Nancy Paul

Lansdowne, Ontario, Canada

Nancy Paul is a painter, drawer and occasional printmaker who has exhibited with professional groups such as the Canadian Society of Artists and the Organization of Kingston Women Artists.  Her recent solo shows in 2020 (Time/Lines, Art Noise Gallery, Kingston) and 2018 (Dualities/Mythologies, The Rebecca Gallery, Toronto and Restoring Balance, Art Noise Gallery, Kingston) featured paintings on canvas, paper and stone tile.  A selection of her work currently is on display at the Piggery Gallery in Newburgh.

Bio:  Originally from northwestern Ontario, Nancy moved to Toronto to study art (OCAD) then Kingston (Queen’s) where she worked in cancer research and earned her doctorate in literature.  She lives in Lansdowne with her husband, Steve, and their cat, Zarco.

Artist’s Statement: 

My work represents my search for understanding and hope in these times of accelerating degradation of the earth and extinction of species. Despite overwhelming evidence of crises from climate change to social injustice to pandemic, governments around the world seem paralyzed even as democracy is under threat and truth-telling stifled.  Individuals feel powerless to enact change.

The naked body is an enduring symbol of vulnerability; Shakespeare’s Lear in the storm on the heath knows unaccommodated man to be a poor, bare, forked animal.  Yet the nude in visual art can represent beauty, grace and love, an aesthetic of salvation.  We need her now more than ever.

The female nude for me is at once surrogate seeker of truth and object of scrutiny.  In my work the female figure is both self and other; she represents communication and compassion.

I use contrast and juxtaposition, repetition and sequencing, to explore the spaces between and around us and to suggest relationships. Creatures of the sea and sky are among my favourite subjects.  Times of day and night, the cycle of the seasons, provide context and perspective in my art.