Artist Nancy Natale

Nancy Natale– Artist Statement

My thoughts, observations and fears about aging, mortality and loss of memory drive this new, darker work. These concerns have become very important to me over the past couple of years as I have become more and more involved in the life of my elderly mother. I have strongly identified with her physical and mental losses and have become more aware of my own mortality and aging. At the same time, I see this work as referencing but refuting loss, aging, and death through the beauty and rich depth I find in the color black, in the human spirit and in the enduring cycle of all life.

This work combines encaustic with several other components – rubber, tacks, copper, beads, gravel, crochet, parts of plants. My intention was to integrate the mixed media elements with the encaustic paint and unify the materials through composition. The work is dark and looks fetishistic with a strong frontal and geometric orientation and a very physical presence. I think it has an affinity with work by Lee Bontecou, Judy Pfaff and El Anatsui.

These two works are from a series of iconic book diptychs. The top panels of the diptychs take the form of open books but have no actual pages and no textual content. The bottom panels are extensions of the visual ideas used in the top panels. I began this series thinking about the way memory loss makes content disappear and eventually dissolves even form, but I came to see that books in general are devolving into iconic forms as the world abandons them in favor of digital media. This is another type of loss for those who love the physical properties of books as well as their content.

Resume

Education

Solo:

2009 Physical Geography: Explorations in Rich Surfaces, Artspace, Maynard, MA
2007 Abstract Works, KW Home, Easthampton, MA
2006 Oil and Encaustic Work, Ktwo Noho, Northampton, MA
2006 Works on Paper, Gallery 241, Northampton, MA
2005 Works on Paper, Ktwo Noho, Northampton, MA
2004 Oil Paintings, Battelle Harding Gallery, Greenfield, MA
2003 Mosaic Wall Art, Battelle Harding Gallery, Greenfield, MA
1999 Works on Paper, The Schoolhouse Center, Provincetown, MA
1997 Rest Area, Provincetown Art Assn & Museum, Provincetown, MA
1996 Be Prepared, Massachusetts College of Art, Alumni Gallery, Boston, MA
1996 Nancy Natale, New England Biolabs, Beverly, MA
1995 Works in Oil, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Organizational Learning Center, Cambridge, MA
1995 Mementos: Artists’ Books, Somerville Public Library, Central Branch, Somerville, MA
1994 UrbanNATURE, The Cambridge Center Gallery, Cambridge, MA
1993 Evocative Objects, The Children’s Museum, Recycle Gallery, Boston, MA
1993 Order/Disorder, Brickbottom Gallery, Somerville, MA
1992 Boston Center for the Arts, Director’s Office, Boston, MA
1991 Mysteries of Life, Brown University, Sarah Doyle Gallery, Providence, RI

Group:

2010 5th Annual Encaustic Invitational, Conrad Wilde Gallery, Tucson, AZ
2009 A Book About Death, Emily Harvey Foundation Gallery, New York, NY
2009 Ancient Medium, N.E.W. Terrain, Art Complex Museum, Duxbury, MA
2009 Heat Stroke, Saco Museum, Saco, ME
2008 In Flat Fields, River Tree Center for the Arts, Kennebunk, ME
2008 Wax-It ’08, Mill Brook Gallery & Sculpture Gardens, Concord, NH
2008 The Diptych Project, Whitney Art Works, Portland, ME
2008 The Diptych Project, Brian Marki Gallery, Portland, OR
2008 The Diptych Project, Second Annual Encaustic Conference, Montserrat College of Art, Beverly, MA
2008 Wish You Were Here, A.I.R. Gallery, New York, NY
2008 Traveling Women, Grubbs Gallery, Williston Northampton School, Easthampton, MA
2008 Six in Wax, Nashawannuck Gallery, Easthampton, MA
2007 Little Women, Nashawannuck Gallery, Easthampton, MA
2007 NEW: Encaustic II, Galletly Gallery, New Hampton School, New Hampton, NH
2006 Young & Constantin Gallery, Wilmington, VT
2005 Isolte’ Gallery, Provincetown, MA
2005 Young & Constantin Gallery, Wilmington, VT
2004 Battelle Harding Gallery, Greenfield, MA
2003 Battelle Harding Gallery, Greenfield, MA
2002 Off the Bed: Quilts Not for Sleeping, The Art Bank, Shelburne Falls, MA
2001 Holiday Show, Ariel Jones Gallery, Turners Falls, MA
2000 Turning the Page: A Celebration of Artist-Made Books, Newport Library Arts Center, Newport, NH
2000 Windows Art Project, Davis Square, Somerville, MA
2000 Open House, Millay Colony, Austerlitz, NY
1999 Illuminations, Gallery 57, Cambridge, MA
1999 The Power to Enchant: Amulets & Talismans, Starr Gallery, Newton Center, MA
1998 Icons + Altars, New Art Center, Newton, MA
1997 In Dialogue: New England Women and Photography, Bernard Toale Gallery, Boston, MA
1997 Factory Reconsidered: 4 Artists, Nathan Cummings Foundation, New York, NY
1996-7 Shape-Shifting: Transformations in the Art of the Book, Traveling Exhibition and Slides Project, University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, CO and other locations
1996 Second Biennial Exhibition, A.I.R. Gallery, New York, NY
1996 National Competition Exhibition, Provincetown Art Association & Museum, Provincetown, MA
1996 When Is A Book Not A Book – Four Artists Respond, Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, NH
1995-6 Stories From Her, Traveling Exhibition, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY and other locations
1995 New England Biennial 3, Photographic Resource Center, Boston, MA
1995 The Spiritual in Art, Salve Regina University, Newport, RI
1995 Printmaking at Brickbottom 3, Brickbottom Gallery, Somerville, MA
1995 Reading the Image, Tufts University Art Gallery, Aidekman Arts Center, Medford, MA
1994 Grant Award Winners of the Somerville Arts Council, Brickbottom Gallery, Somerville, MA
1994 The Studio Show, Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA
1994 Books as Art, Rugg Road Gallery, Somerville, MA
1993 Primitive Works, Boston Corporate Art Gallery, Boston, MA

