Nancy R. Fairchild
16 Pineview Lane
East Greenbush, NY 12061
518-477-1207
nfairchild@nycap.rr.com

Artist’s Statement

My paintings are about our relationships – to people, pets and pastimes. I’ve lived most of my life in Suburbia and I paint the people I know in familiar activities. I focus on friends and family, often portraying the way we document ourselves for posterity through snapshots, and hoping to capture the humor and irony we exhibit when we know we are being watched. I’m primarily interested in peoples’ relationships to each other and their loved ones – friends, sisters, mothers, daughters, and even pets. I seek universal figures in situations we can all recognize. I paint figures, alone or in small groups, surrounded by familiar objects.

My portraits are not detached. While you’re looking at them, they’re gazing back at you, as though you’re seeing them through a camera lens. Though my art training was classical, I am a product of the digital age. I bought my first computer in 1982 when I started a corporation that, for more than 20 years, published information on the use of computers in the financial industry. Now, the digital age impacts all my art, from the view finder to the way I use a computer to alter and edit my images before and during painting.

While my paintings are reasonable likenesses of the subjects, I’m more interested in portraying my impression of the people, their interactions with each other, and even their reactions to the viewing audience. Subjects inspire me when I see iconographic possibilities in their poses, clothes, body language, or settings. I edit down my paintings to leave only enough information to convey the simplest message, allowing viewers to fill in the details based on their own experience.

I paint on large canvases, using a variety of media, including oil and acrylic paints. I work from snapshots, life sketches and my imagination. I draw on my painting and printmaking background to plan a painting’s evolution. To begin, I lay down large abstract blocks of color that establish the infrastructure of the painting. I usually start with an acrylic under painting of darks and lights, then paint over it in oils. I paint large to accommodate full-arm gestures with the paint. I love paint. I like it thick and buttery, or oozy and flowing. I stroke it thinly, knife it on in great globs or swipe it on and let it drip. In the end, it’s all about the paint. 

                                      
Nancy R. Fairchild
16 Pineview Lane
East Greenbush, NY 12061
518-477-1207
nfairchild@nycap.rr.com


Biography:
Bachelor of Arts, DePauw University, Greencastle, IN: painting and pottery; Art Students League, New York, NY: printmaking; Millersville College, Millersville, PA and Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY: pottery. Exhibited in various group shows in Indiana, Pennsylvania and New York. Until 1995, my worked focused on pottery and three dimensional sculptures made from wheel-thrown forms. I began painting in oil in 1995, and have been painting exclusively since 2004. 

Recent Shows:
2009 – “Annual Figure Juried Competition & Exhibition,” Art Guild of Port Washington, Manhasset, NY
2009 – “2009 National Women's Exhibition.” Impact Artists Gallery, Buffalo, NY
2009 – “2009 Member Show,” Pleiades Gallery of Contemporary Art, New York    NY
2008 – “Annual Fence Show Select 2008,” The Arts Center of the Capital Region, Troy, NY
2008 – “The Human Form,” 12 12 Gallery, Richmond, VA -- solo
2008 – “59th Annual Art of the Northeast,” Silvermine Guild Arts Center, New Canaan, CT
2008 – “L'Chayim, To Life,” Rosenzweig Gallery, Durham, NC
2008 – “National Juried Exhibition,” Academy of Fine Arts, Lynchburg, VA
2008 – “Manchester National Juried Fine Art Exhibition 2008,” 12 12 Gallery, Richmond, VA
2007 – “Central Coast National Fine Art Competition,” Morro Bay Art Association, Morro Bay, CA -- Award
2007 – “Cooperstown Art Assoc. 72nd National Juried Exhibition,” Cooperstown Art Association, Cooperstown, NY
2007 – “Exhibition for The Arts 2007,” 12 12 Gallery, Richmond, VA
2007 – “Faith & Superstitions,” Long Beach Arts, Long Beach, CA
2007 – “Manchester National Juried Fine Art Exhibition,” 12 12 Gallery, Richmond, VA
2006 – “Juried Non-Member Brush Exhibition,” Pen and Brush, Inc., New York, NY
2006 – “2006 Ceramics Regional,” The Arts Center of the Capital Region, Troy, NY
2006 – “77th Annual Open Juried Exhibition, at John Slade Ely House Center for Contempory Art, New Haven,” Connecticut Women Artists Inc., Plainfield, CT
2006 – “60th Annual Sculpture Exhibition,” Pen and Brush, Inc., New York, NY
2006 – “National Women's Exhibition,” Impact Artists Gallery, Buffalo, NY
2005 – “Saratoga: Inside-Out,” Saratoga County Arts Council, Saratoga Springs, NY
2005 – “40th Annual Fence Show,” The Arts Center of the Capital Region, Troy, NY