Walking in the Light

Nancy was born in Columbus Ohio in 1954. At a very young age she was drawn to the wildest place near home; a remote ravine owned by the Ohio State School for the Blind. It was the most captivating place in her world, and the subject of her first oil painting on a small canvas board, “The…Nancy was born in Columbus Ohio in 1954. At a very young age she was drawn to the wildest place near home; a remote ravine owned by the Ohio State School for the Blind. It was the most captivating place in her world, and the subject of her first oil painting on a small canvas board, “The Place”. So began her journey to create paintings and connect to the energy in nature; a sanctuary away from the noise and confusion of human activity. In 1976 Nancy earned a BFA in painting and creative writing at Bowling Green State University. She worked as a substitute art teacher in Tucson Arizona and became acquainted with the delights of hiking in the high country of the Santa Rita and Catalina Mountains. In 1978 she moved to Seattle to find better paying work. Due to a lack of art teaching positions, she became a locomotive engineer for Burlington Northern while remaining devoted to her painting practice. From 1980 until her retirement in 2014 she experienced the Northwest from the unique and challenging perspective of the driver’s seat of a freight train. Over the years Nancy has taken full advantage of the surrounding Cascade and Olympic mountains. Hiking, backpacking, and skiing led her to observations and experiences in the backcountry that resonate in her paintings. Her work is influenced and inspired by many artists and techniques, including Emily Carr and the Canadian Group of Seven, abstract expressionism, and urban street art. Nancy currently works at her studio in Prescott, Arizona, and spends her summers in Copalis Beach, on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington.

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