"Atlantis"
Mixed Media Painting on Canvas.
36" x 48"
Nancy Wolfe
When I was about ten years old, I overheard my mother tell someone that I had the worst handwriting of all of her kids (there were three of us). I was shocked. I think it must have stayed with me forever because here I am, writing with paint, trying to make it not so.
I've always felt a pull toward language and good storytelling, when an ordinary moment becomes a profound experience. I am seduced by the 'color' and richness of a narrative and my paintings are a connection, integrating and improvising on ideas with paint.
Four years ago, after being a lifetime urban dweller, I moved into an old farmhouse out in the country and I find the landscape and distant views influencing my work.
As for my process of painting, I face the blank canvas with an idea, a line from a poem, a word that 'catches' me, or an image that stays with me, as the shape of a pot, a cherry, a human form, or the idea of floating weeds and I let color alone take over. I continue to both add paint to the surface and subtract paint by rubbing it off with cloth. Gesture, a quick stroke, offers a sense of movement that is important to my own nature. From the beginning, the painting and I are partners, sometimes I take the lead but most of the time, the painting leads me.
"…Not the sun merely but the earth itself shines, white fire leaping from the showy mountains and the flat road shimmering in early morning: is this for us only, to induce response, or are you stirred also, helpless to control yourself in earth's presence…" - 'Matins' from The Wild Iris by Louise Gluck
Biography:
Presently, I am a studio artist exhibiting both at art festivals nationally and at galleries in Michigan and Ohio. I am an adjunct lecturer at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, Michigan.
Studies:
Figure study with Mingshi Huang, Painter, Summer 1998
Master of Fine Arts degree in Painting, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI April 1994
Study with Seldon Iden, Painter, 1985-1993
Undergraduate program in Fine Arts, 1985-1988
Independent studies in Photography 1975-1984
Bachelor of Science degree in Education, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 1974
Workshops:
Drawing course, Paris, France, Summer 1987
Intaglio printing, Regatta Studio, Florence, Italy, May 1985
Maine Photographic Workshop, June 1980
Gallery Affiliations:
Toledo Museum of Art - Collector's Corner, Toledo, OH
Artsearch, T'Marra Gallery, Ann Arbor, MI 2001
Ann Arbor Art Center, Sharon Currie, Corporate Sales, 1997-1999
Gallery 414, Ann Arbor, MI 1993-1994
Ann Arbor Art Co-op, 1991
William Pelletier Gallery, Ann Arbor, MI 1982-1985
Awards:
Eastern Michigan University: King Calkins Award 1992, Best of Show Juried Exhibit, 1992
Graduate School Purchase Award for Artistic Excellence, 1991
Publications:
Michigan Bar Journal Cover, January 2000
Detroit Monthly Magazine, full page display, June 1995
Stow Davis Nines, 1992 Brochure, Grand Rapids, MI
Reviews:
Ann Arbor News: January 1, 1999; December 15, 1994; February 10, 1994; January 19, 1992.
Exhibitions:
2001 Bruce Museum Art Festival, Greenwich, CT
2001 Ann Arbor State Street Association Art Festival, MI
2001 Old Town Chicago Art Festival, IL
2001 Bloomfield Art Festival, Birmingham, MI
2001 Coconut Grove Art Festival, Miami, FL
2001 Boca Raton Art Festival, FL
2000 Ann Arbor State Street Association Art Festival, MI
2000 Naples Art Festival, FL
2000 Kerrytown Concert House, one-person exhibit, Ann Arbor, MI
1999 Ann Arbor Art Center, Juried exhibit, MI
1998 Michigan Guild, one-person exhibit, Ann Arbor, MI
1998 Washtenaw Community College, group exhibit, Ann Arbor, MI
1998 Kerrytown Concert House, one-person exhibit, Ann Arbor, MI
1997 The Harver Gifts Room, Workbench Furniture, one-person exhibit, Ann Arbor, MI
1997 Ella Sharp Museum, group exhibit, Jackson, MI
1996 University of Michigan Power Center, Ann Arbor Summer Festival, MI
1996 Washtenaw Women's City Club, Ann Arbor, MI
1996 Janice Charach Epstein Museum Gallery, two-person exhibit, Bloomfield Hills, MI
1995-1996 Michigan Artists Design, by invitation, Ann Arbor, MI
Paintings in the collection of:
Alan H. Cobb, AIA, Director of Architectural Design, Albert Kahn Assoc., Detroit, MI
Robert J. Lipsig, RJL Private Investments, Chicago, IL
Karen Koppelman, Designs, Syosset, NY
James A. Fromstein, Senior Vice President of Manpower, Milwaukee, WI
Sam Platania, President of Listers Realty Inc. Cape Coral, FL
Second to None, Ann Arbor, MI
Morris Risenhoover, Assistant to the Dean of Music, U of M. Ann Arbor, MI
Conlin McKinney Law Offices, Ann Arbor, MI
Boothman, Hebert & Eller, Ann Arbor, MI
Siegfried Rock, General Manager, Sigma Technologies, MI
Robert Willis, Professor of Economics, U of M. Ann Arbor, MI
Czaba Czeres, Editor of Car and Driver, Ann Arbor, MI
Charlene Firestone, Huntington Woods, MI
Barbara and David Buzzelli, Midland, MI
Mary and Michael Pulick, Ann Arbor, MI
Claudia Sciolly, Ann Arbor, MI
All sales on original artwork are final. No discounts apply.