Publications

2008 The Diptych Project: A Collaboration in Wax, A catalog of the project compiled by Nancy Natale, blurb.com, May 2008, 56 pp., illus.
1999 Creating Eden: A Portrait of an American City through its Gardens, Introduction to the written portraits and first exhibition, Somerville Arts Council, Somerville, MA
1997 Natale, Nancy and Nancy Lusignan Schultz, Ph.D., ed., Lifting the Veil - Remembering the Burning of the Ursuline Convent, The Somerville Museum, Somerville, Massachusetts, illus.
1997 McCarthy, Mary and Philip Manna, Making Books by Hand, Rockport Publishers, pp. 102-103, 107, illus.
1996 Sunday, Margaret, Shape-Shifting: Transformations in the Art of the Book, University of Northern Colorado, pp. 23, illus.
1995 Goldman, Natasha, Memory and Art Making: Tracing the Rifts in Works by Women, Stories from Her, Dina Light and Sarah E. Webb, ed., University of Rochester, pp. 6-20, illus.
1994 Artpoint, Digging Up a Buried River, Summer issue, illus.

Awards

1997 Project Support Grant, LEF Foundation, Cambridge, MA
1997 Project Support Grant, Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities, South Hadley, MA
Project Support Grant, Somerville Arts Council, Somerville, MA
1996 First Place, National Competition Exhibition, Provincetown Art Association & Museum, Provincetown, MA
1996 Project Support Grant, Somerville Arts Council, Somerville, MA
1995 Grant, Pollock-Krasner Foundation, Inc., New York, NY
1995 Residency, Millay Colony for the Arts, Austerlitz, NY
1995 Fellowship Support Grant, Somerville Arts Council, Somerville, MA
1994 Project Support Grant, Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities, South Hadley, MA
1994 Producer of the Year Award, Somerville Community Access Television, Somerville, MA
1994 Project Support Grant, Visual Arts, Somerville Arts Council, Somerville, MA
1994 General Support Grant, Film/Video, Somerville Arts Council, Somerville, MA

