Nik Cornwell
“You can’t make things every day!”
I have been producing art for as long as I could hold a crayon in my hand. My first day of school I was given a lump of clay and made a sculpture of a cat for my long suffering art pestered mum, Suki, it was a mini masterpiece that she still has nearly 50 years later. Now without ears and a tail, which didn’t actually make it home, it sits proudly on her shelf for all to see. The second day of school I was given a book and pencil to start writing, my exclamations of I want more clay was met with a very stern reply of you can’t make things everyday!
…my art career had started.
I seriously got into my artwork when I was around 13-14 and by the time I was 17 had sold a drawing to a work colleague for the princely sum of £60!
Selling drawings sporadically throughout my late teens and 20’s I decided to go and study at Lewisham College to study a foundation in Art & Design followed by a BA (Hons) in Sculpture from Camberwell College of Arts. During my final year at University I chose Artists as Curator for my elective as I had secured a short term somewhat off the books lease on a huge warehouse space in Deptford South East London.
The Mashed Potato Gallery
I opened the gallery in 2005 by showing artwork by one of my previous tutors at Lewisham College and a colleague of his. The show was a success and word had got around about this exciting new exhibition space. By the time we closed due to redevelopment of the site we had had eleven very successful exhibitions, albeit not in financial terms, featuring some of the most exciting artists in London and it is still talked about by some to this day.
As all artists do I gravitated towards teaching so studied for a PGCE at Greenwich University and was lucky enough to secure paid employment back at Lewisham College. I still teach today but have reduced my teaching time to allow me to focus more on my artwork.
Fast forward to 2025, a space was available in Peckham and I FOUND IT!
Lily Selavie Art Gallery was born….
link to Nik’s Website