To have been born into a family where books, paper, crayons, pens, paints and brushes were in great supply, was my great good fortune. The chaos of projects all about in our rambling old Vermont farmhouse with its glorious lack of pretense seemed the perfect norm to grow up in. Roaming the hills, woods, pastures, and ponds gave me a deep love for the natural world that has followed me throughout my life.
I have been drawing since I was a small child and I have never stopped relating to my experiences in the world through drawing and painting.
At times playful, at times pensive or reflective, my work is always a song of appreciation for the things I have seen and loved day by day. Making art is a good counterbalance to the transitory nature of life.
Seeking new perspectives, exploring space and time and the interaction of near and far fascinate me as I work. I like edges: those that are sharp and those that are ephemeral. Living on an island has suited my artistic temperament. Edges are defined by geography and redefined by imagination.
Another Solstice Celebrated
Resume and Accomplishments -
2021 -
Fox Sparrow Press is happy to announce the release of Nancy Spaulding’s eagerly awaited book; Home in an Island Garden - In pursuit of an artful life. This is the story of Spaulding’s life, art, romance and adventures of living in the Pacific Northwest.
Nancy completed a commission for Tara Mesalik MacMahon’s award winning poetry book Barefoot up The Mountain
2017 -
By a countywide public vote her pastel Evening Passage has been selected for use on a vanity license plate In San Juan Island County. The fees collected from county residents opting for the plate, are to be used for conservation efforts locally.
2016 -
Nancy’s pastel Blue Camas and Chocolate Lilies was selected to hang at the National Botanic Garden in Washington D.C. as part of the 100th Anniversary celebration of our National Parks.
Blue Camas and Chocolate Lily
Evening Passage
Nancy’s art has been used for the following book covers:
The Accidental Hermit by Noel Murchie 2001
False Harbor by Michael Donnelly 2006
She was delighted to provide cover art and the illustrations for island naturalist Susan Vernon with whom she has shared many adventures.
Rainshadow World by Susan Vernon 2011
And her serigraph Curve of Kayaks was on the cover of Sea Kayaker Magazine 1997
Her work has been collected privately far and wide and she is in the following public places:
- Whatcom Museum of Art
- San Juan Public Library
- Peace Health Hospital, San Juan Island
Nancy and her husband Lewis traveled to juried art shows through out the American West for much of their art career. She has served as a juror for some of the shows in her area and is a founding member of the San Juan Island Artist’s Studio Tour, a popular annual island event begun in 1991.
She is pleased that one of her serigraphs Another Solstice Celebrated has been used over the years as the logo for San Juan Preservation Trust.
The pastel The Irrepressible Joy of Living In Air was accepted in to San Juan Islands Musuem of Art show Green on the Edge 2010