NANCY PÁCE - Marion Meyer Contemporary Art

NANCY PÁCEBiographyA contemporary artist, Nancy Páce defines her unique painting style as a type of ‘New AgeImpressionism.’ By utilizing a depth of field approach, and infusing that with what she perceivesas a ‘hyperawareness’ of color, Nancy dramatically captures California light and landscape.Originally from Connecticut, Nancy chose to attend the University of New Haven, majoring inCommercial Art. It was during that time when she discovered her love for the fine art of oil andacrylic painting, and soon afterwards that she decided to continue her education at the School ofthe Museum of Fine Arts, in Boston Massachusetts, where she completed a four year diplomaprogram designed exclusively for studio artists. Her greatest influence, as she recalls, came fromspending many afternoons in the school’s museum, studying the masterworks of late 19thCentury painters; Van Gogh and Renoir being two of her favorites.Inspired by the divine nature of those experiences, Nancy has been driven towards her ownspiritual pursuits, and her paintings have evolved into what she describes as being a kind of‘visual meditation.’ The goal, she says, is for her work to take people out of their hurried states ofmind, and draw them into a quieter realm, one that instills in them a posture of joy and peace. Inaddition, Nancy has chosen to sign her paintings with her maiden name, simply because herfather had always told her that, in Italian, Pace is pronounced, patche, which means peace. Shethen chose to put an accent on the a in her signature to evoke its Italian pronunciation and tosymbolize a gesture of peace.Nancy moved to California shortly after graduating from art school and has since made theLaguna Beach area her home. Her intense passion for the California surroundings is mostevident in her vivid portrayals of the flower fields at Carlsbad, as well as those in Lompoc and thedesert at Anza Borrego State Park. The artist also enjoys depicting the rural countryside alongCalifornia’s scenic highways, where wildflowers bloom in the spring. Currently, Nancy is living aquiet and creative life at home in Laguna Hills California, with her husband, Bob, and their petcockatiel, Norman.ARTIST RESUMÈBornAugust 29, 1956, in Waterbury, ConnecticutEducationSchool of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts, 1977-1981University of New Haven, West Haven, Connecticut, 1974-1976Solo Exhibitions2004 ‘Textural Fusion’, Marion Meyer Contemporary Art, Laguna Beach, CA2000 Inn at Laguna, Laguna Beach, CA1997 ‘Fields of Hue’, Galerie 224, Laguna Beach, CA

Selected Group Exhibitions1999 Marion Meyer Contemporary Art, Laguna Beach, CA1998 Marion Meyer Contemporary Art, Laguna Beach, CA1996 Galerie 224, Laguna Beach, CA1995 Art Vivant, Traveling Group Exhibition, Kobe, Tokyo, and Yokahama, Japan1995 Galerie 224, Laguna Beach, CA1994 Seaside Gallery, Dana Point, CA1993 Art & Film Studio, Costa Mesa, CASelected Juried Exhibitions2007 Blossom - Art of Flowers, Houston Museum of Natural Science, Houston, TX2007 Art a Fair Festival, Laguna Beach, CA2006 Art a Fair Festival, Laguna Beach, CA2005 Alice Baum Art Splash, Dana Point Coastal Arts, Dana Point, CA2005 Art That’s Small at City Hall, City of Laguna Beach Arts Commission2001 La Quinta Spring Arts Festival, La Quinta, CA1997 ‘Echoes and Visions’, Laguna Niguel Community Events Committee, Laguna Niguel, CA1995 Newport Beach City Arts Commission, Newport Beach, CA1994 Niguel Art Association, annual spring juried competition, Dana Point, CA1993 Niguel Art Association, annual winter competition, Dana Point, CAAwards and Honors2005 City Hall Choice Award, Painting, Art That’s Small at City Hall, City of Laguna Beach ArtsCommission1995 Third Prize, Painting, Newport Beach City Arts Commission, Annual Spring JuriedCompetition1994 Best of Show, Painting, Niguel Art Association, Annual Spring Juried Competition 1993 FirstPrize, Painting, Niguel Art Association, Annual Winter Juried CompetitionPublicationsArt Business News, August, 2004Laguna Beach Coastline News, May, 2004Coast Magazine, Orange County, June, 1999Laguna Beach Coastline News, August, 1997

ARTIST'S STATEMENTNancy Páce ( pronounced, patche )Color is my greatest source of inspiration, and what greater intensity of color exists than in a fieldof flowers? To me, there’s nothing more exhilarating than witnessing mother nature’s splendorfirsthand, so I take countless numbers of photographs, which later serve as reference for mywork. I then paint within my studio, progressively working on as many as ten or twenty pieces at atime.The process for me is always invigorating, and usually takes me to an altered state of awarenessin which I’m virtually lifted outside myself in what I do, so words are hard to come by, I’d rather letthe work speak for itself. However, I can say that what I’m driven towards mostly is creating amore dynamic visual experience than what is typically seen in a two-dimensional artwork. Notonly have I wanted the plants and flowers in my landscape paintings to look like vegetation, I’vewanted them to feel like vegetation. In other words, I’ve wanted to breathe life into them. So I’vedeveloped an innovative technique in using plastic freezer bags as a tool for applying thick layersof paint; an idea which came to me as a result of my own childhood experience in helping mymother decorate wedding cakes.This unique paint process has enabled me to instill a three-dimensional quality to a twodimensionalwork of art; the intent being for the imagery to project a pulsating energy vibration inwhich a viewer is held captive, if only for a moment, as rhythms of color appear to dance and popfrom the canvas. The framing design is part of that intention as well, so every background colorand texture surrounding an image is created simultaneously with each painting to further enhancethis mesmerizing effect.It’s my belief that one should not only stand consciously and reflectively before a work of art, butthat one should walk away from it knowing that they’ve just transcended time and space whiledelving into a depth of pure emotion. So my hope is that those who view my paintings will connectwith the spiritual energy that’s behind them, calling to mind that same higher form ofconsciousness within themselves.