We at Nerdychicken want to provide easy access to fantasy and gaming themed art and accessories to our customers. We don’t just want to sell stuff though, we want to create a supportive community of like-minded individuals who appreciate the care and attention that go into hand-crafting and who want that quality and attention to detail in their lives. Awin
We are so excited to provide a wonderful and supportive space for fantasy artists to showcase their creations and for us to be able to share their stories and to make their pieces available for fantasy lovers everywhere for a fair price. We have a mission to make sure the artists we deal with always feel appreciated and the items we sell are hand-crafted, unique, uncommon, authentic and sometimes even personalized for our customers.
Nikki “Nerdychicken” Ewart
Nikki has been a study in confusion and indecision for the greater part of her life thus far. Never sure where she belonged or how to fit in, she grew a hard outer shell at a young age to protect her soft mushy inner bits. The best description of Nikki: calm, cool and confident on the outside; like a squirrel caught in traffic on the inside.
She knew at a very young age that she was different from the other kids and this put her on the outside. She loved things the other kids didn’t know about or didn’t care about like Star Wars, video games, comic books, Weird Al, and Tolkien. To make matters worse she would rather stab herself in the eye than touch the Barbies or wear the pretty dresses that were being jammed down her throat.
The only thing that ensured her survival into adulthood was her introduction to the world of D&D by Dugbear and the rest of the Monday night crew. These folks, her best friends even now, showed her a world where she could be whatever she wanted without anybody telling her it was wrong. She had found an escape that would keep her sane for many years to come.
A little later in life, after some turbulent times (battles with depression and anxiety, and dealing with the realization that, hidden in the background, ADD had plagued her throughout her entire life), she found her way to Critical Role and the nerdy community of Critters that grew from it. The heavens opened and the sun reached down, grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her until her walls crumbled, and her small heart grew three sizes that day! Not only had Nerdy found a place where she knew she belonged but she finally came to terms with being a full blooded, dragon loving, miniature coveting, role playing, dice whore!
Nerdychicken wants to give back by creating a space to protect the artists of this amazing community. The Shop of Curiosities is a dream come true for her and she hopes to use it to help others realize their dreams as well. No more indecision, she knows what she has to do, what she was meant to do.
Doug “Dugbear” Little
I’ve been a gamer since my middle school years back in the early ‘80’s after discovering Dungeons and Dragons. I was soon hooked and was DMing for my brother and neighborhood friends day and night. We all kind of looked like the Stranger Things kids. lol.
Nikki (Nerdychicken) became part of our circle of friends in High School and we’ve been friends ever since. We’ve been playing our games with pretty much this same group on Monday nights ever since! Through marriages, children, good and bad, our creative outlet gave us one night a week where we could forget the stresses and struggles of adult life – and still do. Most of this was well before it became “Cool” to be a nerd.
The creativity that gaming taps into gave me the incentive to go to college and become an animator. I spent several years in the animation industry as an animator and producer. It was fun making silly characters move around, but it eventually burned me out and I walked away from it. I have suffered with mental health issues of anxiety and severe depression since.
I have been given the chance to help Nikki champion fellow nerdy artists and makers and this has had a positive effect for me. Nerdy is now cool and mainstream and I want nothing more than to raise up the many nerdy artists out there who deserve to be noticed and appreciated for the passion and hard work they put into their craft.
I hope we can create a collaborative safe place for artists to share their work and for those customers who love nerdy things to find the best of what they want all in one place.
