Artist Statement

Drawing from my background in dance, my sculptures explore the interplay of light, color, and movement. I work with industrial metal screen which I paint and manipulate into semi-transparent sculptures. My inspiration stems from the Martha Graham School of Dance where inhalation and release of breath are the wellspring of all movement. I translate this into my work where I mold the material to expand and contract, evoking forms that appear suspended between states of inhaling and exhaling or the gesture of folding and unfurling. As in a dance, I build on these forms – one leads into another as they react, compile, and unravel. Varying their densities, I create sculptural relationships of visibility and concealment.

I work in a space I consider liminal – my pieces are subject to possibility and change. I invite the viewer’s perspective to shift as they move around each piece, bringing to sight new configurations that transition according to one’s location. Overlapped colors blend, hidden passageways are revealed, and currents of moiré shimmer across faceted layers. Surrounding light adds another ephemeral quality, shifting shadow and reflection, further enhancing the fluidity of movement throughout an otherwise still material.

 

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. This spring she was in a three-person show at King Studio in Venice and is presently exhibiting work in the show “Out Of Bounds” at Art Share LA.