Missings Series
By Nancy Fox
The Artist
Nancy Fox was born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. She graduated with a Masters of Fine Art in Printmaking at the University of Alberta, where she has also received a Bachelors of Fine Arts. She has had several solo exhibitions throughout Canada and has also participated in exhibitions in Britain, Estonia, Finland, Japan, Korea, Russia and USA. Nancy lives in Toronto, Canada where she teaches Print Media for the Art and Art History Program, a joint program between the University of Toronto, Mississauga and Sheridan College.
Artist Statement
“I have a collection of found objects. These unassuming things are usually easily held in the hand, small enough to go in a pocket. A lot of these extra/ordinary objects have been found on walks through the Don Valley near my house, but some have been found on a beach in Corner Brook Newfoundland, others found in Central Park in New York City. These nests, hives, walnuts, acorns, pinecones, marbles, fishing hooks and floats, broken pieces of glass, ceramics and bricks, and many, many rocks and stones are scattered throughout my house and in my studio. I like to see them, pick them up and hold the roundness of the marbles, the prickliness of the dried horse chestnut. These little knowing objects are a tactile remembrance, a physical, material diary of seeing and being aware of the where, the when, the what.
I teach print media – relief, etching, silkscreen, but what I think I am really after is to have each student engage in the act of looking. But if I tell my students this, it sounds a bit obvious. I have to sneak it in, veil it in demonstrations of carving wood or etching copper, inking the plate, or peeling the paper off the plate after it has gone through the press. What I am really asking my students to do is look, to extend their senses, to be more aware.
I [have made] a varied series of 5 prints using images from this collection. I would use a multi-media approach with relief, silkscreen and digital printing, giving each object its own unique quality. These prints would be unified by a colour palette that is reminiscent of the colours of items in the collection. I hope that this series of prints about looking and collecting will remind us of the important things in our teaching, even if we have to sneak it in.”
