Nichole Blackburn’s Colorful Murals Bring Exuberance and Pride to Children’s Spaces Around the Globe

“Anyone who went there in the ’90s knows how special he was,” Nichole says. “I wasn’t the strongest academic student, but I came alive in that art room. He let me stay even when it wasn’t my period, as long as I was working on something.”

Mr. Kooper encouraged her to build a portfolio and submit it to the Otis College of Art and Design’s young artist program, where she received a scholarship to take life drawing classes. “That experience gave me a sense of direction I’d never felt before—it confirmed that art was where I belonged.”

Nichole earned her BFA in fine art from San Diego State University, where she first started painting murals for friends. After graduation she took the opportunity to apprentice with William Cochran on a five-story-high multimedia art installation in Maryland called The Dreaming. “That taught me as much about collaboration and scale as it did about painting itself.”

Her passion for old-world art eventually led her to Versailles, France. There she trained with Jean Sablé, one of Europe’s most respected decorative painters, developing an expertise in classical painting and French decorative techniques.

“My Filipino mom had always hoped I’d become a nurse,” Nichole says. “But once she saw how dedicated I was, she supported me with her whole heart. She pushed me to not just learn how to paint but to understand the business side too.”

A blend of hometown roots and global perspective eventually led her to start the nonprofit Big Sky Countries with a mission to create murals for children’s spaces around the world.

“I’ve always loved painting big,” she shares. “Give me a blank wall or a ceiling, and I light up. Put me in front of a small sheet of paper, and I start to feel boxed in—I run out of room too fast. Murals offer an immersive experience that can transform a space. You walk into a room and suddenly feel transported—that’s the power of large-scale art.”

“I’ve always loved painting big. Give me a blank wall or a ceiling, and I light up.”

Since 2006, Nichole has worked with schools, shelters, hospitals, libraries, special needs facilities and youth centers, bringing color and imagination to places that serve kids. Her murals can be seen in Sri Lanka, Africa, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Ireland, throughout the U.S. including here in the South Bay.

Local pieces include Eureka! restaurant at the Hawthorne Airport, the Pediatric Therapy Network through a collaboration with Sandpipers volunteer organization, and Mychal’s Learning Place in Hawthorne. She operates Big Sky Countries alongside her commissioned mural business, Celadon Studio Fine Art.

Last December she completed a project at Anidan children’s shelter in Lamu, Kenya, where the kids charmed her with their confidence and artistic skills. Together they painted a 60-by-14-foot mural that celebrated the island’s spirit with native flora and fauna, a mango tree as the centerpiece, a vibrant ocean scene and Lamu’s iconic baobab trees with butterflies dancing among them.

“We finished just in time for Christmas, marking the occasion with a big celebration for the staff and kids—complete with food, ice cream, gifts and a local DJ,” Nichole says. “The sky in that mural came from one I had seen after a rainstorm a few years earlier, while working on my last donation project in Colombia.”

Nichole most loves how these projects bring people together—kids, parents, teachers. Everyone is invited to pick up a brush.

“It’s not just about the mural; it’s about the laughter, conversations and sense of pride that come from making something as a community,” she says. “The name Big Sky Countries comes from a simple belief: No matter where we’re from, we all live under the same sky.”