Nancy Sargent Howell is a signature member of the New England Watercolor Society (past president), the Copley Society of Art (former Board Member), the South Shore Art Center , the North River Art Society and the Plymouth Guild of Artists.
A native of Massachusetts, Nancy attended Skidmore College as an art major, where, having explored many color and design classes, and assisted in teaching a drawing class, she soon fell in love with watercolor painting. "Watercolors don't always do what you expect", she says, "and, although that can be frustrating, it also sends me into unplanned directions which I find very energizing." Although much of Nancy 's work is done outdoors, she uses the information that she gathers for plein air paintings to develop studio work that has a more abstract quality. She often uses a method of glazing her work that she calls "prisming". "I don't know where the ideas come from", she says, "but after I had been doing it for awhile, I realized that, as a child, I loved cubist paintings and I've always loved jig-saw puzzles." Her prismed work clearly breaks up already existing patterns while also tying shapes together to form unified areas.
In recent years, Nancy has started doing oil and acrylic paintings, realizing that the brush strokes are far more important in those media than in watercolors. "I love the thick texture of oils, and the vibrancy of colors in acrylics, and have found that my goals are totally different from those of watercolors" she says. "I'm curious to see whether the different approaches will come together in my work as oil and acrylic painting become more a part of my soul."
Nancy is a much sought after teacher, demonstrator and juror. She holds weekly classes in Scituate , MA , and has taught workshops throughout the United States and Europe . She has been leading annual painting trips to Italy since 1989.
Nancy had her solo show at our Gallery on April 11, 2008. You can see the exhibit 'here'. back to Artists |
