From The Collection: Nancy Natale

Nancy Natale, Place In The Sun, 24” x 18”, encaustic and mixed media on panel, 2012. Permanent collection of R&F Handmade Paints.

Artist Nancy Natale’s work is richly complex and unique. Her pieces explore color, geometry, and juxtaposition, “jostling the grid and setting one thing against another,” and often utilize unconventional materials such as rubber from inner tubes and upcycled handbags. R&F is delighted to have Place In The Sun as part of our permanent collection. We reached out to Nancy this week to hear how the last year has affected her practice and what she is currently working on.

“This has been a weird year for me - as it has been for all of us, I'm sure. As an artist for more than 30 years, this year I found myself resistant to working since it seemed pointless with little opportunity to show or sell. Last year was my most productive year ever in terms of sales, mostly to corporate art collections, but once the shutdown began, that resource seemed unlikely to continue. I didn't want to build up my inventory of completed work, and I struggled to find motivation to get to the studio. 

When I look back on 2020, I find to my surprise that I actually created a significant amount of work. What spurred me to create was experimenting with different mediums and methods of working. I also began working with a mentor, Jeff Hirst, whom I met with twice a month virtually. Having to show and discuss what I made and how I intended to proceed kept me on track and thinking. His critical response and enthusiasm really were vital to activating my motivation to work. I also took a couple of online courses that got me experimenting with materials and approaches.

Nancy Natale, Shapeshifter 1, 30” x 30”, mixed media on panel with tacks and encaustic, 2019.

At the beginning of 2020, I completed some pieces that shook up the horizontal alignment of my long-running “Running Stitch” series by emphasizing strong diagonal organization of the horizontal elements. My basic working method was the same: cut up pieces of books, album covers, packaging, advertising, and found materials, plus painted papers and boards that I painted in advance. I prepared and placed pieces of these materials into activated arrangements of color and marks and attached them to panels with tacks. After all the elements were in place, I painted in between them with encaustic and then fused with a hot tool. I delivered nine of these works to my art consultant at the beginning of 2020, ranging from 30” x 30” to a diptych measuring 40” x 80”.

Two works at Silvermine Gallery’s 70th A-One Show. Top: Some Sun, 30” x 30”, mixed media on panel, 2020. Bottom: Emerging Green, 30” x 30”, mixed media on panel, 2020. Photo credit: Jen Greely

After that big delivery, I began using the hotbox that I inherited from my friend Binnie Birstein to make encaustic monoprints. I struggled to make complete works on single sheets of paper, then gave in to my natural inclination and began cutting up and collaging.

These were like eating potato chips; I couldn't stop making them! What guided my compositions was first color and marks and then arrangements of shapes and pieces that began to look architectural. After choosing 20 works that I thought looked complete, I was ready to expand my approach, but then the shutdown occurred -- along with the arrival of spring and gardening.  

For a while I spent more time in the garden than in the studio. But I felt the urge to work on panels again, and I made three works that combined a mixture of materials including crumpled, printed, and painted paper with acrylic and encaustic. Two of these works were shown this fall in the 70th annual A-One show at Silvermine Gallery in Norwalk, Connecticut.

To begin working after that, I came up with a project: make 20 works in four different colorways using hand-printed and direct-painted prepared papers cut and collaged together. This project was an outgrowth of the online courses I took in the spring plus experimentation with gelli plate printing. I worked with acrylic thinned to the consistency of gouache. This project has kept me going sporadically from the end of July until now.”

You can find all 20 works on Instagram @nancynatale. To see more of Nancy’s work, visit nancynatale.net.