Artist Spotlight: November, 2024

Nancy Hayes

“Thought Translated into Form”
November 10, 2024 through February 9, 2025

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1. Tell us a little about your background. 

I was raised outside of Philadelphia in a family that held principals of design before comfort or practicality. Our house was contemporary with Scandinavian furniture and Marimekko cloth stretched like a painting to hang on the walls. My father was an architect, cartoonist, painter, and musician. My mother was a floral designer, ceramist and an overall amazingly creative person.

How they lived their lives spilled over into the very essence of my being. There was never a question as to what I was going to pursue in life. Going to Art School was a given. I was going to follow in the foot steps of my brother, mother, grandmother, and aunt, all of which went to Art School. After attending Tyler School of Art and getting my BFA, I sought out a life that would allow me to continue making art. I worked for a sculptor for a while and waited tables before returning to school, this time to graduate school for ceramic sculpture.

To satisfy my need for money I continued to wait tables both during and after graduate school. I was determined to make art my number one priority while doing what ever I needed to do for money. I succeeded in keeping my focus, winning awards and grants while having children and living life. I continued to make ceramic sculpture as well as ceramic tiles until at fifty years old I had an epiphany:

I was done. I was done with clay.

It was time to turn my focus to painting, something I wanted to do for a long time.

2. When did you know you were an artist?

I have never known anything different. Being an artist was, and is, just who I am. It was reinforced by my family and schools. I have never had to grapple with it.

3. Was there a pivotal moment for you?

One of the most pivotal moments in my journey as an artist was when I made the decision to completely let go of clay as my medium and to find out who I would be as a painter. I sold all of my clay equipment and made a promise to myself that I would walk down a road I had never traversed. I hardly knew where to begin but I did know that there was a voice inside of me that was longing to be heard through the act of painting, hence my journey as a painter began.

4. Where do you find inspiration?

I find inspiration from without and from within. I am in awe of the grand universal design, from the macro to the micro. There is nothing found in nature that is anything other than a miracle. The complexity of life, ecosystems, evolution, biology, everything; it’s all just so mind-boggling. It’s mathematical and perfect by design. I take it all in with wonder, curiosity, and respect while asking myself what holds everything together. That’s where I turn within. While influenced by what I see, I relay on what I feel. The rhythms and building blocks of life are vibrational and felt. When I work I turn inward, focused on how it feels while I connect with the painting, I listen to something that is so much larger then myself, trusting that I will know when it is right.

5. What is your favorite medium?

Currently, I use acrylic paint on MDF that I have primed and prepared with several layers of gesso that I sand down to a smooth surface. I have not found another substrate that works as well for the images I am creating. It has a way of absorbing water at just the right rate of time so that the paint lies smoothly on the surface. Sometimes I will use watercolor for a body of work, which requires a different approach. The nature of the medium forces me to have a plan in place since I can’t just paint over something. It is more methodical.

6. Can you describe your process?

The first priority is to cover the entire board with color. It doesn’t matter if the color is right, it just gives me a place to jump off of. While filling the space with color I establish a composition that may, or may not, change as the painting progresses. All this happens day one.

Once accomplished, I have a starting point. From there everything can change. Somethings are discarded. Somethings are elaborated on. As I hone in on what the painting is about, details are added. It is as if each step allows me access to the inner workings of the image. I usually start from a loose sketch but that is only to give some initial direction. Once an idea moves from sketch book to the painting there is so much change. If I knew where I was going before I got there I would not bother with the trip. The magic lies in the not knowing but the discovering.

The work evolves slowly and often with very small brushes. It is not unusual to work on one painting for over a month. There are times when I wipe out half a painting even after having spent weeks on it. That means painting over an area with white paint so I can start a new. Sometimes I have to do things wrong before I get them right.

7. Is there anything else you’d like us to know about your work?

What I have learned from both all my creative experiences as well as observing others is that it is not the medium that defines the artist. The medium is just that, a medium through which the artist finds themselves. It is those consistent elements that keep recurring regardless of the medium that illuminate what lies within the artist. For me the consistent elements that keep reappearing are my use of color, pattern, and form. Regardless the medium, that’s what keeps showing up. I did not choose to be an abstract artist, I just am one. It is truly as if I don’t have a choice. It is just how my brain works.