Nancy Childs-Printmaker

Nancy Childs has exhibited her hand made paper and assemblage works regionally, nationally and internationally for more than twenty years. In 1990, she was the first woman to receive the "Nebraska Young Artist of the Year Award." Currently Nancy serves as the Visual Arts Curriculum Consultant for Lincoln's Public Schools and as a teaching artist for the Lied Center's Arts Are Basic program. She maintains a studio at the Burkholder Project in the historic Haymarket district. This past spring, Nancy was invited to have a solo show at the Museum of Nebraska Art.
The foundation of her work is hand made paper. This material has significance on many levels. The process in itself is very pleasurable -- almost therapeutic. The fibers in the paper most often come from cotton rag and cotton linter. These fibers have had several lives before they reach the artist's studio. The cotton plant had a life as a growing plant. The plant fibers were harvested, spun in to threads, and woven into cloth. That cloth was then cut into pieces used for the creation of garments. The scraps from the cutting are purchased by a paper mill. The mill cooks, bleaches and breaks down the scraps which are then sold to paper makers as "half stuff." Nancy then hydrates the "half stuff" by beating it with water and uses the pulp that's produced to form sheets of paper. These papers resurrect the fibers for yet another life.
For Nancy, the "history" that is imbedded in the hand made paper is a metaphor for the many roles each of us play, the many "hats" that each of us wear. "The history also speaks to the strength of the human spirit to survive and adapt," she says.
"The use of 'found objects' in my work also has significance for me. These objects are usually collected from the street as I walk. It gives me great pleasure to take these objects that someone has discarded or lost and present them to the public to look at again. The objects are very beautiful, in a large part because of their physical transformation through exposure to the effects of nature and man."
Printing on hand made paper is different from printing on machine made paper. The paper is more flexible and responsive to the printing plate. These papers mold themselves around the printing plates which give the works a raised physical texture.The visual texture of her pieces are produced by layers of color. These visual textures are metaphors for the layers of complexity in our lives. "I use color and texture to work through the issues of complexity and chaos in our lives," Nancy says. "Through the work, I seek visual expression for the possibility of change and growth, the hope for survival, the celebration of the journey, the acceptance of transformation."