Nikki Renee Anderson in Facades at The Art Center Highland Park
Exhibition Dates August 8 – September 27
Opening Reception: August 8, 2025 | 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM
The Art Center Highland Park, in partnership with Oliva Gallery, proudly announces Facades, a powerful new exhibition opening August 8, 2025, that foregrounds three influential voices in contemporary Midwestern art: Nikki Renee Anderson, Aaron Becker, and the late Molly Schiff. Through sculpture, color, and dynamic form, Facades confronts themes of identity, visibility, and public space, inviting audiences to consider how we construct, obscure, and reveal ourselves in a constantly shifting social landscape.
These three Chicago-based artists—each rooted in a distinct material language—deliver an experience that is visually compelling and emotionally resonant, shaped by Midwest sensibilities and a commitment to community dialogue.
Nikki Renee Anderson, known for her ceramic sculptures and immersive installations, brings a tactile intimacy to the exhibition. Her works challenge static notions of femininity and identity, drawing on personal history to create forms that are at once soft and assertive, playful and deeply psychological. Anderson’s practice reflects a career of national and international acclaim, with exhibitions at the Chicago Cultural Center, Hyde Park Art Center, and the International Museum of Ceramics in Faenza, Italy. A professor and leader in ceramic education, Anderson’s work reclaims the domestic and decorative as spaces of feminist resistance and self-exploration.