Poul S. Nielsen, is an artist/educator, who was raised in the small farming community of Standard, Alberta, Canada, and completed a degree in painting at the University of Montana at Missoula, USA. He has traveled extensively and lived, worked and studied in New York, NY,  London, England and Sapporo, Japan, where he was a member of the Canadian Olympic Luge Team at the winter games in 1972. On his return to North America, he was invited by University of Montana Department of Art, to initiate a MFA degree in printmaking/painting, receiving that masters degree in 1975.

From 1978 to 1981 he was a resident artist with the Montana Arts Council and in 1982 he was a visiting artist at the Art Academy of Cincinnati, Ohio
and also the University of Maine at Augusta. In 1983 he began teaching in the department of visual communications at Medicine  Hat College, Alberta. Collections holding Nielsens work include the Alberta Art Foundation, the Alberta Treasury Branch, the Esplanade Museum, Alberta, Medicine Hat College, the University of Montana at Missoula, the Kato collection, Hakodate,Japan, Northbrook College, Worthing, England and the Jiangsu Academy of Chinese Painting, Nanjing, China.

There are three primary artist mentors who had a profound effect on  Poul’s development as an artist. First, Donald Bunse, printmaker and draftsperson extraordinaire, former head of printmaking at the University of Montana. Secondly, the English figurative/ landscape painter, Henry Inlander, head painting instructor at the Camberwell School of Art, London, England. Thirdly, George McNeil, prominent New York expressionist painter, who Poul had the pleasure of studying with at the New York Studio School. All of these artists were tremendously committed to the art process and were all brilliant artist/educators.

ARTIST STATEMENT

My current work, “Atmospheric Probabilities”, is an expressive response to and celebration of the extraordinary light and colour that I experience on a daily basis in my unique prairie environment. The exceptional colour of the indigenous Blackfeet has also influenced me and recent trips to Peru with its rich Inca heritage and vibrant colouration has resulted in intensified and saturated hues. It is my belief that there is an inherent healing power in colour and Art can serve as a positive catalyst for healing both the individual and society.