Professional Experience

2010 Guest lecturer on encaustic painting, Materials of Art Seminar, Smith College, Northampton, MA
2010 Presenter, Fourth Annual Encaustic Painting Conference, Montserrat College of Art, Beverly, MA
2009 Presenter, Third Annual Encaustic Painting Conference, Montserrat College of Art, Beverly, MA
2008 Curator, Six in Wax, Nashawannuck Gallery, Easthampton, MA
2008 Project Manager for New England Wax, The Diptych Project
2008-10 Co-Chair, New England Wax
2007-10 Webmaster, New England Wax website, www.newenglandwax.org
2007-08 Project Manager for New England Wax, The Diptych Project
2005-06 Chair, Ashfield Cultural Council, Ashfield, MA
2001-04 Secretary, Ashfield Cultural Council, Ashfield, MA
2000 Co-Curator, Discovering a Neighborhood: Malvern Avenue Present and Past, The Somerville Museum, Somerville, MA
2000 Grants Panelist, Somerville Arts Council, Somerville, MA
1999 Consultant, The Comic Book Collective, Somerville Community Youth Program, Somerville, MA
1999 Visiting Artist, Hampshire College, Amherst, MA
1999 Grants Panelist, Somerville Arts Council, Somerville, MA
1998-99 Project Manager, Creating Eden: A Portrait of an American City Through Its Gardens, Somerville Arts Council, Somerville, MA
1998-99 Grants Panelist, Somerville Arts Council, Somerville, MA
1997 Grants Panelist, Somerville Arts Council, Somerville, MA
1996 Co-Organizer, Lifting the Veil - Remembering the Burning of The Ursuline Convent, The Somerville Museum, Somerville, MA
1996 Juror, Work by Women Members, The Copley Society, Boston, MA
1995 Grants Panelist, Somerville Arts Council, Somerville, MA
1994 Organizer, Digging Up A Buried River, The Somerville Museum, Somerville, MA

Collections

Bingham, Dana & Gould, Boston, MA
Brigham and Womens Hospital, Shapiro Cardiovascular Building, Boston, MA
Capital G Bank, Hamilton, Bermuda
Comverse Network Systems, Wakefield, MA
Deloitte and Touche, Boston, MA
Fidelity Investments, Boston, MA
Guaymas, Rancho Mirage, CA
Goodwin, Procter LLP, Boston, MA, Washington, DC and New York, NY
Manulife Financial, Boston, MA
Hotel Monaco, New Orleans, LA
Meditech, Westwood, MA
National Development Corporation, Newton, MA
New England Biolabs, Beverly, MA
Pattie Maes and Karl Sims, Cambridge, MA
Shorenstein Realty, Natick, MA
St. Joseph’s Hospital, Phoenix, AZ
Sullivan & Cogliano, Waltham, MA
S. D. Warren Company, Boston, MA
Western Asset Management, London, England

Representation

Laura Grossman, Weston, MA
Elizabeth Erdreich, Erdreich White Fine Art, Boston, MA
Francine Ellman, Art Source L. A., Santa Monica and Monterey, CA and Chicago, IL



