Nancy I. Foster Retrospective exhibition opens at Oliver Art Center
From staff reports
The Oliver Art Center is pleased to host “Threads of a Life”, a retrospective exhibition of paintings by Nancy I. Foster from July 18 through August 21. A lifelong painter and Oliver Art Center Member Artist, Nancy’s paintings have been exhibited throughout the western and midwestern United States and are held in both private and corporate collections. Throughout the years, Foster has lived and painted in San Francisco, urban Chicago, and northwest Michigan.
“Nancy’s work is a travelogue, capturing the spirit and emotion of the places she has lived in and visited across the country and around the world,” states Tamara Hoffbauer, executive director of the Oliver Art Center. “This show features work from throughout her entire career, from early still life paintings to later landscapes, and finishes out with recent abstracts that she creates even with failing eyesight. It is unusual for the Oliver to produce solo exhibitions; in this case, we knew that Nancy’s work would not only fill our gallery spaces beautifully but provide an outstanding experience for our visitors due to the strength and appeal of her work.”
Nancy knew she was an artist from an early age. She earned a BA from Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, and studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, Evanston Art Center in Evanston, Illinois, and North Shore Art League in Winnetka, Illinois. Her life has been shaped by seasonal migrations and changing landscapes. Summers at Crystal Lake with her grandparents were followed by yearly visits to the Big Horn Mountains, Aspen and Snowmass in Colorado, locations in Arizona, and international travel.
Nancy has said of her journeys, “My migrations across this huge land have sparked an abiding interest in formations of the land—observing the effects of wind, water, rivers, the thrusting of tectonic plates, the nature of geological time, questions of scale, and, finally, man’s hand in changing and marking the land.” This exhibit is an opportunity to travel across America through Foster’s eyes: taking in humble midwestern landscapes, romantic vistas of the Great Lakes, the edges and shadows of urban Chicago, and the majesty of nature from Michigan to the west coast.
An opening reception will be held on Saturday, July 18 from 5-7 pm. Refreshments will be served, and all members of the public are welcome to attend.
About the Oliver Art Center
The Oliver Art Center is located at 132 Coast Guard Rd. in Frankfort, MI. Admission to the Oliver Art Center is free. The Oliver Art Center is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization open to the public Monday through Saturday from 10 am to 4 pm and Sunday from 12-4 pm. For more information, visit the OAC’s website at www.oliverart.org or call 231-352-4151.
