EXUBERANCE
NancyNatow-Cassidy
Copyright 2024 by Nancy Natow-Cassidy. The book author and artist retains sole copyright to their contributions to this book. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means without prior permission in writing.
ISBN: 9798337809960
Catalog designed by Karen M. Gutfreund, KarenGutfreund.com, @karengutfreundart
Nancy Natow-Cassidy is known for her energetic, colorful, movement-based paintings that make your eyes dance. Born 1956 in Detroit, Michigan, she is a Chicago and Indiana Dunes based artist. She received her degree in painting from the University of Michigan, while also studying African and Modern Dance. Her influences range from Monet, Degas, JMW Turner, to Tina Turner, Ann-Margaret, and the sweeping textures, colors and juxtapositions of city, forest and desert. She’s worked in graphic design, prop styling and co-owned a photography studio in Chicago. Her work is in private and corporate collections across the country.
My work is movement based, exploring color and shape as energy and vibration. Literally moved by nature, my paintings are created when gestures express themselves with pigment. I love being enveloped by a painting, standing so close to it your eyes see nothing but color. I invite you to get up close and personal with them as well. Many of the paintings are begun on the floor, then moved to the wall. Sometimes they’re turned upside down and put back on the floor, as you might see something walking or riding by, from more than one perspective. Several paintings created outdoors were begun on the ground, then draped over rock formations or leaned against the back of a truck. While some pieces have an obvious top, many can be hung vertically or horizontally. I like the playfulness of looking at them multiple ways and being open to surprise.
The last few years I’ve had time and space to create larger works with more freedom and gestural mark-making. I love the feeling of being strong and free in my body, so I usually paint after moving, often with a long stick found in the forest, or after biking or walking through the organic shapes of trees or rocks. I study the ever-changing glints of color reflected in water. I try to discern the colors held deep within trees, plants and flowers, looking for the colors that make up the colors that we see.
nancynatowcassidy.com @dancinarts dancinarts@gmail.com
Our mission is inspiring creative experiences that transform our community. I came across Nancy Natow-Cassidy's website and absolutely loved her expressive use of motion in the form of art. This was a unique form of art making for our gallery space. I greatly enjoyed her process of creating and knew she would be wonderful for our space. Her work is beautifully colorful! The Decatur Area Arts Council is looking forward to having her work in our space and viewing her large-scale artworks in person.
DAAC introduces and promotes the arts, enhances arts educational opportunities, and increases the impact of and access to the arts to improve the quality of life in the community. We have many events such as First Friday Gallery Openings, Homeschool classes, Arts in Central Park, Holiday Gift Shoppe, and Performing Art Series for Students. We engage with the community in many forms of art.
Hannah Lyons Gallery and Education Coordinator
Anne Lloyd Gallery
Decatur Area Arts Council
Decaturarts.org
@decaturarts
“Colormakesmehappy~Ibreathedeeperandmyheart expandsinthepresenceofcolorandorganicshapes."
I’m not sure when I began to notice how visually amazing our world is. Maybe it was as a kid learning to draw, seeing my pencil line on a blank piece of paper magically turn into a portrait. Maybe it was at Oxbow in Saugatuck Mi, where the corner of a worn wooden table caught my eye and I made a painting of it. Or maybe it was when I moved to Chicago in my twenties. Walking everywhere, noticing cracked sidewalks, mashups of wall posters, graffiti, and the fabulous variety of architectural styles jumbled together. Paying attention to shape, color and texture became my way of moving through the world. My eyes are constantly searching out and noticing wonderfulness.
A few years ago, moving to a small town bounded on three sides by a national park, and on the fourth, a Great Lake, has opened my horizons and changed my way of seeing, and my way of being. Instead of focusing on the million things to do in the city, and the what's next and next and next, as I did in Chicago, I now find my heart drawn to quiet and space, more organic shapes and textures. And as always, color.
