Nancy McGivney is a native of Philadelphia. She has been a student of art most of her life, in the early years as an observer through the study of art history then in mid-life actively working in fine art as an oil painter. She has studied with many contemporary oil painters including Karen Fogarty, Anne Graham, Michael Doyle and Christine LaFuente.
Of all the arts painting suits her best as a means of communicating her observations of the world. She is a landscape and marine painter yet most often turns to still-life seeing it as an endless source for commentary about relationships; that of objects to each other, light to darkness, vibrant hues to shades and tones observed in the physical world and in human nature.
She cites Edouard Manet as one of several art-historical influences in her work and believes, as he did, that everything an artist needs to say can be said through a simple still-life.
“A painter can say all he wants to with fruit or flowers or even clouds.”
Edouard Manet
I am forever entranced by the visual world. There’s an immediate attraction to something—everyday objects, people, or scenes. Painting allows me to explore what it is that moved me. It is a journey and often a puzzling exploration to figure out what exactly it is that sparked my interest and what I want to say about it. Working it out on canvas is the challenge and reward, connecting with a viewer is an added delight.