Nancy Wagner

ARTIST STATEMENT

I’ve been a maker of things for lots of years.
Always a lover of pattern, color and fabric – I’ve dabbled in all sorts of projects. 
I learned to sew when I was 11.
I studied weaving when I was 20.
I taught myself to paint when I was 30. 
I have continued that practice for many years (decades!) all the while paying homage to my deep roots and love of textiles. 

Then covid arrived.
Life changed.
I retired from waiting tables for a living.
A daughter in need of childcare beckoned.
An offer to help out for a couple of months turned into living away for two years.
It was a rich and rewarding experience, albeit one without my home studio at my fingertips.
I channeled my creativity into preparing beautiful meals for my little family.
My sewing machine and a lovely little fabric store down the street kept the creative juices flowing and my granddaughter the best dressed kid in the neighborhood.
Long walks kept my mind alert and inspired new ideas.

After two years, I returned home to a new normal. Challenges presented themselves: health issues, the state of the world, life stuff.
My studio stood just as I remembered it. A handful of half-finished paintings sat waiting.
I jumped back in, relishing in my roots and drawing inspiration from my love of textiles.
I began incorporating hand stitching into a new body of work.
I felt thankful and blessed to be a person who makes things, knowing that I will never lack for things to do or ideas to follow.

As I reflect on these past few years, I am pleased to see the sense of joy and hope that permeates my work. It gives me faith to keep moving forward, one foot in front of the other, trusting the universe and what I do.

BIO

Nancy Wagner is a painter with a rich and lively sense of color and pattern. She studied weaving at Boston University in the 1970s, which then evolved into a lifelong exploration of artistic expression through the use of oil paints. Her love of travel and visual exploration has led her around the world and around the corner, continually gathering ideas and images to utilize in the studio. Over the years she has participated in several artist residencies, from the hills of western Massachusetts to the mountains of Wyoming. She has shown regularly in the New England area and her work is included in many major collections. Nancy currently lives and works and plays and paints in Portland, Maine with her husband, David, and their dog Posey.

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