	Nancy Natale– Artist Statement My thoughts, observations and fears about aging, mortality and loss of memory drive this new, darker work. These concerns have become very important to me over the past couple of years as I have become more and more involved in the life of my elderly mother. I have strongly identified with her physical and mental losses and have become more aware of my own mortality and aging. At the same time, I see this work as referencing but refuting loss, aging, and death through the beauty and rich depth I find in the color black, in the human spirit and in the enduring cycle of all life. This work combines encaustic with several other components – rubber, tacks, copper, beads, gravel, crochet, parts of plants. My intention was to integrate the mixed media elements with the encaustic paint and unify the materials through composition. The work is dark and looks fetishistic with a strong frontal and geometric orientation and a very physical presence. I think it has an affinity with work by Lee Bontecou, Judy Pfaff and El Anatsui. These two works are from a series of iconic book diptychs. The top panels of the diptychs take the form of open books but have no actual pages and no textual content. The bottom panels are extensions of the visual ideas used in the top panels. I began this series thinking about the way memory loss makes content disappear and eventually dissolves even form, but I came to see that books in general are devolving into iconic forms as the world abandons them in favor of digital media. This is another type of loss for those who love the physical properties of books as well as their content. Resume Education 1988 B.F.A., Painting, With Distinction, Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, MA B.A., English Literature, University of Massachusetts, Boston, MA Exhibitions Solo: 2009 Physical Geography: Explorations in Rich Surfaces, Artspace, Maynard, MA 2007 Abstract Works, KW Home, Easthampton, MA 2006 Oil and Encaustic Work, Ktwo Noho, Northampton, MA 2006 Works on Paper, Gallery 241, Northampton, MA 2005 Works on Paper, Ktwo Noho, Northampton, MA 2004 Oil Paintings, Battelle Harding Gallery, Greenfield, MA 2003 Mosaic Wall Art, Battelle Harding Gallery, Greenfield, MA 1999 Works on Paper, The Schoolhouse Center, Provincetown, MA 1997 Rest Area, Provincetown Art Assn & Museum, Provincetown, MA 1996 Be Prepared, Massachusetts College of Art, Alumni Gallery, Boston, MA 1996 Nancy Natale, New England Biolabs, Beverly, MA 1995 Works in Oil, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Organizational Learning Center, Cambridge, MA 1995 Mementos: Artists’ Books, Somerville Public Library, Central Branch, Somerville, MA 1994 UrbanNATURE, The Cambridge Center Gallery, Cambridge, MA 1993 Evocative Objects, The Children’s Museum, Recycle Gallery, Boston, MA 1993 Order/Disorder, Brickbottom Gallery, Somerville, MA 1992 Boston Center for the Arts, Director’s Office, Boston, MA 1991 Mysteries of Life, Brown University, Sarah Doyle Gallery, Providence, RI Group: 2010 5th Annual Encaustic Invitational, Conrad Wilde Gallery, Tucson, AZ 2009 A Book About Death, Emily Harvey Foundation Gallery, New York, NY 2009 Ancient Medium, N.E.W. Terrain, Art Complex Museum, Duxbury, MA 2009 Heat Stroke, Saco Museum, Saco, ME 2008 In Flat Fields, River Tree Center for the Arts, Kennebunk, ME 2008 Wax-It ’08, Mill Brook Gallery & Sculpture Gardens, Concord, NH 2008 The Diptych Project, Whitney Art Works, Portland, ME 2008 The Diptych Project, Brian Marki Gallery, Portland, OR 2008 The Diptych Project, Second Annual Encaustic Conference, Montserrat College of Art, Beverly, MA 2008 Wish You Were Here, A.I.R. Gallery, New York, NY 2008 Traveling Women, Grubbs Gallery, Williston Northampton School, Easthampton, MA 2008 Six in Wax, Nashawannuck Gallery, Easthampton, MA 2007 Little Women, Nashawannuck Gallery, Easthampton, MA 2007 NEW: Encaustic II, Galletly Gallery, New Hampton School, New Hampton, NH 2006 Young & Constantin Gallery, Wilmington, VT 2005 Isolte’ Gallery, Provincetown, MA 2005 Young & Constantin Gallery, Wilmington, VT 2004 Battelle Harding Gallery, Greenfield, MA 2003 Battelle Harding Gallery, Greenfield, MA 2002 Off the Bed: Quilts Not for Sleeping, The Art Bank, Shelburne Falls, MA 2001 Holiday Show, Ariel Jones Gallery, Turners Falls, MA 2000 Turning the Page: A Celebration of Artist-Made Books, Newport Library Arts Center, Newport, NH 2000 Windows Art Project, Davis Square, Somerville, MA 2000 Open House, Millay Colony, Austerlitz, NY 1999 Illuminations, Gallery 57, Cambridge, MA 1999 The Power to Enchant: Amulets & Talismans, Starr Gallery, Newton Center, MA 1998 Icons + Altars, New Art Center, Newton, MA 1997 In Dialogue: New England Women and Photography, Bernard Toale Gallery, Boston, MA 1997 Factory Reconsidered: 4 Artists, Nathan Cummings Foundation, New York, NY 1996-7 Shape-Shifting: Transformations in the Art of the Book, Traveling Exhibition and Slides Project, University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, CO and other locations 1996 Second Biennial Exhibition, A.I.R. Gallery, New York, NY 1996 National Competition Exhibition, Provincetown Art Association & Museum, Provincetown, MA 1996 When Is A Book Not A Book – Four Artists Respond, Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, NH 