Nik Burkhart

Lives and works in Maple City, Michigan
Artist Website

Nik Burkhart is an interdisciplinary artist whose art practice encompasses painting, drawing and object making. After spending over a decade living and working in Chicago, Nik recently returned to Northern Michigan to reconnect with his roots and artistic practice. 

Much of Nik’s recent artwork is an exploration into how we symbolize and interpret the natural phenomena that we encounter in the environment around us. Other important themes in his artwork include land use, agricultural practices and how we physically and psychologically inhabit space. Consequently, the forms of nature and landscape are a recurrent visual feature of his artwork. Nik uses abstraction as a means of considering the mysteries inherent in any interaction with the natural world and enjoys how this allows ordinary objects or landforms to take on other symbolic meanings. Many of Nik’s artworks incorporate wood to further evoke a connection to nature and often integrate the wood grain as a compositional element. 

In Chicago, Nik worked for a nationally recognized art handling company (U.S.Art) for nearly six years as both an art handler and project manager. He holds a B.A. in Studio Art from Hope College and has exhibited his artwork in Chicago, New York and abroad.