I am interested in the transformative power of the creative process. Gestural lines, fragmented patterns and assorted textures are the threads of my work which create a space for the confluence of memory, time and place. The overarching theme of my work is a narrative drawn from personal history, my meditation and spiritual practice, community engagement and interest in the mysteries of the Universe.
The energy and emotions of love and loss, both letting go and losing, are interwoven and explored with ink, paint, graphite, collage materials and found objects. A visceral and tactile layering of fluid and entangled lines, reflections and shadows are part of an ongoing conversation to afford the tangible and intangible to coexist and to embrace our interconnectedness along the way.
Artist Biography
Nanci Hersh is a contemporary mixed-media artist whose work is informed by the experiences, relationships and places in her life. Her two dimensional work, as well as her sculptures and installations are poetic explorations of the grace, beauty and fragility of our lives.
Nanci is also an illustrator, educator, arts advocate and administrator as Executive Director of the Delaware Institute for the Arts in Education. Her work has been exhibited throughout the United States including “50 States/200 Artists” at the Museum of Encaustic Art in Santa Fe, NM, “Eons Beyond the Rib” at Seraphin Gallery in Philadelphia, PA, “Navigation Puzzle” at the Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts, “Paper Work” at the Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie and “The Demoiselles Revisited” at Francis M. Naumann Fine Art, NYC, along with solo exhibitions in PA, NJ, DE, and HI. Nanci has received numerous honors including three purchase awards from the State Foundation of Culture and the Arts, Hawai’I, and three Leeway Foundation Art & Change Grants. Her work is included in the Public Collections of Museum of Encaustic Art, Johnson & Johnson, Leland Portland Cement, and OSI Pharmaceuticals to name a few.
Education
1994 University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI MFA
1991 Study Abroad, Washington University, Santa Reparata Graphic Art Center, Florence, Italy
1981 Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY BFA
Awards & Honors
2017 Artist-in-Residence, New Castle County Correctional Center. Worked with residents, staff and community to create 16’ mural in facility
2016, 2013, 2010 Leeway Foundation Art & Change Grant
2015 Commission, Created painting for the Wilmington Flower Market, Wilmington, DE
2010 Pennsylvania Council of the Arts Project Stream Grant
2006 Illustrated, co-created and published award winning children’s book, Butterfly Kisses and Wishes on Wings: when someone you love has cancer... a hopeful, helpful book for kids
2008 Best Practices Award for residency with David K. Brearley High School, Kenilworth, NJ
2003 Best Practices Award for residency with H.W. Mountz School, Spring Lake, NJ
NJ State Governor’s Leader in Arts Education Award
Professional Experience
University Experience
2006-2007 Adjunct Professor, Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ
2003-2004 Adjunct Professor, Monmouth University, West Long Branch, NJ
1993-1994 Adjunct Professor, Chaminade University, Honolulu, HI
Other
2017-Present Executive Director, Delaware Institute for the Arts in Education (DiAE), Wilmington, DE
2016-2017 Interim Executive Director, Delaware Institute for the Arts in Education (DiAE), Wilmington, DE
2014 Instructor, Center for the Creative Arts, Yorklyn, DE
2013-Present Teaching Artist, Delaware Institute for the Arts in Education, Wilmington, DE
Juror, Regional Annual Arts Exhibition, Center for the Creative Arts, Yorklyn, DE
2012-Present Guide, Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts, Wilmington, DE
2011-Present Instructor, Delaware College of Art & Design, Wilmington, DE
2009-2010 Teaching Artist for Contemporary Connections Program, Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts, Wilmington, DE
2009 Keynote Speaker "Cancer thru an Artist’s Eye," Riddle Memorial Hospital, Media, PA
2006, 2008 Panelist, New Jersey State Council on the Arts for Artist in Education and Arts and Humanities Grants
2006, 2005, 1999 Visiting Artist: Printmaking, paper making, book arts, drawing, La Pietra, Hawaii School for Girls, Honolulu, HI
2005, 2004 Co-Curator, Art of Survival, Herspace, Long Branch, NJ
2001-Present Teaching Artist, Young Audiences of NJ and Eastern PA
2004 Teaching Artist with Community Connections, A partnership between Monmouth County Arts Council and Young Audiences of NJ, Mural project
1993-2003 Adjunct Professor, Monmouth University, West Long Branch, NJ
1996-1997 Administrator, Brodsky Center (formerly Rutgers Center for Innovative Print & Paper)
1984-1995 Manager, Pegge Hopper Gallery, Honolulu, HI
Exhibitions
