A'Driane Nieves

Overview

My work is not representative of our external; instead it is about our (Black) bodies, experiences, traumas & triumphs, healing, & identities from an internal perspective. Each piece is a part of the body, psyche, and soul turned inside out; the intimate recesses, fault lines, eroded sediment, gravity wells, multitudes, & universes we contain as we navigate a society that judges us by what can be seen with the eye.

— A’Driane Nieves

A'Driane Nieves is an award-winning artist, activist, speaker, U.S. Air Force veteran, and mental-health advocate. Her work focuses on the impact of trauma—inherited, historical, personal —exposing how it shapes, alters, and redefines identity over the course of our lives. Through abstract forms and composition, she gives visible shape to the internal biological and emotional processes of adaptation, recovery, and transformation. She believes that creating and viewing visual art that addresses difficult topics can serve as a catalyst for personal growth & social change.

Nieves is the founder of Tessera Arts Collective, a not-for-profit serving women-identifying and non-binary abstract artists of color, empowering them speak their truths and transform the brokenness in their lives, and helping them to celebrate their resiliency and joy.

An acclaimed writer and speaker, Nieves' paintings are on view at public institutions and in private collections in the United States, Canada, Asia, and Australia.

Biography

A'Driane Nieves, Notes From the Healing Circle (I), 2022 (detail)

Born in San Antonio, Texas in 1982

Lives and works in Greater Philadelphia Area

Education

2011	Associate of Arts (AA), Camden County College:

Group exhibitions

2021	West Chelsea Contemporary, 'JVN x WCC On the Wall', Austin, USA
	Susan Eley Fine Art, 'Three Abstract Artists', New York, USA
2020	Susan Eley Fine Art, 'AMERICANA Part II', New York, USA
	The Delaware Contemporary, 'From Chaos to Order, Making Our Way in the New World of COVID-19', Wilmington, USA
2019	UICA, 'SPECTRA', Grand Rapids, USA
	Girlboss Rally, 'Perfecting the Journey', Los Angeles, USA
	Goat Farm Arts Center, 'Her Ritual', Atlanta, USA
	Blavity & 21 Ninety Summit 21, Atlanta, USA
2018	Regional finalist, Bombay Sapphire’s 2018 Artisan Series
2017	'Saatchi Art's The Other Art Fair', New York, USA
	'Nasty Women Oakland', Oakland, USA
	Rare Device, 'WOMEN', San Francisco, USA
2016	WORKS San Jose members exhibit, 'Vote Your Subconscious', San Jose, USA
	Dibden Center for the Arts, 'AWAKEN', Johnson State College, Johnson, USA
2015	Wild Goose Festival, 'Life as Art' exhibition & Q&A w/ Frank Schaeffer, Asheville, USA