NATASHA DIKAREVA: INNER WEATHER—FORMS OF BECOMING
On view at the Chihuly Collection December 5, 2026 – March 21, 2027
“My work emerges from the meeting of the world around me and the shifting landscapes of my own life. What I encounter externally and what I carry within begin to mirror one another, dissolving the boundary between the personal and the collective. I think of this meeting place as inner weather: an emotional state shaped by memory, uncertainty, resilience, and change.
“I create between the tangible reality of daily life and an imagined realm where my sculptures come alive. Moving between these spaces, I bring dreams into form, shaping beings that feel both ancient and newly born. Drawing on Greek mythology and Eastern philosophies of transformation, I create new deities and contemporary legends – figures that inhabit stories for our time while revealing the symbolic and emotional layers we carry within.
“Working in clay and glass, I create figures in states of becoming – faces serene in their depths yet touched by unease at what stirs around them, bodies merging with clouds and waves, hands, wings, animals, and other forms that resist fixed identities. Events, memories, and experiences move through me and reappear in symbolic form, allowing each work to hold multiple realities at once.
“Inner Weather: Forms of Becoming gathers these shifting beings together. Each carries its own inner world while remaining connected to a larger world in flux. These works do not offer answers. Instead, they invite a pause – a moment at the threshold between inner and outer worlds, where something familiar begins to change, something fragile gathers strength, and another form quietly begins to emerge.”
About the artist:
Born and raised in Kiev, Ukraine, Natasha Dikareva started creating at a young age and her passion for the visual arts led to pursuing a BFA in graphics at the Kiev State Academy of Art and Design. The narrow standard of approved art of Soviet realism inadvertently pushed Dikareva to develop her own symbolic language. Dikareva immigrated to Minneapolis and received her MFA from the University of Minnesota in 2004.
After graduating, she moved to San Francisco where she lived and worked for 15 years. In 2020 she relocated to the East Coast. She now splits her time between Newmarket, NH and Sarasota, FL, working on series-based sculptures that reflect her personal life and the events around the world. From the mythical forest creatures inspired by the wildlife of New England to the haunting images of war-torn Ukraine, Dikareva’s work showcases the range and depth of her artistic vision.
Dikareva’s work has been featured in various publications, including 500 Prints on Clay and New Ceramics European magazine, and garnered several prizes, such as the Grand Prize at the American Museum of Ceramic Art in 2012. She exhibits locally and internationally and her work is held in public and private collections including Yixing Ceramics Museum and Kamm Foundation.
Recently, she has been featured on public radio and television, where she has spoken about her artistic process and her reflections on the latest events in Ukraine.
Natasha Dikareva: San Francisco Sculptor and Installation Artist
