Artist Statement

I shape metal screen into sculptures that capture the shifting interplay of light, color, and movement. Influenced by the California Light & Space Movement and a background in modern dance, I paint, twist, and fold the screen into transparent forms that react to each other and  filter the surrounding light. The screen functions as both a transparent boundary and a portal—each layer acts as a participant in a dynamic exchange of color and movement. Moirés, a direct result of the gridded screen overlap and alignment, activate and change with the viewer’s position. Their checkered and linear patterns move like currents across the faceted layers. As one walks around each piece or redirects the lighting, there are transitions in how composition, shadow, and color are perceived. Overlapped colors blend, shadows shift, and hidden passageways reveal the inner form, bridging the interior and exterior of the sculpture.

My involvement in dance and the origins of movement, that stem from deep inside the body, profoundly impact how I engage with my sculptural work. The dancer Martha Graham emphasized breath and how inhalation and release are the wellspring of all movement. I carry this dimensionality and sequence of movement through the inner and outer layers of my sculptures. Forms expand and contract and often appear suspended between states of inhaling and exhaling or caught in the gesture of falling and rising. As in a dance, I build on these forms—one leads into another; they compile and merge into a visual choreography.

 

Biography

Nancy Ivanhoe is an artist based in Los Angeles with a studio in Inglewood. Influenced by the California Light and Space Art Movement of the 60s/70s and a degree in dance, she paints and sculpts industrial metal screen into sheer forms that explore the interplay of transparent color and form. Each angle of her work invites active engagement as configurations transition in color, moiré and shadow. Her work has been shown in international and national group exhibitions, and is included in the White Columns Gallery Registry. Commissioned works are in private and corporate collections.

Ivanhoe received an MFA in New Genres from the San Francisco Art Institute (2013) and the Murphy and Cadogan Contemporary Art Award (2012). Her work was published in New American Paintings, No. 111, MFA Annual (2014). Sculptures have been featured on the cover of the 12th Annual Drawing Exhibition of Contemporary Drawing (2021) and the introduction of FOA Friend of the Artist, Volume 14 (2022). In 2024, Launch LA Gallery featured her solo show and her work was shown at Patricia Sweetow Gallery in Los Angeles. Recently she exhibited at King Studio in Venice and Art Share LA and is presently in the 17th Annual Juried International Exhibition, “Drawing Discourse” at UNC.