Monica Rickert-Bolter

Multimedia Artist

2025 Make a Wave

Visual Arts

Monica Rickert-Bolter (she/her) is a Chicago-based visual artist of Potawatomi and Black heritage. Her artwork uses traditional mediums, such as charcoal, pastels, graphic design, and digital coloring to create expressive characters and tell diverse stories. After completing her undergraduate degree, Monica became involved with Native nonprofits, combining her love of art and education to develop youth programs and resources, including illustrating children’s books.

Monica is a co-founder and the Director of Operations at the Center for Native Futures, a Native fine arts gallery that opened in September 2023. Her artwork has been featured in exhibitions at The National Museum of the American Indian, The Field Museum, University of North Carolina Stone Center, Watershed Art & Ecology, the National Public Housing Museum, and the Center for Native Futures. Her upcoming collaborative projects include a public art piece with the Beacon Hill Black Alliance for Human Rights and an Afro-Indigenous Futurist graphic novel with her brother Joel Rickert.

Monica Rickert-Bolter's Website

Featured Artworks

Image of a drawing made with pastels. Five Native women are illustrated without eyes in the center of the drawing on a dark background. There are vibrantly colored florals surrounding them.

Waskonedoyen, 2021 Dry pastels Image by Monica Rickert-Bolter

Image of a stylized illustration of three heads floating on a brown background with skulls. One of the heads is yellow with blue hair, another is orange with blue hair and the last one is orange with pink hair and a beard.

Zhenagwze'a: The Rocker, 2024 Part of the Hair Stories series Image by Monica Rickert-Bolter

Image of a stylized illustration of two floating, black heads with wavy hair on a nebula like background.

Perēhē: Black Girl Nebula, 2024 Part of the Hair Stories series Image by Monica Rickert-Bolter

Image of a pastel illustration with two figures one is wearing a brown suit and matching hat, white shirt and tie standing in from of a patterned triangle background. The other is wearing a white dress, purple hair and matching neck adornment.

Ralph Kerwineo, 2022 Dry pastels Image by Monica Rickert-Bolter

Winsatek (Yellow Birch), 2025 Dry pastels and digital composition Image by Monica Rickert-Bolter

Gizhénma: The Greats (WIP), 2025 Dry pastels Image by Monica Rickert-Bolter