Nancy Reyner

Nancy is selected to participate and exhibit work at the 2007 Florence Biennale. Her new book entitled Acrylic Revolution, containing over 100 acrylic painting techniques, published by North Light Books, will be available March 2007. Home & Garden's TV show "That's Clever" featured Nancy on HGTV, October 2006.

Nancy's varied experiences add technical expertise and originality to her work. While living in New York City she created costumes and sets for Broadway and off-Broadway theater and film (including a Madonna film), coordinated public arts programs for the state of New York, and directed and performed with the Ragabash Puppet Theater. Nancy was selected for a two year painting and drawing residency for the Phoenix Center in Arizona. There she exhibited her work, curated shows, taught drawing and painting, and created new works. Her expertise has led to a position as technical consultant for the acrylic paint company Golden Artist Colors, Inc.

Nancy holds a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA from Columbia University. She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Artist Statement

I paint my versions of heaven; places that are beautiful and meditative not found on earth.

Call me an optimist, but I believe that man has the powerful ability to dream, to create better worlds and new realities. And images play an important role in this. Our history begins with images, which go far back in time, even farther than language, and are cross cultural. We are united through images. I keep this in mind daily as I am barraged through news and media with sensationalist stories and events of world crisis. Part of me wants to join the peace corps but instead I paint. I paint with the conviction that my images can heal.

Imagine clear pieces of amber with fragments of nature held forever in suspension. My work has a similar mood-evoking quality. I combine images of botanical elements such as plants and fruit, geometric patterns and layers of paint to create inner psychological landscapes. Some forms remain visible, while others become veiled or buried thus creating a metaphor for transformation and growth. Luminous and reflective lighting and effects are used to evoke a heavenly place.

To create powerful but positive images, painting becomes an excavation of self, searching for questions as well as answers. The very act of painting urges me to confront questions about aesthetics. What is the relationship between beauty and healing? I believe Beauty emerges when the painting takes the viewer on a journey where they can question, explore and discover their own truth.