Arts Council Napa Valley Community Fund Grant 2023

I am so excited to announce that my project, the Artist’s Trellis was awarded a 2023 ACNV Community Fund grant. The Artists’ Trellis is a new series of printmaking sessions with a diverse list of industry and civic leaders and four of my fellow Napa Valley artists. The art-making sessions will provide a unique way to foster exchange and stimulate awareness for the arts. Stay tuned for more details as this project unfolds over the year.

Anti-War 2023 Exhibition at Diversia

I am pleased to announce the inclusion of my piece HOVER/Syria in the exhibition ANTI-War 2023. The exhibition was organized by the Canadian group Diversia to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the war in Ukraine. There are over 100 pieces included in this online exhibition which you can see here. On view through March 31st.

From This Moment On... September 14th to October 15th Napa Valley College

Curated by Amanda Badgett, Professor of Art History, Napa Valley College

Opening reception Wednesday September 14th  4pm to 6pm

Closing  event Saturday October 15 th 12 to 4

Napa Valley College Visual Arts Center

2277 Napa Vallejo Hwy, Napa, CA 94558

Gallery Hours: Monday-Friday, 9am – 4:30pm

“I frequently use my own backyard dinners, the string lights in my trees or the nature that surrounds me as motifs for my paintings. I pull from my own experiences, believing the personal can speak universally. With the 2020 California wildfires, my connection to the landscape as well as to painting became much more profound. Until now, I have never used my process so overtly to work through my own trauma and grief. It weighs with an enormous gravity. I am confronting the security of my own existence as well as the security of the landscape we all share.”

The exhibition is curated by Amanda Badgett, art history professor at Napa Valley College who writes: “Through her paintings and prints, Nancy gives lie to the idea of a static landscape: a grove of redwoods, all blackened and spindly in one canvas, emerges in another bristling with new growth. In a valley whose economic well-being is inextricably tied to agriculture, looking at Nancy’s images reminds us of the fragility of landscape in the face of global warming and the now ever-present threat of fire.”

Big News in the New Year

The year is off to a great start with the news that I received two Artist Power Convening Grants from the Yerba Beuna Center for the Arts. The Artist Power Convenings are a new community investment strategy by YBCA to build the capacity of artists and artist-led organizations in service of their communities.
The grants will fund two of my community projects:
1. A brainstorming session with artists and the Executive Director of the Suscol Intertribal Council to develop arts curriculum that can bring awareness to our indigenous histories.
2. A continuation of Conflict Zone, bringing Haider Elias, President and co- founder of Yazda.org back to Northern California. Haider has been living in Iraq for the past 9 months and will provide an update on the Yazidi efforts to rebuild their lives and hold ISIS accountable.