Nancy Nixon, a painter from Westfield, a founding member of the North Shore Arts Alliance, and a participating artist on the Chautauqua-Lake Erie Art Trail is exhibiting her work on the second floor of the Ellicottville Brewing Company (West) in downtown Fredonia until Oct. 31.
This exhibition is a collection of 27 paintings. Most are "plein air" paintings, works that Nixon created outdoors. "I follow large and small storm fronts," she explains, "painting them until the wind or rain stops my progress." After
many years living in East Coast cities, Nixon moved back to the countryside of Western New York and built a home studio with views of adjacent vineyards and the escarpment that divides Westfield and Mayville. Blues and greens fill Nixon's canvases.
Article Photos
"My palette has changed over time," she says. "I now realize just how much living amidst all this nature has changed who I am at the core. I can't help but be influenced by the beauty of nature around me."
Other paintings on display are abstract figurative works that reflect a trauma in Nixon's past. "I died twice from anaphylactic shock in 1994 and 1995," she says.
"During my trip across, I suppose that I came back to life with images foot-printed into my soul to be. They haunt my paintings," says Nixon. "They resist leaving my paintbrush." Two paintings of this exhibit reflect those images.
This exhibition is one way the North Shore Arts Alliance is building relationships with local businesses and providing opportunities for its members to display their work. For more information on becoming an artist member of North Shore Arts, please visit www.northshoreartsalliance.com.
