(Image: "Hubbard Squash" by Nancy Morgan Barnes)

A graduate of Indiana University, Nancy Morgan Barnes has been painting and a member of the fine arts community for over thirty years. She has exhibited her paintings in Italy and throughout the United States, including a recent solo exhibition at Sonya Zaks Gallery in Chicago. She has also exhibited at The Painting Center in NYC and Wright State University Art Gallery in Dayton, Ohio. Nancy taught art for almost twenty years, first at DePauw University then at the University of Indiana. After retiring from teaching, Morgan Barnes and her husband relocated to the coast of central Maine where they bought an old sea captain's house. She also lives and paints in central Italy where she and her husband acquired an ancient farmhouse.

When did you first realize that you were going to be an artist and when did you first start making art?
I don't recall if there ever was a eureka moment as a young person where I understood I was going to be an artist.

Who or what inspires you?
I love the unexpected-in the world of art and in the actual world.

(Image: "A Friendly Game" by Nancy Morgan Barnes)

Is (was) anyone else in your family in the arts?
No one is in the arts. Our family had a few members who played music seriously, but no artists. It was not encouraged, "not practical".

Are you self-trained or did you go to art school?
I would consider myself self-taught.

Is the process of creating your art long or short?
Way too long. Typically, I will work on many paintings. Some will get picked up because they need some bit of tweaking before the finish, while others need bigger moves. This range of mark-making helps me feel less stale in the studio.

Tell us something about your work.
Recently, I have been moving from directly observed sources to more invented worlds. I like to use both since one fuels the other. Occasionally, a painting seems to have a will of its own and just goes its own way. I love that.

(Image: "Once Upon a Time at Walmart" by Nancy Morgan Barnes)

Do you have a subject matter that defines you as an artist?
When I started out, I considered myself a still life painter. This functioned well when I had young children running around, since often I could return to that source and it would still be reasonably intact. I always drew from the figure since college days and that hasn't changed. A few years ago, I was painting at boxing matches, the circus, town meetings--anywhere I was allowed where there was frenetic activity (I loved the challenge). Now, I am more or less back in the studio. trying to paint a kind of forest floor still life with plants, insects and little animals.

What makes you stay with a particular subject matter? Why are you drawn to it?
I stay with a specific subject sometimes out of stubbornness and hope, or until the next cute subject comes along, and then I'm gone.

How do you stay motivated?
By working. I find motivation by logging in hours in the studio.

What have you been working on lately? Are you experimenting with anything new?
I have a show in Montreal in March 2011 and I am working on larger paintings of the forest ground in different seasons. I am trying to compose more broadly with more space between pockets of activity.

Has your medium changed from when you first started out?
I have tried other mediums but always return to oil paint.

What advice would you give to an artist just starting out?
Discipline trumps talent. Style is who you are. Beware of fashion. Patience is essential.

(Image: "A Head on the Road" by Nancy Morgan Barnes)

What kind of comment do you despise the most when overheard at one of your openings?
Artspeak--I never understand it.

What kind of comment pleases you the most when overheard at one of your openings?
Any comments that feel honest.

How have you handled the business side of being an artist?
I love it when a painting sells. I believe that is the point.

Do you have any outside interests other than art?
Reading, movies, long daily walks.

Are you disciplined about your creative process (in other words, do you treat the process like a job, where you keep particular hours in the studio), or are you more spontaneous?
I am extremely disciplined--I spend many hours every day in the studio.

(Image: "Circus Finale" by Nancy Morgan Barnes)

How would your life change if you were no longer allowed to create art?
I really don't know what I would do--a scary thought.

What's the best part of being a full time, working artist?
The best part is confidence and skill.

What's the worst part of being a full time, working artist?
Loneliness.

Do you have any upcoming shows?
Thank you for asking. I have a group of paintings in the side gallery at Greenhut Galleries in Portland right now until the end of May. I have work in the Penobscot Marine Museum on May 28th through June, and at the Beaux Arts des Ameriques in Mortreal in 2011.

Where can we find your work?
GWatson Gallery in Stonington this summer, Greenhut Galleries right now, and the Penobscot Marine Museum in June.

>link to Nancy Morgan Barnes' website

- Brenda Bonneville, editor

---

Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites

Comments

Add New RSS

akasha 2010-06-10 10:57:54 Exactly beautiful, how you paint, and what you paint. I wish you all blessings, when it helps, personally i don't believe in them but heh they sound still ok. Found your expression of self on arpito's satsang site. Papaji qui jaio when you are in byron bay welcome home this is rainbow country only a half a day flight away Akasha welcomes ya

Nancy Barnes Village Books 2010-05-17 07:00:43 Great interview! Nancy is a terrific & dedicated painter! Whenever I pass her house at night, the studio light is on & she's working away!

Great Interview Julyan Davis 2010-05-16 20:05:30 Nice little interview. Great answers, great questions.

Write comment
Name:
Email:	do not notifynotify
Title:
UBBCode:	-color-aquablackbluefuchsiagraygreenlimemaroonnavyolivepurpleredsilvertealwhiteyellow -size-tinysmallmediumlargehuge

3.26 Copyright (C) 2008 Compojoom.com / Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."