While my art is full of energetic mark making, it often starts with poured quiet areas on the canvas. It comes from both the kinetic energy I feel around me, and the inner quiet I feel when I’m outside in nature. Especially in sunlight, I feel the energy of the universe coursing through me. Do I sense electrons and ultraviolet light? It seems that way to me. When I close my eyes in the sun, I see colors and patterns that, though fleeting, I try to set down in pigment. I stare for hours at water, watching intently as the glints of light reflect and refract, changing into beautiful prisms and rainbows of color. I’m transfixed by the ever-changing intricacies of color that make up our blue sky, green leaves, and brown sand.
The desert and rocks of Joshua Tree, holds the same boundless energy for me as Lake Michigan. Climbing around in the wonderland of rocks makes me feel alive in a way that is a wonderment and was the first time I’ve felt totally free as an artist.
I dance the energy I feel emanating up from the earth. I dance the shapes of twisting trees, my arms becoming their branches, my torso becoming their trunk, trying to inhabit and embody their energy. Back in my studio, I use my body, arms, hands and fingers to wield pigment in an act of translation of the awe I feel when I’m in nature.
My heart is drawn to experiencing and sharing the beauty and amazement of our natural world. My hope is that if we could all take some time each day to notice something beautiful, something we ALL can see, the world would be a better, more peaceful place.
Though my art appears abstract, to me it is taken from what I see and feel as I move through and experience our world.
Dusk1, 2024, Acrylic on canvas, 96 x 36 inches
Dusk2, 2024, Acrylic on canvas, 96 x 36 inches
Splash, 2023, Acrylic on canvas with paper, 86 x 116 inches
AugustForest, 2023, Acrylic and oil stick on canvas, 60 x 60 inches
,
Scintillating
2023, Acrylic and oil stick on canvas, 60 x 60 inches
Spring, 2023, Acrylic and oil stick on canvas, 60 x 60 inches
Summer, 2023, Acrylic on canvas, 60 x 60 inches
SunSpots, 2023, Acrylic on canvas, 60 x 60 inches
Sun-GildedWater , 2022, Acrylic on canvas, 116 x 86 inches
Calm, 2020, Acrylic on canvas, 60 x 60 inches
WinterSun, 2020, Acrylic on canvas, 59 x 48 inches
DesertRadiance, 2020, Acrylic on canvas, 58 x 76 inches
Illumination, 2020, Acrylic on canvas, 72 x 60 inches
SeaBalls, 2019, Acrylic on canvas, 60 x 82 inches
Milkweed, 2019, Acrylic on canvas, 96 x 72 inches
THE CATALYST
Thisblogwaswrittenabouttheexperiencethatfreedmetocreate large-scale,movementbased,art,somethingIhadalwayswantedtodo. Immediatelyafterreturninghome,covidshuteverythingdown. Theisolationallowedmefocusedtimetocreatethisart.
I SLEPT INTHE BED OF A RAMTRUCK UNDERTHE STARS!
I just couldn’t go back to Chicago.
Two days of sun in the last month in Chicago and a few sunny days in Palm Springs with friends, and every fiber of my being insisted “I can’t go back.” I CAN’T GO BACK! I’ve often THOUGHT that on vacation but never acted on it. This time I thought, “you’re almost 64, you don’t have work or anything to go back for… if not now, when?” So 4 hours before my flight, I banked my miles (thank you Southwest), found an Airbnb that would allow art making (as long as I didn’t leave any paint splatter or indication that I was there!) and rented a full size Dodge Ram Truck!
The bed of the truck between the wheel wells measured 48” x 60.” The guy at Home Depot cut a piece of pressboard to fit perfectly. I bought rolls of plastic, plastic tape, painting tape, scissors, a staple gun, a flathead screwdriver and found some great colors of oops paint (the paint they custom make for people who don’t pick it up ~ (pro tip ~ they sell these for $0.50-$2).
At the art supply store, I bought 2 stretched canvases (which I later literally cut off the stretchers because they had backing bars that would have left marks on my paintings), 2 rolls of canvas, 10 large sheets of paper and paints. A quick stop at the ~ legal ~ dispensary and off to Joshua Tree!
A light filled livable garage style space! Moved the furniture out of the way and covered every square inch of my work area so I could feel free to dance and paint with abandon. So liberating! Painting in the morning and evening, scrambling and bouldering in the afternoons. Perfection.
