Nikki Painter is a Virginia artist inspired by the natural world. Painter earned her MFA in Studio Art from American University in Washington, D.C. in 2009, and she earned her BFA in Painting and Printmaking from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2002. She has had solo shows at Shockoe Artspace, COOP Gallery, and Purdue University's Rueff Gallery. Her work has been included in numerous group exhibitions, including shows at Second Street Gallery, the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, the Taubman Museum, and the Daegu Arts Center in South Korea.

Painter has attended artist residencies in Vermont, Wyoming, Georgia, and Florida. Her work is part of private and public collections including the collection of Capital One in Richmond, Virginia, and the permanent collection of the Katzen Museum in Washington, D.C. Painter was recently awarded a 2022-2023 Fellowship for Works on Paper by the Virginia Commission for the Arts.