Exploring Possibilities

 

 

 

By Lucy Arnold, Art Editor

Nancy Nesvik created “Rooted in Place” (on the cover) in response to a project by her Pensacola Branch asking  each member to express something of her experience during the pandemic. She had managed to escape confinement by visiting the Grand Canyon and was captivated by a lone tree clinging to the precipice “with spindly roots gripping deep through cracks in the granite.”

Nesvik used layers of tissues, paints, and pens on canvas to capture the colors and textures of the terrain. Of the final image, she says, “It’s a sobering reminder that isolation requires that we tap our hidden strengths deep within to stay centered and survive.”

After earning a bachelor’s degree in art and art education, Nesvik worked as a layout artist in St. Louis. Her creative outlets expanded to include photography, computer graphics, murals, and even a line of Christmas cards when she moved with her husband and three sons to Pensacola, Florida.

Inspired by everyday objects and elements of nature, she favors acrylics, watercolors, and pastels. “Painting enhances my understanding of the world,” Nesvik says, “whether I’m studying the shapes and reflections in a bowl of old buttons or researching the swirling patterns of Jupiter for a mural.”