Nancy Murphy

By Anne Hansen

Nancy Murphy has one childhood memory of her own creativity that stands out among the rest. At age 10, her class was studying Egyptian history and she learned about the exhibition of King Tut's tomb. That inspired her to mummify her Barbie doll by wrapping it in gauze. She used flour and newspaper to papier-mâché the doll, cut it open to create a sarcophagus, spray painted it in gold and painted hieroglyphics on it. Her teacher was impressed! (Nancy is currently working on a series of ballet dancers in paper mache and wire.)

Nancy's artistic life has recently taken on a more professional flavour, with her inclusion in both the Ground Zero Printmakers and The Imagists, both Victoria-based artist collectives. (Other James Bay Art Walk artists in The Imagists include Paul Peregal, and David and Laurie Ladmore.)

Nancy is very excited to be part of Ground Zero Printmakers, one of the groups to receive funding to commemorate Victoria's 150th anniversary this summer. They are celebrating by creating prints of our city's historic sites. You may have seen their artists doing plein air work at places like St. Anne's, the Chinese Cemetary, and Bastion Square. This group effort culminates in a show at the Central Library in October. Limited-edition prints will be presented to City Hall for archiving. Nancy will contribute a waterless lithography print of St. Anne's Academy.

Nancy's beautiful works are striking in their simplicity. "I explore line through movement. Whether it's drawing, painting, printmaking or sculpting, I love capturing the fluidity of the figure in motion," she says.

There couldn't be a better opportunity to immerse herself in expressive gestures than becoming the guest artist with the Canadian Pacific Ballet Troupe, here in Victoria. Members of the dance company deeply appreciated her way of capturing movement in her work in The Imagists show last December. So they invited her to sketch in their ballet practices. Much trust and mutual admiration has followed. She has joined them in rehearsals of The Empress of India, Harlequin's Piano, and The Nutracker Suite in their 2011 performance season.

Nancy had no formal art training early in life. She feels enormous gratitude to the artists she's subsequently met and studied under in Victoria, particularly Paul Peregal, who teaches Expressionism in Drawing & Painting at the Victoria College of Art.

When not at her easel, Nancy enjoys spending time in her "office", which is her bathtub, where she also takes her sketchbook.

See Nancy Murphy's gestural art pieces on the James Bay Art Walk (September 22 & 23, 11 am - 5 pm), at 62 Government Street ()