Nicolene Louw | Fish Hoek – Cape Town | Illustrator and Mixed Media Artist

Nicolene Louw is an illustrator and mixed media artist based at Mothership Studios in Fish Hoek.

She studied graphic design at the University of Pretoria before completing a master’s degree in illustration at Stellenbosch University. Her career has spanned educational and editorial illustration, advertising, publishing and graphic recording.

Nicolene is currently focusing on publishing work while creating more space for her own artistic projects. Her sketchbooks are the starting point for much of her work and remain her most valuable creative resource. Filled with observations, experiments and visual ideas, they form the foundation of her distinctive drawing practice.

Working primarily in pen and ink and mixed media, Nicolene brings together detailed linework, illustration and visual storytelling. Drawing for a living has been a childhood dream come true, and one for which she remains deeply grateful.

Selected Exhibitions

• Cuaderno, Art.b Gallery, Bellville, Cape Town, September 2022
• Fumetto Comic Festival Competition, Kornschütte Festival Centre, Lucerne, Switzerland, May 2010
• The Last Match: Miniature Comics, international travelling exhibition originating in Latvia, 2009
• Sketsboek Spaza, with Heleen Schroder, Leonora van Staden and John Murray, Platform on 18th, Pretoria, 2009
• City Slickers, group exhibition, +27 Design Café, Pretoria, 2009
• City Slickers, group exhibition, Gallery 415, Durban, 2009
• Interface, with Heleen Schroder, Platform on 18th, Pretoria, 2008
• Fumetto Comic Festival: Competition Winners Exhibition, Lucerne, Switzerland, 2008
• Verkeer, with Leonora van Staden, Platform on 18th, Pretoria, 2007
• Strip Art Project, 34 Long Gallery, Cape Town, 2006
• South African Comic Artists, Fumetto Comic Festival, Lucerne, Switzerland, 2004
• Africa Comics Exhibition, Culturgest, Lisbon, Portugal, 2004
• Comics Bru! 2004, Stellenbosch University Art Gallery, Stellenbosch, 2004
• Comics Bru! 2004, NSA Gallery, Durban, 2004
• Satirical Works, Elsie Balt Gallery at Evita se Perron, Darling, 2003–2004

Studio Address: Mothership Studios, 16 Dunster Avenue, Fish Hoek
Instagram: @louw.nicolene
Website: www.nicolenelouw.co.za
Medium: Pen and ink, mixed media