Solo and Two-Person
2020 Nanci Hersh, Before and Always, Cosmopolitan Club, Philadelphia, PA
2018 Nanci Hersh at The Mill, The Mill Space, Wilmington, DE
2015 Up for Air, Blue Streak Gallery, Wilmington, DE
2014 Nanci Hersh, Mala Galleria, Kennett Square, PA
Catch & Release, Project Space Gallery, Wilmington, DE
2013 Catching Up, two person exhibition, Transformations Gallery, Metuchen, NJ
2011 Walks thru Life: Shoe Portraits, Paper Market, Kennett Square, PA
2010 Slowing Down to Catch Up, Fashion Center 38th St. Window, New York, NY
2007 Nanci Hersh: The Making of a Book, Middletown Township Public Library, Middletown, NJ
2005 Life is but a Dream, Gallery on Grant, Deal, NJ
1995 Ranch Camp Series, The Pegge Hopper Gallery, Honolulu, HI
1989 Streetwise, Gallery at Hawaii Loa College, Kaneohe, HI
Group
2020 Riverfront 20/20, The Delaware Contemporary, Wilmington, DE Curator: Kristen Hileman
2018 Chester County Studio Tour
Evening of the Arts, Historic Kennett Square Curator: John Baker
Mixed Media, Blue Streak Gallery, Wilmington, DE Curator: Ellen Bartholomaus
Black & White, Gallery 37, Milford, DE
2014 Navigation Puzzle, Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts, Wilmington, DE Juror: Bridgette Mayer
Mala Galleria, Kennett Square, PA
Beyond the Thread, Revisited, Gibby Center for the Arts, Middletown, DE
2013 Eons Beyond the Rib, Seraphin Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Paper Work, The Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie, Trenton, NJ Curators: Elise Mannella and Gabriel Romeu
Five in Fiber, Gallery 37, Milford, DE Curators: Marcia Reed and Deborah Johnson
2012 Small Format Group Exhibition, Alfa Art Gallery, New Brunswick, NJ Curator: Galina Kourteva
United We Stand: Fall Art Salon, Alfa Art Gallery, New Brunswick, NJ Curators: Galina Kourteva and Vesslin Kourtev
2011 Willow on State, Kennett Square, PA Curators: Sandy Mayer and Hillary Sculthorpe
The Herspace Collection: Art & the Breast Cancer Journey, Gallery on Grant, Deal, NJ Curators: Dr. Beth Deutch and Toby Shylit Mack
2010 For Love Not Money: A Global Mail Collaboration, Tallinn Print Triennial, Estonia Curators: Eileen Foti and Eve Kask
2009 transFORMation, Bucks County Community College Artmobile Curator: Rebecca Kelly
2008 Summer Exhibition, Gallery on Grant, Deal, NJ Curators: Arlene Mollow and Clare Boren
2007 The Demoiselles Revisited, Francis M.Naumann Fine Art, New York, NY Curator: Francis M.Naumann
I Will Survive, AtlantiCare Women’s Health & Wellness Center, NJ Curator: Dorrie Papademetriou, Exhibitions Manager, Noyes Museum, Smithville, NJ
Print and Papermaking Possibilities: Traditional Methods and Recent Innovations, The Visceglia Gallery, Caldwell College, Caldwell, NJ Curator: Kendall Baker
2006 Home Grown, Arts Guild of Rahway, NJ Curator: Eileen Foti Recuerde*Remember: An Altar Show, The Pegge Hopper Gallery, Honolulu, HI
Visual Poetry, Stedman Gallery, Rutgers-Camden Center for the Arts, Camden, NJ
Two Plus One, Mitchell Sanborn Gallery, Keyport, NJ
Diving Into Digital, Bergen Museum, Paramus, NJ Curator: Natalia Kolodzei
Breast Cancer: An Artist’s View, Gallery 1978, Springfield, NJ Curator: Clara Manheim
As She Sees It; 8 Artists, Pierro Gallery of South Orange, Baird Center, NJ Curator: Susan Napack
2004-2005 Art of Survival, Herspace, West Long Branch, NJ
Loss (and Found), Installation, Count Basie Theatre Window, Red Bank, NJ
Small Impressions, Printmaking Council of NJ
2004 Small Works Invitational, Prince Street Gallery, New York, New York. Iron Works, Anne Reid Gallery, Princeton Day School, Princeton, NJ. Curated by John Goodyear. National Printmaking 2003, The College of New Jersey, Ewing, NJ
2002 Working in New Jersey: Prints and Multiples by Fifteen New Jersey Artists, The Chubb Atrium Gallery, Warren, NJ Curator: Donna Gustafson
46th Annual National Juried Print Exhibition, Hunterdon Museum of Art, Clinton, NJ
2001 New Members Show, City Without Walls, Newark, NJ Curator: Stephen Sennott, Director
Northeast Prints 2001, Ben Shahn Galleries, William Paterson University, Wayne, NJ
Humanity, Printmaking Council of New Jersey, Somerset, NJ
1999 Recent Works: Brown, De La Garza, Hersh, Laredo Community College Teaching Gallery, Laredo, TX
Contemporary Collaborations: The Artist and the Master Printer, Sheehan Gallery, Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA Curator: E.Foti
Heart of the Matter, The Pegge Hopper Gallery, Honolulu, HI Curators: A.K. Blackburn and Karen Hong
Night, Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery, New South Wales, Australia
Hands Across the Water: Heads Across the Sky Hawaii/ Australia, Leeward Community College Foyer Gallery, Honolulu, HI
1997 Powerful Images, Krasdale Gallery, New York, NY Curator: S. Balka
Uncommon Threads, Sleeth Gallery, West Virginia Wesleyan College, Buckhannon, WV Curator: Eileen Foti
