Nikolo Balkanski studied fine art in Bulgaria and Finland and exhibited his first one-man show at age twenty-one. He built a strong following in Europe as a master of portraiture and landscapes, with major exhibitions in Bulgaria, Finland, Sweden, England, France, and the United States. He is highly regarded as an inspirational teacher and mentor. Balkanski’s work has been exhibited with Artists of America, Denver, Colorado, Sun Cities Art Museum, Arizona, Museum of Western Art, Kerrville, Texas, Colorado Governor’s Invitational where he received the Collector’s Choice Award in 1999, Great American Artists, Cincinnati, Ohio, Buffalo Bill Art Show & Sale,(Artist’s Choice Award 2007), Artists of the West, Colorado Springs, CO, Bradford Brinton Museum, Big Horn, Wyoming, C.M.Russell Museum, Great Falls, Montana, High Desert Museum, Bend, Oregon, Arts for the Parks, where he won Best Landscape in 1995.