Mixed media artist Nancy Jo Ward creates rich, emotionally resonant figurative art using a hybrid approach that includes digital drawing, painting, and the use of gold and silver foils. The approach is an intimate and evocative one that blurs the lines between pixels, paint, and algorithm, she shapes unique images that dive deep within the minds and hearts of her subjects.
Working in a lush color palette, the artist offers archival prints on aluminum which are each hand-finished using acrylics, oils, and pastels. The dreamy, vibrant result is alchemic and graceful. Ward manifests poignant, vivid portraits that speak powerfully to the inner depths of her subjects’ spirit while inviting viewers to partake in an intimate and profound dialog with her subjects. Her passion for color, texture, and movement mesh with a fusion of digital and analog techniques that push beyond conventional artistic boundaries.
Her robust intersection of mediums results in hauntingly lovely work, whose delicacy and depth shape a profound, light-filled grace, one which encourages exploration and transformation within subject and viewer alike. Her images form compelling visual narratives based on contemporary female identities that express emotions ranging from loss and grief to comfort and contemplation.
Frequently working in a rainbow-like palette, she often uses female subjects to create her fluid, lustrous works. Ward has appeared innumerous exhibitions internationally and within the U.S. Her experimental video Aura won an award at the 13th Concorso d’Arte Donne in Rinascita in Milan, Italy in March of this year. Most recently, she’s joined 57 other talented artist in an exhibition held at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum in Tokyo, Japan, which ran June 15-20th.
Watch for more from this artist who successfully merges the human spirit with technologically driven as well as analog processes to create a fresh new world of portraiture and personal exploration.
- Written by Genie Davis; images provided by the artist
I enjoy looking at and delving deeply into Nancy’s work. There is quite a lot going on with color, texture and movement. Thanks for highlighting her and her work.