Kora Bartyzel

I’m not afraid to admit that I’d had elements of my framing process that were causing me issues; not least that I was mounting and finalising all framed works myself previously. They were good, and I was OK at it, but it was not without issue; and I’m no expert in this essential and final element of the presentation process. I was never fully happy.

Eventually I had a works returned to me - which I felt terrible about and which dented my confidence significantly. And so I vowed to work to fix the issues. And I feel certain that I have.

Finding such a wonderfully talented and holistic framing expert who is so connected to my values and understands the work of an artist on a deep and personal level is like a tiny dream come true: I wish for many happy years of collaboration together.

*I will be presenting the fully curated sale collection in collaboration with Anna Kora Bartyzel on Friday 21st July for subscribers and Monday 24th July for non-subscribers. Subscriber will have an evening to purchase on Sunday 23rd July before general release on Monday 24th July 2023. Scroll through for a small preview…

Introducing Anna Kora Bartyzel

This Hollow Heart (2023)

Friendship, Collaboration, and the Story of Two Dying Trees.