Today we’d like to introduce you to Nancy Wallace.
Nancy, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I am a painter with 46 years of experience making abstract artwork. I went back to school in my 40’s to study painting and drawing to learn the ways that abstraction is an artform. I have a BFA in drawing and painting from the University of North Texas and an MFA in Studio Art from Southern Methodist University. My interest in color is a life long endeavor. My work delves into my personal memories of moments when the muted palette of everyday life became interrupted by intense chroma. This is my work story. My personal story is potentially more helpful to others. You see, making these paintings, making abstract artwork is just one facet. I’m 64. I have raised a family. Seen both parents pass away. I have experienced multiple unforeseen obstacles and challenges. Life is Life. Yet through the years I struggled with things that I saw others handle with ease. Social things. School was manageable when I was growing up but college was a different matter. I had to study all day, everyday. Making artwork came far more naturally. Social interactions, especially in groups, gave me anxiety attacks. I tried every imaginable form of help from professional and I just could not get positive results. I had a very supportive family and I am so grateful for that. There were things that weren’t known by my family.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
At age 63, I was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder and ADHD. It was a through a thorough diagnosis at a testing and assessment clinic here in Austin. The reason I subjected myself to the assessment was because I believed there was more going on with me than the depression and anxiety that my doctor discovered. Once I had the correct diagnosis everything in my past became clear. I felt tremendous relief. I understood why people would sometimes say I talk funny. Why I shy away from group activities. Why I am extremely deficient in some areas and have other areas where I rank extremely high. I am neurotypical and because I am female and grew up in the 1960’s and 1970’s- no one knew. I masked and behaved quiet and shy in school. I couldn’t be accepted in any peer groups at school but since I made good enough grades, there never was a reason for anyone to think that there was anything wrong. But I lived with an intense amount of fear and anxiety that I hid behind a veil of acting ability that many neurodivergent women cultivate early in life. There was no understanding that these disorders could effect females. So many of us are getting diagnosed later in life or not at all. My diagnosis has freed me from self-doubt, insecurity, difficulty with people, difficulty with organization. I am a relaxed person because I am being myself instead of performing my idea of how someone else would act or speak. I have self-acceptance. I have close friends, great working relationships and a high degree of functionality in my everyday life. All of this because of self-knowledge of the problem. We can solve problems when the problem is understood with accuracy. I still have challenges but because I understand fully what I am facing I can deal with most problems that arise even if the answer is to ask for help. I can do that too. I have forgiven myself for any and all mistakes, mishaps and missteps I have made throughout the years of not knowing.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Color has multiple infinities. Color has behavior. To speak in terms of hue over simplifies our comprehensive understanding in regards to the orchestration of light reflection and refraction within constantly changing environments. I begin a painting with an idea about the simultaneous contrast of color as described by Joseph Albers in the book Interaction of Color. Repetition of the hand painted brushstroke is a meditative process that allows me to create form using color and shape alone. I read abstract art as one would read a book. The visual elements act as language without words.
Abundant fluidity lies in the nature of wavelength and photon (wave-particle duality) both natural and artificial causing an excruciating dynamic of multiple multiplicities when considered alongside biological diversity. Goethe brings one back to center.
Born in 1961, my father gave me a 35mm camera to practice composing shapes in rectangular format. My mother gave me a massive box of crayons with vast amounts of unstructured free time. Flowers grown by my grandmother, Plexiglas signs made by my labor union grandfather, my brother-in-law’s aquarium collection featuring neon tetras and their friends, the 1960’s-70’s mass media color palette, road trips to San Antonio and my own explorations into the woods: an aggregate of past visual sensations etched in memory. I find the background noise of color memory alluring but deceptive. I defer to Joseph Albers’ ideas of simultaneous contrast and color relativity as found in his book Interaction of Color, 1963, Yale University Press.
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
Music is a great influence on my work, my life and my dopamine levels (If you have ADHD, you are deficient in this). I have two grown sons who are both professional musicians! Cameron, a music educator, arranger and composer of marching band and contemporary classical percussion. And Branden, a jazz saxophone player, who stays busy gigging with his own quartet and several music teaching positions in LA. In addition, my partner, of of 14 years is an Austin drummer, gigging here professionally since 1978. I think I’ll nominate him for this magazine!
Pricing:
- Price On Request
- Price On Request
- Price On Request
- Price On Request
- Price On Request
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.nwbrownstudio.com/
- Instagram: NancyWallaceBrown
- Facebook: NancyWallaceBrown
