Nancy Calef

For many years I've been creating "Peoplescapes," oil, sculptured characters and applied objects on canvas, addressing cultural, political and spiritual issues facing society. By juxtaposing people in recognizable places and situations, each painting weaves together a story about contemporary life, filled with layers of detail, symbolism and humor.

"Plane slashing" is the latest progression of my 3D technique building up the canvas; lately I'm tearing, cutting and manipulating the plane of a painting, while integrating it with one or more finished canvases attached. Painting into the deconstructed imagery as a whole, leaving various portions of the underlying picture(s) in tact, results in a cohesively transformed multi-dimensional piece.
As this work evolves, the experience is liberating, moving from chaos to destruction and on to an intuitive composition somewhere between abstraction and surrealism. Everyday, I take the brush to canvas and, although I am confronted with fear and insecurity, I also tap into a limitless source of imagery. In those moments, time falls away and it seems that the work creates itself.

College of New Rochelle, Art Major
Center for Electronic Art, Computer Animation Certification

2023-25 "Food For Thought" Randall Museum,
Group Exhibition, San Francisco, CA
"Gallerium Art Prize 2023 " Group Exhibition,
Vancouver, BC - through August 2023
FAME Venue Presents "Peoplescapes"
Solo Exhibition, SF, CA - through December 2023
Manhattan Arts International,Associate
Artist Gallery
Artist Panelist, Horasis International Conferences
(New York, Berlin - virtual),
2022 Manhattan Arts International,Associate Artist Gallery
"People" Gallerium Gallery, Ontario, Canada
De Young Museum -Portraits of People, on-line
2021 Art from Heart UK - Awarded Artist of the Month - Dec
"Vices" Arc Gallery - Group Exhibition, San Francisco
"Sacred Strands" i19 Gallery, International
Group Exhibition
"Inspirational Art in Mixed Media" Manhattan
Arts International
"Study in Contrast" South San Francisco Art
Commission - Awarded:
2nd Place Painting - 3rd Best in Show
2020 "...