Heidi Archdekin is a multimedia artist native to Nevada whose artistic abilities developed at an early age. Her illustrations are primarily digital and drawn in an abstract-surrealist style. Vibrant colors, dynamic subjects, and the use of abstract and fractured backgrounds make her art unique.
During her early high school years, Heidi won several awards from the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. She graduated with an Associates of Arts Fine Arts Degree in December 2024. Heidi is now pursuing her Bachelors of Arts in painting, expecting to graduate in 2027.
She has worked as a part-time freelance illustrator for several clients and is planning on becoming full-time once she is finished with college. Besides freelance work, she likes working independently on her projects and expanding her fantastical visions.
Emotions are a part of us, but sometimes they don’t feel that way. My works help illustrate the confusing bridge between reality and self and how our connections with emotions can feel fractured at times; that doesn’t always mean they’re broken. The vision of this body of work is to illustrate what I feel when experiencing different emotions and how that makes me “me”. These pieces resemble my previous works in terms of style and color usage, using a variety of neutrals and saturated, contrasting focal points. My work fits in with contemporary art by relating to the modern struggles of reality and how everyday life is only getting harder and harder to deal with.
My current series culminates in ten digital works under the title of Fracture. Choosing to draw these digitally allowed me the freedom to create the artwork without having to bring a multitude of materials. The meaning behind this is to illustrate how, despite my emotional intelligence feeling fractured, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s broken or severed. I am inspired by vibrant colors and abstract shapes, especially using them to highlight the purpose and importance of my work. Colors have meaning, and their incorporation is purposeful. I’m not just going to use a color for the sake of using it, but rather using it to better emphasize what I’m feeling at that moment.
Envisioning my work to look fantastical is important to me because it makes me feel like my work is filled with emotion and soul. Illustrating my feelings is also very supportive towards my common forgetfulness; it’s what keeps my emotions tied together. Being able to identify mistakes and interpret them as intentional is my favorite way of approaching each of my works and building off the finishing touches with that mindset.
My audience may not understand or agree with these depictions, but my only expectation is that they empathize with them. I believe artwork should be made from the soul, meaning you only want to make it when you feel like you need to see it. Creating artwork while not wanting to, for me, is the number one killer of the soul. Make what you want when you want to make it.
- Heidi Archdekin