Artist Statement

My work is a confluence of painting and sculpture; the pieces are three-dimensional forms that require an active process of viewing, yet they are also paintings of light and color where overlapped layers set off fusions of new colors, moirés and reflections. Influenced by the CA Light & Space art movement and a college degree in dance, my work explores the ephemerality of light and movement. I use sheets of industrial metal screen mesh as a semi-transparent canvas. I paint, push, and pull the mesh into sculptural forms that undulate and fold into lightweight color encasements that react to each other and filter the surrounding light. Using the filaments from the screen mesh, I sew and knot the forms together into fluid configurations of color and shape.  

The viewer’s location adds another dimension to my work. As they walk around each piece, moirés activate, shadows shift, and each angle reveals transition in composition and color. Even after completion, new relationships of light and movement within the surrounding space enable the work to continually evolve. I’m inspired to create work that can allow a full scope of ever-changing and beautiful perceptual experiences in which the viewer is an active participant.

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 background in dance, she molds industrial screen mesh into transparent sculptures that combine color, shape and moiré. Her work has been shown in international and national group exhibitions, recently at Gallery CAW in Walferdange, Luxembourg. 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). Recent sculptures have been featured on the back cover of the 12th Annual Drawing Exhibition of Contemporary Drawing (2021) and the introduction of FOA Friend of the Artist, Volume 14 (2022).