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, how we physically and psychologically inhabit space. Consequently, the forms of nature, landscape and references to the human body are recurrent visual features of his artwork. He often also utilizes wood species that are native to the Midwest to add a material richness to many of his compositions and objects. 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.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. Locally, Nik created two permanent murals in the city of Petoskey, MI that are on display at the Petoskey Public Library and the Emmet County Fairgrounds.