Harbour Flora

British born, Nicola Woodcock is a self-taught Sydney based artist working out of her studio on the Northern Beaches. She was a finalist in the 2025 Waverley Woollahra Art School 9×5 Landscape Art prize, and has been a finalist in The Northern Beaches Environmental Art Prize 2023, The Little Things Art Prize 2023 and in the 2021 and 2022 National Emerging Art Prize. Nicola’s work has featured on sold out collections with Melbourne based ethical clothing label NancyBird.

We’re pleased to share news of Harbour Flora, an upcoming exhibition by Nicola Woodcock — a new series of works shaped by time spent walking the bush tracks around Sydney Harbour, from Spit to Manly and Bradley’s Head. Harbour Flora offers intimate reading of the harbour’s edges — where pathways wind through bushland and the natural world asserts itself in both subtle and striking ways. The works carry a sense of movement and stillness at once, inviting collectors to linger in their layered surfaces and tonal shifts.

“In Autumn this year I began walking the Sydney Harbour trails as a weekly ritual — moving from Spit to Manly, Bradleys Head to Chowder Bay and on to Balmoral — seeking both exercise and mental clarity. Along these foreshore tracks I observed the native flora growing through sandstone, leaf litter and coastal scrub, becoming increasingly aware of the shifting colours and textures of the season. Walking through the landscape brought a sense of liberation and peace. The act of walking the trails along the harbour’s edge sharpened my attention to the resilience and sculptural beauty of the native plants: banksias a glow against dry earth and clumps of delicate flannel flowers emerging through tangled bushland. Back in the studio, these observations became a small collection of oil pastel artworks shaped by memory, movement and atmosphere. Using a palette of earthy reds, browns and ochres contrasting with jewel-like bursts of colour, these artworks explore the native flowers I encountered on the Sydney Harbour foreshore walking trails.”

To register your interest, please email: sophienolan@michaelreid.com.au