Bio

Heather Nygaard (b. 1992) is a Scottish-American contemporary artist based in Virginia. 

"Painting has provided me with a means to explore thoughts about the workings of my own mind, as well as the minds around me. My work is driven by my desire to connect with people, entangled with a fear of them. It is influenced by my experiences as an autistic person with depression, anxiety, ADHD, and PTSD. I explore ideas about gender roles and identity, racial inequality, and the ways that society shapes children. 

The workings of the world became especially important to me when I became a single mother. I am tasked with guiding three lives through a world that is as unfair and frightening as it is beautiful and fascinating. My body of work delves into the experience of parenting in a time where it seems like the world is on the cusp of a paradigm shift. As the work continues to grow and shift, I will be exploring how childhood imagination lends itself to both explaining phenomenon around us, as well as providing an escape. I want to make work that, like children, asks more questions than it answers. "