nancy

Nancy Muschany is a watercolor artist who resides in St. Louis, MO. Her career started in the graphic arts, but she became intrigued with the freedom and spontaneity of transparent watercolors. Although she works in other media, her first love is watercolor. She has taken numerous workshops with nationally known artists that include Carl Dalio, Pat Deadman, Frank Francese, Nita Leland, Carol Carter, Paul Jackson, Gerald Brommer, Catherine Wilson Smith and Cheng-Khee Chee.Nancy teaches watercolor classes through the St. Louis Community College Continuing Education and exhibits regionally. She is a signature member of the St. Louis Watercolor Society and art section member of the St. Louis Artist’s Guild. She has won several awards including: the St. Louis Artist’s Guild’s Second Annual Forest Park Paint Out, Third Annual Forest Park Paint Out, Director’s Choice Award for the Second Annual Big Splash Exhibit, J H L & J Memorial Prize in the 2003 Meet Me In St. Louis Exhibit at the St. Louis Artist’s Guild and most recently a piece from her new series was accepted in the Missouri Watercolor Society.Artist’s Statement: This latest series I have created is a departure for me. My past work has long depicted the brilliant light and vibrant color of the tropics using transparent watercolor. However, as a native St. Louis artist, I had not fully explored the surroundings in which I grew up. Painting familiar St. Louis cityscapes seemed to be an obvious progression. The historic and modern mix of architecture demanded, not only a new surface to work on, it also demanded a new way of handling these hard, rigid shapes. Working on gessoed paper with watercolor and gouache seemed to be a perfect fit. Remnants of the beginning sketches gave the trees and structures their abstracted, flat shapes. As the series progressed, color became more exaggerated, and the architectural structures became more distorted, giving the paintings a sense of energy and movement.