ABOUT

Molly Sikora grew up on a pig and crop farm in rural Northwest Iowa, where the practical life of farming subtly intertwined with creativity. Surrounded by the hands-on artistry of her father, a farmer who shaped the land with intention, Molly’s earliest artistic spark came from discovering her mother’s high school easel and oil paints tucked away in storage. This moment ignited a lifelong passion for creating.

She pursued formal training at the University of Iowa, where she studied painting, photography, and art history. Still drawn to the energy of a larger city, Molly transferred to Columbia College Chicago, earning a Fine Arts Degree in Photography and Art History. Her career path included a decade in fashion retail and running her own vintage home decor store followed by an interior design business, before ultimately circling back to her true calling—art.

With a studio space at her home in Burr Ridge, a suburb right outside of Chicago, Molly now paints almost every day, deeply immersed in the creative process. Her work is a reflection of the paths she’s walked, the beauty she finds in life’s simplicity, and the inner world she continues to explore through abstraction.

Curriculum Vitae

Representation

Virgil Catherine Gallery, Hinsdale, IL

City Haus Chicago, Chicago, IL

Solo Shows

  • 2024 Online By the Way of Things Collection Launch

  • 2022 Vagabond, LaGrange, IL

Group Shows

  • 2025 Resilience, Virgil Catherine Gallery Hinsdale, IL

  • 2024 Retrospection, Virgil Catherine Gallery, Hinsdale, IL

  • 2024 Spontaneity, Virgil Catherine Gallery, Hinsdale, IL

  • 2024 Modern Narrators, Virgil Catherine Gallery, Hinsdale, IL

  • 2024 Through Her Eyes, Virgil Catherine Gallery, Hinsdale, IL

  • 2024 East to (Mid)west, Virgil Catherine Gallery, Hinsdale, IL

  • 2023 Pink Party Preview, Virgil Catherine Gallery, Hinsdale, IL

  • 2023 Give Us Our Flowers, Virgil Catherine Gallery, Hinsdale, IL

  • 2023 Myth of Memory, Virgil Catherine Gallery. Hinsdale, IL

  • 2023 HerStory, Virgil Catherine Gallery. Hinsdale, IL

  • 2010 Group Show, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago, IL

  • 2009 Group Show, Highland Park Art Center, Highland Park, IL

  • 2008 Senior Thesis Show, Columbia College Chicago, IL


Affiliations / Artist Talks

  • 2024 Oct, Art Donation for Wellness House Ball, Hinsdale IL

  • 2024 Sept, Art Donation for Hinsdale Junior Woman’s Club Annual “Femme Fierce/Leather & Lace” Fashion Show, Hinsdale, IL 

  • 2024 Sept, Art Donation for The Pink Agenda’s Pink on the River, RPM, Chicago, IL

  • 2024 June, Art Donation for Simply for the Heart Hollywood Fashion Fete, Medinah Country Club, Medinah, IL

  • 2024 May, Hinsdale Kitchen Walk, Hinsdale, IL.

  • 2024 April, Art Donation for Hinsdale Junior Woman’s Club Annual Benefit “Disco Dreams, Burr Ridge, IL

  • 2024 February, Simply for the Heart Galentines Home Showcase, Elmhurst, IL

  • 2023 Dec, Hinsdale Historical Society, Deer in the Dale, Hinsdale IL

  • 2023 Holiday Trunk Show, Virgil Catherine Gallery, Hinsdale IL

  • 2023 Dec, Art Donation for Simply for the Heart 9th Annual Gala, W City Center, Chicago, IL 

  • 2023 Sept, Art Donation for Hinsdale Junior Woman’s Club Fashion Show, Hinsdale IL

  • 2023 If Your Walls Could Talk, Hinsdale, IL

  • 2023 Oct, Art Donation for Wellness House Ball, Hinsdale IL 

  • 2023 Sept, Art Donation for 3rd Annual Simply for the Heart “Hot Summer Nights” Fashion Show, Medinah Country Club, Medinah, IL

  • 2022 Sept, Art Donation for Hinsdale Junior Woman’s Club Fashion Show, Hinsdale IL

  • 2022 Dec, Art Donation for Simply for the Heart 8th Annual Gala “Havana Nights”, Drury Lane, Oakbrook, IL

  • 2022 April, Art Donation 

  • 2022 June, Art Donation for Hinsdale Junior Woman’s Club Fete en Rose Pink Party, Hinsdale, IL

  • 2022 June, Art Donation for Simply for the Heart 2nd Annual Fashion Show, Medinah Country Club, Medinah, IL

  • 2022 May, Art Donation for Hinsdale Junior Woman’s Club & Virgil Catherine Gallery’s Pink Party Preview, Virgil Catherine Gallery, Hinsdale, IL

  • 2022 April, Art Donation for Hinsdale Junior Woman’s Club annual Benefit “Wonderland”, Untitled Supper Club, Chicago, IL

  • 2021 Dec, Art Donation for Simply for the Heart 7th Annual Gala “Gin & Jazz”, Drury Lane, Oakbrook, IL


Collaborative

  • 2024 Holiday Pop-up, Virgil Catherine Gallery, Hinsdale, IL

  • 2024 Hinsdale Kitchen Walk, Hinsdale, IL

  • 2023 Hinsdale Chamber Wine Walk, Browning & Sons, Hinsdale, IL

  • 2023 Hinsdale Chamber Wine Walk, Virgil Catherine Gallery, Hinsdale, IL

  • 2023 Holiday Trunk Show, Virgil Catherine Gallery, Hinsdale, IL

  • 2023 Hinsdale Kitchen Walk , Hinsdale, IL