Nikita Andester
artist, author, host in Toulouse, France
ANDESTER Nikita
Born 1991 in Pasadena, CA, USA. Lives and works in Toulouse, France.
EDUCATION
2020-2023 oil painting and figure drawing workshops, High Low Art Space - Portland, OR, USA
2017-2019 Master of Arts in Creative Writing, University of Denver - Denver, CO, USA
2013-2014 private oil painting study under Davina Garrido de Miguel - Moscow, Russia
EXHIBITIONS
2026 Royal Birmingham Society of Artists, “Portrait Prize 2026 Exhibition” - Birmingham, England
2026 Les Infiltrés, “Dans Mes Rêves” - Toulouse, France
2025 L’Évasion, Oil Paintings - Toulouse, France
2023 Portland Winter Light Festival, “SETI at CETI” immersive soft-sculpture collaboration - Portland, OR, USA
2022 Nectar Café, Oils + Embroidery - Portland, OR, USA
EXPERIENCE
2026 EasterCon, microfiction workshop host - Birmingham, England
2025-now Mon’ Studio Toulouse and Ceramiques Toulousaines, art instructor - Toulouse, France
2025 EasterCon, erasure poetry workshop and photo embroidery workshop host - Belfast, Northern Ireland
2024-now Chez Lapinous, atelier host (microfiction, photo embroidery) and Authors + Apéros host - Toulouse, France
2022-2025 Snail Mail Sweethearts, monthly art and microfiction snail mail subscription service - virtual
2013-2023 Various studios, fine art figure model - Russia and USA
HONORS, AWARDS, HONORABLE MENTIONS
2025 Uncharted Magazine Horror Challenge, “Just a Regular Man,” shortlist
2024 Pulp Literature First Page Cage, The Year We Got Away, winner
2023 Elizabeth George Foundation, finalist
2022 Driftwood Press In-House Short Story Contest, “Last Great Artist of Moscow,” finalist
2020 Driftwood Press Adrift Short Story Competition, “Such a Peach,” finalist
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
2026-now La Vie Artistique Toulousaine, art and personal essays
2023-2025 Snail Mail Sweethearts, microfiction and historical essays
2024 A Merry Loner, “In Defense of Laughing Alone”
2023 The New Orleans Review, “Last Great Artist of Moscow”
2023 NiftyLit, “Shorn”
2022 Bourbon Penn, “Black Hole Elvis”
2021 Typehouse Literary Magazine, “Such a Peach”
2021 Typehouse Literary Magazine, “Filling Your Artist’s Cup”
2019 Salty World, “Getting Sexy with Endometriosis”
PRESS + APPEARANCES
2026 The Joy Studio podcast, interview
2026 EasterCon, panelist: “Bisexuality and Boundary Crossing,” “Why Writing and Making Tactile Art is Revolutionary,” “Microgenres” (moderator), “Weird Art + Weird Artists” - Birmingham, England
2025 Photo Trouvée Magazine, magazine cover, interview - photo embroidery collaboration with Jessica Sundstrom
2025 EasterCon, panelist: “Chronic Illness + Creative Work,” “Maker, Crafter, Artist: What’s in a Name?,” “Damn Fine Cherry Pie: a Twin Peaks Retrospective” (moderator), “Talking Swords and Thinking Machines” - Belfast, Northern Ireland
2024 WorldCon, Panelist: “Sentient Inanimate Objects” - Glasgow, Scotland