The Gallery at First Parish Church in Weston is featuring a show of watercolor paintings by Nancy Sargent Howell from December 8th through January 19th.  Ms. Howell is a signature member of the New England Watercolor Society (past president), the Copley Society of Art (former Board Member), the South Shore Art Center, the North River Art Society, the New Hampshire Art Association and the Scituate Arts Association (Board Member).  Besides teaching classes in watercolor, and the creative process, she is a co-director of the Front Street Art Gallery in Scituate, MA.  Her work has won many awards and is found in private and corporate collections in the United States and Europe.

About the Artist: A native of Massachusetts, Ms. Howell attended Skidmore College as an art major, where she fell in love with watercolor painting. "Watercolors don't always do what you expect", she says, "and, although that can be frustrating, it also sends me into unplanned directions which I find very energizing."  While much of Nancy's work is done outdoors, she uses the information that she gathers for plein air paintings to develop studio work that has a more abstract quality.  She often uses a method of glazing her work that she calls "prisming".  "I wasn’t sure where the idea came from", she says, "but after I had been doing it for awhile, I realized that, as a child, I loved cubist paintings and I've always loved jig-saw puzzles."  Her prismed work clearly breaks up already existing patterns while also tying shapes together to form unified areas.  Recently, Nancy has started doing oil paintings.  "I love the thick texture of oils and have found that my goals are totally different from those of watercolors" she says.

Nancy is a much sought after teacher, demonstrator and juror. She holds weekly classes in Scituate, MA, and has taught workshops throughout the United States and Europe.  She has been leading annual painting trips to Italy since 1989.

Artist's Website: http://www.nancyhowellstudio.com

Contact the Artist: nancy@nancyhowellstudio.com