Art+Design Faculty
Steve Nyktas is an Associate Professor of Art at Butler University and an Indianapolis-based artist . He earned his MFA from Northwestern University, an MA from Purdue University, and his BFA from Albion College. His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally at galleries, museums, and alternative spaces including Contemplo MX (San Miguel, Mexico), Coconino Center for the Arts (Flagstaff, AZ), Dorsky Gallery (New York, NY), Gallery Four (Baltimore, MD), Rowland
Contemporary Gallery (Chicago, IL), FLAT (Chicago, IL) and The 22nd International Festival Sarajevo (Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina). Distinctions include the Phillip C. Curtis Visiting Artist Award and the Morton Mickenberg / Martin Sosin Graduate Student Fellowship.
Dr. Madeline Eschenburg is an art historian and curator with a research focus on contemporary Chinese art. She earned her PhD in Art History at the University of Pittsburgh in 2018 and started at Butler University in 2024 after spending six years as a Lecturer at Washburn Univeristy in Topeka, Kansas. She teaches classes in Asian Art, African Art, Contemporary Art, the History of Design, Modern Art, and Art Theory. Her work has been published in Yishu: Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art, Contemporaneity: Historical Presence in Visual Culture, and Arts.
Gautam Rao is an artist and Associate Professor of Art at Butler University. Born in 1977 in Washington D.C., he has also lived in Bangalore, India. He has designed playable, whimsical mini-golf sculptures for the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Elmhurst Art Museum and BLINK: the Cincinnati light festival. His typographic artworks have been exhibited at Typeforce V in Chicago and the Queens Museum of Art.
Books he has illustrated include: Mid-Century Modern Sherlock Holmes, published in 2021 and The Children’s Book of Jeeves & Wooster, published in 2019.
Amy graduated from Northern Michigan University with a BS in mathematics and a minor in Computer Science. She worked for 15 years as a computer programmer before staying home with her two children. At Butler, she was previously the administrative assistant for Computer Science and the Faculty Senate before moving to JCA where she is the administrative assistant for the departments of Art and Arts Administration.
Adjunct Faculty
Mandie Anderson is a freelance illustrator, designer, and educator. Working in the industry for over 15 years, Mandie created over 45 book design and illustration projects with the Christian not-for-profit, One Hope. She also worked as the art director for the Bible App for Kids, which now has over 100 million downloads. Mandie has experience creating web, print, and app design for numerous clients, and served as the Assistant Regional Advisor for the Indiana Chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.
Mandie received her Bachelor of Science degree in both Illustration and Graphic Design from Indiana Wesleyan University, and her Master of Fine Arts in Illustration from the University of Hartford in Connecticut.
Mandie currently is a freelance illustrator and teaches a variety of art courses at Butler University and Taylor University, and is a Teaching Artist at ArtMix, a community not-for-profit art center supporting artists of all ages and abilities.
