Nancy Grist

"The great sea of creation is irresistibly ours. Some people just create. I am one of them. For me, it's about observing, learning, distilling, and representing the potent beauty I find in our connections to each other and to our waters and lands. I believe in the power of play!"

Midwestern artist Nancy Grist wants you to feel like you're on vacation. Her figurative work explores the connections between people and the places they love. Simply observing the color of the day, the tilt of a head, or an outstretched arm, Grist distills the noise of the setting so that what is left is the vibrant beauty of these simple moments: color, light, gesture, and connection.

In her original work, Grist employs a richly layered technique using soft and hard pastels on archival, heavy-weight sanded paper. She works from photos, plein air, or directly in the studio. Her colorful, blocky style lends a playful simplification that is dynamic yet quiet, strong and soft, hopeful. The signed, limited edition giclee prints of her poignant images are on archival paper.

Nancy Grist has been practicing art and architecture for twenty-eight years and currently enjoys a sunny studio in bustling Northeast Minneapolis. Her formal education includes fine arts at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, dance and Chinese language at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and architecture at the University of Minnesota. She has settled into a life that now involves most of those things.