Nancy Goodman Lawrence, an artist whose work implies a narrative beneath the surface...

"I was born in Pittsburgh and came to Los Angeles when I was in the seventh grade. Growing up in Pittsburgh, I attended Saturday art classes at the Carnegie Art Museum. Once in L.A., I received my BA in art from UCLA and afterward took workshops in lithography, watercolor and figure drawing/painting. I taught as a substitute teacher in the LA Unified School district for 15 years and often shared my love of art with the students when time allowed.

In the many years that I have been painting, my work has taken several different directions. I tend to work in series and like to push through an idea until I have exhausted it or it has exhausted me. If I get to the point where I feel I can't do something one more time, I know it's time to move on.

After painting in oil, acrylic and watercolor, I became interested in works made of paper. After my father died, I found a box of maps in my parents' home. These maps became the inspiration for 3 bodies of work - portraits, the figure and a series I call "concentric narratives" based on concentric circles. I made work largely from maps for several years before coming back to painting and mixed media."

'Portrait of Dave and Ori', map collage on paper, 30 x 22 inches

'Woman in Repose', vintage wrapping paper on panel, 16 x 16 inches

"My current body of work is based on invented shapes. I begin a painting with a large shape, and everything revolves around this. I have no predetermined finished image in mind but allow the work to evolve. My primary interests are the formalities of picture making and the narrative that can lie beneath the surface.

My work is often seen as playful and joyful, but for me, there is the possibility of something lurking under a facade. Recently, some ominous boulder-like shapes have sprung up, hovering over surreal-like landscapes.

Two years ago, as a throwback to earlier figurative collages, I made a group of 9 mixed media figurative works that have been shown at Castelli Art Space and TAG Gallery, with one piece shown in the Brand Works on Paper exhibition.

During the pandemic lockdown, I also experimented quite a bit with cut paper images and collages on a grid. I like to say that I entertain myself with discovering the possibilities."

My work has been featured in the following books and publications:

How Art Heals, Exploring Your Deep Feelings Using Collage, Andra Stanton

GASHER Literary Journal, Summer 2019 issue

Kolaj Magazine, Issue #14

Geo Graphic, A Book for Map Lovers, Index Books, Barcelona

Paper Maps Go Under the Knife: The Work of Three Contemporary Map Collage Artists, Professor Janet Mersey, Cartographic Conference, Dresden, Germany, 2013

The American Journal of Nursing, illustration, "Hot Flash!"

To the Power of N: When N Equals 10, