ARTIST STATEMENT
Throughout the ages, and even today, societal norms have imposed invisibility on women. Have those norms been so insidious as to make women feel overlooked and invisible even to ourselves? Is that what this woman’s eye and its unfocused, unsure gaze tell us? Yet what also may be invisible to society is the strength inside women, represented by our strong skeleton composed of our skull and bones—the foundation that, though unseen, gives us the framework, structure, and toughness to go on and go forward. Immense, hidden power. Knowing that we are strong makes us more thoughtful and introspective, especially in how we might use our power. So is the woman’s gaze really unfocused and unsure? Or is it a contemplative gaze in which she goes within to call on her inner strength to go forward, and to use her power to create a better future in which women no longer will be overlooked and invisible?
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Anne Nordhaus-Bike is an award-winning artist and longtime member of Woman Made Gallery. She paints watercolors and makes mixed media art. Anne’s art has appeared in numerous solo and group shows as well as many arts programs, presentations, and performances. Her work has been published in periodicals and books; covered in numerous print publications; and featured in broadcast media, both on television and in feature films. She received a degree in art history, with honors, from the University of Chicago in 1981 and went on to launch a fine arts column that ran for two decades in a Chicago newspaper, Gazette Chicago, where she served in various capacities since the newspaper’s founding in 1983. She joined Gazette Chicago’s board of directors in 2004, serving until the paper closed in June 2024. She founded her multimedia arts firm, ANB Communications, in 1993, and since 2013 has appeared on WGN TV, WGN Radio, other national radio stations, and several podcasts. In 2012, she launched her art and astrology book, Follow The Sun, with a book signing at Woman Made Gallery; the book includes more than a dozen of her original watercolors. Among her many awards and honors, she was named to the National Women’s Hall of Fame’s Wall of Fame. Anne lives with her husband Bill and cat Sterling in Chicago, where she makes art and enjoys cooking, tai chi, and time in nature.
© Anne Nordhaus-Bike