I know this sounds woo-woo, but I SWEAR I could feel the energy of the rocks pulsing through my body. The grippy granite allowed me to scramble at least 50 feet high, through cave-like spaces, up steep rocks, finding my way higher and higher. By myself. Alone. And when I came back down to try to capture in
paint what that FEELS like, I felt energy from the base of my spine literally shooting up my spine out the top of my head and radiating from my body in all directions. I danced in the rocks, literally, and felt energy simultaneously pulling in and pumping out from the reach of my hands. I know… sounds crazy, but truth.
The week at Art Launchpad ended and a trip to the outdoor store in Yucca Valley netted an air mattress, battery-powered pump and a $30 sleeping bag. Stopped at the grocery store for carrots, celery, peanut butter, beef jerky and water, and drove down to the BLM campground at the south end of the park. No “facilities” available. No water. No toilets. No food. BYO everything and pack it out. The temperatures during the day were in the 70’s but at night got down into the 40s. Wearing two pair of pants, 3 pr socks, 4 tops, a hood, a headband and hat, nestled into my sleeping bag in the bed of my Ram truck looking up at the stars (yes I DID see some shooting stars!) until I fell asleep was one of the most amazing things I have ever done. Waking in the middle of the night, I’d look up and see how the stars had changed until I fell back asleep.
I wanted to be alone but not too far from people, for safety. I drove down a sandy 4WD road and pulled off to set up paint camp, draping the truck and ground with plastic. I look at the landscape and somehow instead of seeing the beiges and light greens (I mean I DO see them), my brain sees high-key counterparts. The colors translate into a riot of pattern and energy and I try to get it all down in paint. The paintings that I did there are just a start, an opening of my heart, painting with my hands and full body movement, dancing my art.
Nancy Natow-Cassidy March 4, 2020
Nancy Natow-Cassidy
GROUP AND SOLO PAINTING EXHIBITIONS:
Solo Show, Decatur Arts Council Gallery, Decatur, IL 2024
ALMA Art and Interiors Gallery, Chicago IL 2024
River North Design District Gallery Walk, Chicago IL 2024
Spirit of Place, Moondance Gallery, IN, 2024
Butterflies and Beyond, Art Barn, IN, 2024
Resilience, Artsy presented by 33 Contemporary, 2024
Awakening Earth: Narratives of Spring, Zhou B Art Center, Chicago IL 2024
CLICK: A Deep Dive into Photography, The Art Center of Highland Park, IL 2024
Chromatic Convergence: Exploring the Essence of Color, Zhou B Art Center, Chicago, IL 2023
80th Annual Salon, South Shore Arts, Munster, IN 2024
Horizons Reimagined, South Bend Museum of Art, IN 2023
ALMA Art and Interiors Fall Exhibition, ALMA Art and Interiors, Chicago, IL 2023
The Healing Power of Color, Manhattan Arts, Online, 2023
Art of Protest, Stola Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL 2023
HerStory, Manhattan Arts, Online, 2023
Angels & Demons, Stola Contemporary Art, Online, 2023
HYGGE, Curated by Jenny Lam, Online, 2023
The Healing Power of Art Inspired by Nature, Manhattan Arts, Online, 2023
44th Elkhart Juried Regional Exhibit, The Midwest Museum of American Art, Elkhart, IN 2022
Invitational Show ~ Lubeznik Arts Festival, Lubeznik Center for Arts, Michigan City, IN 2022
The Invisible Costs of War, ARC Gallery, Chicago, IL 2022
Democracy in Danger, Stola Gallery, Chicago, IL 2022
Solo Show, SFC Gallery, Michigan City IN 2022
ART ATTACK, WithINN Gathering Room, Harbert MI 2022
28th Annual Juried Art Exhibition, MERITAWARD, Art Barn School of Valparaiso, IN 2022
