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Artist Bio

Sarah “Birdie” Niksa is an artist originally from Crystal Lake, IL suburbs of Chicago. Her artwork is created from the spirit within and from a well of emotions as a form of exploration and catharsis of the psyche. Her stories are ones that express the strangeness of the human experience. Crafted from a collection of hopeful discoveries of the self and alternate realities. She plants her seeds of ideas in her sketchbooks where she cultivates her novel creations in a place that is safe and free in her wild expression. A place of refuge amongst pages and pages of messy anecdotes, expanding the boundaries of character design and world building. She is currently working towards getting her MFA at Minneapolis College of Art and Design.

Artist Statement

An inner world of curiosities, of humor and a distorted reality all encompass my artworks. Looking at the work it’s seemingly innocent and joyful, but upon a closer look the work becomes darker with glimmers of hope. I use bold colors typically to communicate the feelings of hope and renewal as well as an added intricate system of symbols scattered amongst these images. The symbols of black hearts and X’s are used to represent the inner feeling of the characters. The use of windows is used to teleport the viewer into the inner worlds of our character known as “The Wibbles.” There is sincerity to these characters as they express childlike sense of wonder, but also find themselves in unpredictable situations. They sit in the in-between space of neither being fully present and in a lucid dream state. They are the thing that encapsulates a true expression of myself. In some ways an exaggeration of how I see myself, but also an honest review of how I see the world at various stages in my life. Through this lens, the work takes on a dynamic and introspective view in which layers are eventually uncovered. These layers consist of immense joy, but also a grim reality of what is happening in the outside worlds apart from the psyche of “The Wibbles.” In turn, the viewer is invited into psychologically charged artworks and is left to unpack the many delicate layers of it

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Portfolio

The Wibbles

wibble verbINFORMAL•BRITISH 3rd person present: wibbles 1. wobble; quiver. 2. speak or write vaguely or at great length. The Wibbles as they are called go through periods of optimism and strength to reach out of their shell and step out into a world of wonder and hopefully, in turn, find their true self.