ARTIST STATEMENT
This series of work explores the garden as a private setting where the cycles of life are visual and visceral. I have memories from childhood of going outside into the garden by myself early in the morning, and as an adult I understand the garden as a space for growth, renewal, and transformation. The floral, bodily, and organic forms of these sculptures are small monuments that celebrate and proclaim beauty, sensuality, and power.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Nikki Renee Anderson creates sculptures and installations that explore the feminine experience based on her personal history.
Anderson has exhibited extensively including recent exhibitions at the Krasl Art Center, the Chicago Cultural Center, Hyde Park Art Center, The Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelly Foundation and Glass Curtain Gallery. Her work has also been exhibited at the 59th and 56th Premio Faenza Competition at the International Museum of Ceramics, Faenza, Italy; The Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton, NJ; The Ukrainian Institute of Modern Art, Chicago, IL; The Urban Institute for Contemporary Art, Grand Rapids, MI; the 2009 NCECA Biennial at the Arizona State University Museum Ceramics Research Center, Tempe, AZ; The 18th San Angelo National Ceramic Competition at the San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts, San Angelo, TX; The Koehnline Museum of Art, Oakton Community College, Skokie, IL; Visualizing TRANS at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Visual Culture Conference; Chicago Sculpture International Biennale at FLATFILE Galleries; SOFA Chicago 2004 with Dubhe Carreño Gallery; The Hillwood Art Museum, Long Island University, Brookville, NY and Art Chicago 2003, Special Project Space, Zolla/Lieberman Gallery, Chicago, IL
Anderson’s work has been reviewed by Helen Harrison in the New York Times, Victor Cassidy in Sculpture Magazine and Ceramics Art and Perception, Lori Waxman and Lauren Viera in the Chicago Tribune. Her work has also been included in American Craft Magazine, Ceramics Monthly, Time Out Chicago, Chicago Artists’ News and the Chicago Sun-Times.
Her awards include an Artist Project Grant in Visual Arts from the Illinois Arts Council, two International Arts Exchange Grants from the Illinois Arts Council, three CAAP grants from the City of Chicago, full funding to the Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts, a full fellowship to the Vermont Studio Center; and the Maurice Goldberger Graduate Fellowship, Stony Brook University.
© Nikki Renee Anderson