Artist-in-Residence Talk: Nancy Willis
Saturday, August 9, 2:00 PM
Join us to hear Artist-in-Residence Nancy Willis discuss her residency project, a compelling visual commentary on empathy amidst worldwide conflict.
Nancy Willis is an artist living in Northern California’s wine region. As a painter/printmaker she creates work imbued atmosphere that evokes a strong sense of place. Central to her paintings and prints is light and moments of human connection. The artist draws from imagery of her daily life: chandeliers suspended in Redwood trees, the remains of a dinner party or the pastoral surrounding landscape become motifs in her paintings and prints.
Willis has been awarded multiple grants for her community facing projects including her series Conflict Zone. This ongoing project looks at the devastating effects on the daily lives of others living amidst the chaos of war. Willis combines images from the news with the radiant beauty of a chandelier. Melding images of chandeliers with the devastation of collapsed buildings and rubble, Willis is asking the viewer to look below the headlines to see the fragile state of the human condition. Willis’ project for her CCP residency furthers more exploration of this series.
Her lecture will center on how empathy turned her feelings of overwhelming helplessness into artistic action. What began as a response to the ISIS led genocide of Yazidis in Iraq and Syria, has expanded to include the war in Ukraine and the Israel-Gaza conflict. Willis will speak to how her process and path since the series began in 2017 and the power of art to make a difference.