Hello! I'm Nan.
It all started with the Township Art I saw in South Africa, and snowballed through Moroccan souks, bustling Vietnamese markets, and the Cuban countryside. So much discarded junk covering our planet conveys statements about our cultures, and the choices we make.
I choose repurposed tin as my medium in response to our overconsumption of non-degradable and synthetic products, which quickly become burdensome waste. By using products at the end of their intended lifecycle, I make art without driving the manufacture of new chemicals. It is my conscious creative action in response to environmental destruction, and our hubris surrounding it.
In 2007 I first put hammer to tin, and began exhibiting tin collage. Within a few years my themes grew away from the narrative, and into text art. The text pieces resonate for me as a linguist, recollecting signposts, road signs, and icons laden with cultural references. The semiotics are provoking, and I try to bring this to the work.
This current body of color work has evolved out of my 2014 art residency in Tuscany, where I encountered source materials in colors reflecting the countryside around me.
I use the colors on the tins as my pallet, and individual cut pieces as my brushstrokes, at times gestural, at others precise. It is the colors which speak to me, and are expressive on a primal level; some bold and specific, some subtle and nuanced. These colors are my voice.
b. Portland, Oregon USA
Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics, Pomona College, Claremont, CA USA
Intensive Language Program, Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, CA USA
Graduate Studies in Applied Linguistics, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA USA