Nancy’s Artwork

As a busy businesswoman, therapist, wife, mother and grandmother, I was delighted a few years back to discover the world of assemblage art.  I was blessed to find a phenomenal, artistic muse in my best friend, the late Lois Anderson. Lois was one of the legendary “gluers” i.e. founders of San Francisco Glue Art (now known as Assemblage) scene that began in the Sixties.

One of Lois’s signature pieces, “Dakini”, is displayed on this site. Lois bequeathed her art to the Oakland Museum of California where many of her pieces are on permanent display.

I believe that creating art allows us to express feelings which we are many times unable to verbalize. As we create something with close-up focus and attention in a “no-mind”, nonjudgmental state, and then step back to look at what we have created, we are often surprised by the messages that emerge from our intuition and unconscious mind.

Through art, music, dance, theater, etc., we circumvent our cognitive filters to tap into other levels of our emotional intelligence. The process can be revealing, illuminating and profoundly cathartic. A key is to enjoy the process and not worry about the end result. Anybody can do this – it is not about being a professional artist.

While Lois was alive, I was focused on taking care of her. To me, she was  always the work of art herself! I was not interested in doing glue art at all. After she passed away, she bequeathed her art studio to me and, after making sure that all her complete pieces were safely in the hands of the Curator of the Oakland Museum of California, I noticed some broken pieces leaning against the wall in her crowded basement studio. It occurred to me that I probably could fix a piece. I picked up some small “found objects” that were lying around and some glue and began to repair a piece. I was hooked instantly! I loved the feeling of assembling so many tiny parts into a lovely whole – something for which you had little idea of how it would turn out and which took on a life of its own as it morphed into a completed whole.

A few of the dozens of pieces I’ve created are shown here.