Nancy spent much time as a child with her German grandmother, who made her paper dolls from the Sears catalog. She sat under the quilting frame and pushed the needle back up. Her mother let her use the sewing machine when she was seven. She did a lot of drawing and sewing as a child.
Her background is in studio art, graphics and fiber art. She has a painting degree from the University of Minnesota. She has been making art quilts for about 40 years.
Nancy worked for thirty plus years as a graphic designer and creative director. Being bombarded by so many images for so long has given her a strong desire to integrate and process that experience. She has worked in fiber for all of that time in between working full time and raising a family. Now retired, she is committed to seeing how far she can take the ideas and visions she has carried in her head for many years.
From the beginning of her work in cloth, Nancy has viewed her work as fitting somewhere between quilt art and painting. When she turned to cloth as a medium, she sought to translate the painting idea to cloth.
Nancy regards life as a journey. Trips to Korea, Nepal, Kosovo and a number of countries in Europe have all influenced her work. In 2013, she did a six-week artist residency in Patan, Nepal which led to work with new materials and approaches. Relocating and having to work with the limited resources at hand, while at the same time being exposed to a totally different environment, was significant in developing a specific point of view in her work.
Nancy has been in Quilt National, Quilt Visions and the Artist as Quiltmaker exhibits as well as other juried shows. In addition, she has had several solo exhibits. In 2019 she was a finalist for the McKnight Fiber Artist Fellowship.
Artist Statement
I make mostly two-dimensional layered constructions composed of cloth, printed imagery, dye or paint and stitching. I occasionally incorporate found paper. I begin by responding to an idea or event that moves me or catches my interest. This can be anything from major disaster to the more mundane events, sights, sounds, colors, and the objects of everyday life.
I am intrigued with the possibilities of certain fibers and other materials. I am drawn to found cloth and clothing that is worn or ragged. Some of my work uses digitally manipulated imagery printed on cloth. The way I work is often spontaneous, and there is a lot of rehearsal before the final elements are chosen and combined into a carefully considered construction.
I use my work as a vehicle for questioning and absorbing what it means to be human and vulnerable. In some work, I aim to give the viewer part of a narrative about a specific event or idea, hoping curiosity will move them to seek out the rest of the story. In other work, I just want the colors, forms, images, and textures to stand on their own and evoke a response that doesn’t necessarily have a cause and effect relationship with the piece. In the end I am simply interested in combinations that draw the viewer in and hold his/her interest.