1995-6 Stories From Her, Traveling Exhibition, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY and other locations 1995 New England Biennial 3, Photographic Resource Center, Boston, MA 1995 The Spiritual in Art, Salve Regina University, Newport, RI 1995 Printmaking at Brickbottom 3, Brickbottom Gallery, Somerville, MA 1995 Reading the Image, Tufts University Art Gallery, Aidekman Arts Center, Medford, MA 1994 Grant Award Winners of the Somerville Arts Council, Brickbottom Gallery, Somerville, MA 1994 The Studio Show, Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA 1994 Books as Art, Rugg Road Gallery, Somerville, MA 1993 Primitive Works, Boston Corporate Art Gallery, Boston, MA Publications 2008 The Diptych Project: A Collaboration in Wax, A catalog of the project compiled by Nancy Natale, blurb.com, May 2008, 56 pp., illus. 1999 Creating Eden: A Portrait of an American City through its Gardens, Introduction to the written portraits and first exhibition, Somerville Arts Council, Somerville, MA 1997 Natale, Nancy and Nancy Lusignan Schultz, Ph.D., ed., Lifting the Veil - Remembering the Burning of the Ursuline Convent, The Somerville Museum, Somerville, Massachusetts, illus. 1997 McCarthy, Mary and Philip Manna, Making Books by Hand, Rockport Publishers, pp. 102-103, 107, illus. 1996 Sunday, Margaret, Shape-Shifting: Transformations in the Art of the Book, University of Northern Colorado, pp. 23, illus. 1995 Goldman, Natasha, Memory and Art Making: Tracing the Rifts in Works by Women, Stories from Her, Dina Light and Sarah E. Webb, ed., University of Rochester, pp. 6-20, illus. 1994 Artpoint, Digging Up a Buried River, Summer issue, illus. Awards 1997 Project Support Grant, LEF Foundation, Cambridge, MA 1997 Project Support Grant, Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities, South Hadley, MA Project Support Grant, Somerville Arts Council, Somerville, MA 1996 First Place, National Competition Exhibition, Provincetown Art Association & Museum, Provincetown, MA 1996 Project Support Grant, Somerville Arts Council, Somerville, MA 1995 Grant, Pollock-Krasner Foundation, Inc., New York, NY 1995 Residency, Millay Colony for the Arts, Austerlitz, NY 1995 Fellowship Support Grant, Somerville Arts Council, Somerville, MA 1994 Project Support Grant, Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities, South Hadley, MA 1994 Producer of the Year Award, Somerville Community Access Television, Somerville, MA 1994 Project Support Grant, Visual Arts, Somerville Arts Council, Somerville, MA 1994 General Support Grant, Film/Video, Somerville Arts Council, Somerville, MA Professional Experience 2010 Guest lecturer on encaustic painting, Materials of Art Seminar, Smith College, Northampton, MA 2010 Presenter, Fourth Annual Encaustic Painting Conference, Montserrat College of Art, Beverly, MA 2009 Presenter, Third Annual Encaustic Painting Conference, Montserrat College of Art, Beverly, MA 2008 Curator, Six in Wax, Nashawannuck Gallery, Easthampton, MA 2008 Project Manager for New England Wax, The Diptych Project 2008-10 Co-Chair, New England Wax 2007-10 Webmaster, New England Wax website, www.newenglandwax.org 2007-08 Project Manager for New England Wax, The Diptych Project 2005-06 Chair, Ashfield Cultural Council, Ashfield, MA 2001-04 Secretary, Ashfield Cultural Council, Ashfield, MA 2000 Co-Curator, Discovering a Neighborhood: Malvern Avenue Present and Past, The Somerville Museum, Somerville, MA 2000 Grants Panelist, Somerville Arts Council, Somerville, MA 1999 Consultant, The Comic Book Collective, Somerville Community Youth Program, Somerville, MA 1999 Visiting Artist, Hampshire College, Amherst, MA 1999 Grants Panelist, Somerville Arts Council, Somerville, MA 1998-99 Project Manager, Creating Eden: A Portrait of an American City Through Its Gardens, Somerville Arts Council, Somerville, MA 1998-99 Grants Panelist, Somerville Arts Council, Somerville, MA 1997 Grants Panelist, Somerville Arts Council, Somerville, MA 1996 Co-Organizer, Lifting the Veil - Remembering the Burning of The Ursuline Convent, The Somerville Museum, Somerville, MA 1996 Juror, Work by Women Members, The Copley Society, Boston, MA 1995 Grants Panelist, Somerville Arts Council, Somerville, MA 1994 Organizer, Digging Up A Buried River, The Somerville Museum, Somerville, MA Collections Bingham, Dana & Gould, Boston, MA Brigham and Womens Hospital, Shapiro Cardiovascular Building, Boston, MA Capital G Bank, Hamilton, Bermuda Comverse Network Systems, Wakefield, MA Deloitte and Touche, Boston, MA Fidelity Investments, Boston, MA Guaymas, Rancho Mirage, CA Goodwin, Procter LLP, Boston, MA, Washington, DC and New York, NY Manulife Financial, Boston, MA Hotel Monaco, New Orleans, LA Meditech, Westwood, MA National Development Corporation, Newton, MA New England Biolabs, Beverly, MA Pattie Maes and Karl Sims, Cambridge, MA Shorenstein Realty, Natick, MA St. Joseph’s Hospital, Phoenix, AZ Sullivan & Cogliano, Waltham, MA S. D. Warren Company, Boston, MA Western Asset Management, London, England Representation Laura Grossman, Weston, MA Elizabeth Erdreich, Erdreich White Fine Art, Boston, MA Francine Ellman, Art Source L. A., Santa Monica and Monterey, CA and Chicago, IL





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