The Healing Power of Color, Manhattan Arts International, Online, 2022
What is Love? Arc Gallery, Chicago IL 2022
Solo Show, Goblin and Grocer, Beverly Shores, IN 2021
OPENINGS, Exhibition curated by Sergio Gomez, Online 2021
At the Intersection of Labor and Leisure, Chautaqua lin the Dunes, IN Dunes State Park, 2021
The Universe in Ecstatic Motion, The Ellen Firme Gallery, Beverly Shores, IN, 2021
EPHEMERA: The Power of Impermenance, The Art Center of Highland Park, IL 2021
Isolation Chronicles, Exhibition curated by Sergio Gomez, Online 2021
Michael & Michael, Chicago, IL, 2019
International Women’s Day Exhibit, The Nest Gallery, Michigan City, IN, 2019
Indigenous Landscapes, Imprints of the South Shore, White Ripple Gallery and University of Notre Dame Indigenous World Program, 2015
Art and Social Justice, Colfax Cultural Center, South Bend, IN, 2001
Color and Memory, Triangle Gallery, Chicago, IL, 1999
Group Show, Prairie Art Gallery, Chicago IL, 1987
Black/White Show, Galesburg Civic Art Center, 1981
Links Hall Show with Solo Performance, Chicago IL, 1983
Mid-Michigan Juried Art Show, Midland Center for the Arts, 1980
12th Annual Juried Painting and Sculpture Show, Lansing Arts Center, 1979
Michigan Women’s Caucus for Art Juried Exhibit, Detroit Institute of Art, 1979
Three Woman Show, Rackham Gallery, Ann Arbor, MI, 1979
Silver Medal Exhibition, Scarab Club, Detroit, MI, 1979
Detroit Symposium on Humanity, University of Detroit, Detroit, MI 1979
WORK IN THE COLLECTION OF:
Cozen O’Connor, Chicago, IL
Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) Library, New York, NY
New York Public Library System, New York, NY
Savannah College of Art & Design Jen Library, Savannah, GA
Getty Research Institute Research Library, Los Angeles, CA
University of Southern California USC Libraries, Los Angeles, CA
University of Washington Libraries, Seattle, WA
Otis College of Art and Design Artist Books, Los Angeles, CA
Pratt Institute, Franklin Furnace Archives, Brooklyn, NY
Stanford University Artcom Archives, Stanford CA
Centro Documentazionne, Parma, Italy
Numerous Private Collections
TV, PRINT AND ONLINE INVERVIEWS:
CREATE Magazine, Issue 45, Summer, 2024
Eye on the Arts, LakeShore Pubic Television, May 10, 2023
Studio Sunday: Nancy Natow-Cassidy, Create Magazine, February 12, 2023
New Visionary Magazine, October, 2022
Canvas Rebel, September, 2022
On The Next Level, Art Next Level, January 2022
Spotlight on the Arts, PAN-O-PLY Magazine, June 2021
CHOREOGRAPHED AND PERFORMED:
Natow Natow in Concert, Links Hall, Chicago 1983
The Best of Dance for a Dollar, MoMing Dance and Arts Center, Chicago, 1983
Dance for a Dollar, MoMing Dance and Arts Center, Chicago 1983
Reisheit Dance in Concert, MoMing Dance and Arts Center, Chicago, 1982
Nancy Natow in Concert at Klein Gallery, performed with sculptures by Ellen Kamerling, Chicago, 1982
Reisheit Dance, Dance Loop at the First, Chicago, 1982
Dance for a Dollar, MoMing Dance and Arts Center, Chicago 1982 Voted Best of Show. Taking Turns, Moming Dance and Arts Center, Chicago, April 1982
PERFORMED
Gang of Toes, American Rhythm Center, Chicago, 2015
Perceptual Motion, Around the Coyote Festival, Chicago, 1996
Perceptual Motion, Chicago Public Library, Chicago,1996
Jackie Radis, I’ve Known Rivers, MoMing Dance and Arts Center, Chicago 1983
Hedwig Dance, MoMing Dance and Arts Center, Chicago 1983
Perceptual Motion, Links Hall, Chicago, 1979
EDUCATION:
Alvin Ailey Residency at College of DuPage, 1997
Pilobolus, Bill T. Jones and June Finch Workshops, Chicago 1981-1986
MoMing Dance & Arts Center, Chicago, 1980-1981
The University of Michigan, BFA, cum laude, 1978
Michigan State University, 1974-1976
