Niki Zahava

My art is inspired by music, nature, dreams and random shapes on the wall. I am a professional actress and self-taught visual artist. My mom studied art and when I was 4 years old and living in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, NY, I found a box of her oil pastels and outlined the various shapes within the plaster on the walls through out the apartment. Although my mother appreciated my choice in colors and creativity, she did not appreciate this exploration on the apartment walls and thus my career as a muralist ended.

My adult art journey began with digital pastels and digital blending stumps on an iPad. I began to incorporate a few drawing techniques I had learned as an undergraduate student and began creating art digitally, once again meditating on shapes, and color. It was a purchase of oil pastels, however, that began my real journey. The tactile sensation of the creaminess of an oil pastel, the sound of a brush being dipped in water or watching wax transform cannot be replaced digitally. The combination of tactile sensation, shapes and sound, whisk me away on a mental vacation. Visual art is a form of expression that I have found incredibly healing.

My process is purely experimental and spontaneous. I begin each piece often moving...

B.A. in Speech and Drama and a Minor in Media Communications from Our Lady of the Lake University, San Antonio,
Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Classical Theatre Performance from The National Shakespeare Conservatory, NYC
CTEFL, Boston Academy of English/Stafford House, Boston, MA

Exhibitions and Competitions

Online Competition and Exhibitions

Contemporary Art Gallery Online
· 2023 All Abstraction Art Competition- “UHF”- 1st Place Winner,
· 2023 All Painting/Drawing Theme “To Grandmother’s House”-Competition Winner
· 2022 All Planet Earth Art Competition “Before” - 3rd Place Winner
· 2021 All Women Artists Competition- “Out of the Ashes” – Additional Winner
· 2021 All Botanical Art Theme Competition “Cascade of Green” Additional Winner

In Person Exhibition
October 2019-January 2020 “Reclaim”Exhibition participant, Awakenings Gallery, Chicago, IL