Night Garden #8 (Nine Anemones), 2021
Gouache, pen, and collage on paper
10 x 10 inches

Second Street Gallery is pleased to present Pattern Gardens, a solo exhibition of new work by Richmond, Virginia-based artist Nikki Painter, in the Main Gallery from June 6 – July 18, 2025.

Pattern Gardens showcases a body of mixed media works on paper and a large-scale installation that reveal gardens as living, patterned spaces filled with energy and emotional complexity. Through intricate hand-drawn patterns, vivid color, and layered forms, the exhibition explores nature in its multiplicity—simultaneously meditative and chaotic, joyful and somber. Each series of works (Layered Gardens, Night Gardens, Sunset Gardens) presents a unique variation on the garden as a site of beauty, change, and evocation. The installation Garden Crush channels aspects of these three distinct series into an immersive expression of the exhibition as a whole, celebrating the beauty and complexity of existence.

The exhibition will open to the public on June 6 for First Friday from 5:30–7:30PM.

This exhibition is generously sponsored by the Pontillo-Galdencio Family, the Virginia Commission for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Installation photography by Stacey Evans

Meet the Exhibiting Artist

Nikki Painter
nikkipainter.com | @nikkipainter_art

Nikki Painter is a Virginia artist whose mixed media works are inspired by the natural world. Painter holds a bachelor of fine arts in painting and printmaking from Virginia Commonwealth University (Richmond, VA), and a master of fine arts in studio art from American University (Washington, D.C.) She has had solo shows at COOP Gallery (Nashville, TN), Purdue University's Rueff Gallery (West Lafayette, IN), and Shockoe Artspace (Richmond, VA), among others. Her work has been featured in numerous group exhibitions, including shows at the Daegu Arts Center in South Korea, Second Street Gallery, the Taubman Museum (Roanoke, VA), and the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art (Virginia Beach, VA).

Painter has attended artist residencies in Florida, Georgia, Vermont, Virginia, and Wyoming. Her work is held in many private and public collections, including those of Capital One (Richmond, VA), the Katzen Museum (Washington, D.C.), and Notre Dame of Maryland University (Baltimore, MD). In 2022, she was awarded a Fellowship for Works on Paper by the Virginia Commission for the Arts. 

She resides in suburban Richmond with her husband and a growing collection of houseplants.


Exhibition Statement from the Artist

“My mixed media garden works on paper combine painting with drawing and collage to portray plants in patterned spaces. I call them “gardens” because I imagine them as places that are alive and changing. 

Observing nature and hand-drawing intricate patterns are forms of meditation for me. Patterns within my gardens are not decorative—they imply depth and space, and they build a buzzing energy. Black patterns contrast with the works’ subject matter, as we expect flowers to be cheerful. They add gravitas and serve as a reminder that beauty can have an edge.

Subtly referencing the chaotic side of nature via drips and splashes, painted grounds provide the works’ color. Fluorescent colors convey intensity and vibrance.

The exhibition Pattern Gardens includes several bodies of work: Night Gardens, Sunset Gardens, Layered Gardens, and a mixed media installation titled Garden Crush. Each body of work presents a variation on my concept of the garden as a site of abundance and heightened experience.

Night Gardens conveys a somber, meditative atmosphere, while Sunset Gardens references the bittersweet, outrageously beautiful moments immediately before we lose the light. Layered Gardens is meant to feel ethereal and joyful, while Garden Crush is a large-scale, three-dimensional piece combining aspects of these three distinct series.

Created by a gardener’s collaboration with the natural world, a garden presents a gift of beauty. Flowers cycle through seasons of life with grace, making them inherently evocative of hope. 

My garden works celebrate the complexity of existence; our lives are fragile, always changing, and filled with astonishing beauty.”

Golden Coneflower, 2021
Pen, gouache, and collage on paper
3 x 3 inches

Crimson Glow Garden, 2021
Pen, gouache, and collage on paper
3 x 3 inches

Prismatic Daisy, 2024
Pen, gouache, and collage on paper
3 x 3 inches

Little Sweetheart Daisy, 2022
Pen, gouache, and collage on paper
3 x 3 inches

Knockout Rose Garden (Navy), 2021
Pen, gouache, and collage on paper
3 x 3 inches

Little Sweetheart Mum, 2022
Pen, gouache, and collage on paper
3 x 3 inches

Large Night Garden (Daisies), 2018
Pen drawing and collage on paper
26.5 x 26.5 inches, 30 x 30 inches framed

Large Night Garden (Roses), 2018
Pen drawing and collage on paper
26.5 x 26.5 inches, 30 x 30 inches framed

Large Night Garden (Daffodils), 2018
Pen drawing and collage on paper
26.5 x 26.5 inches, 30 x 30 inches framed

Small Layered Garden (Strawflower Boogie), 2025
Pen, gouache and colored pencil on layered foam board and paper
6 x 6 x .5 inches, 10.5 x 10.5 x 2 inches framed

Small Layered Garden (Yellow Zinnias), 2025
Pen, gouache, collage, and colored pencil on layered foam board and paper
6 x 6 x .5 inches, 10.5 x 10.5 x 2 inches framed

Small Layered Garden (Pattern Daisies), 2025
Gouache and colored pencil on layered foam board and paper
6 x 6 x .5 inches, 10.5 x 10.5 x 2 inches framed

Night Garden #10 (Bright Strawflowers), 2022
Gouache, pen, and collage on paper
10 × 10 inches, 20 × 20 inches framed

Night Garden #5 (Midnight Roses), 2020
Gouache, pen, and collage on paper
10 × 10 inches, 20 × 20 inches framed

Night Garden #18 (Radiant Roses), 2023
Gouache, pen, and collage on paper
10 × 10 inches, 20 × 20 inches framed

View available artworks from the exhibition HERE.


Programming for Nikki Painter: Pattern Gardens

June Family Studio Day
Saturday, June 14, 10AM-2PM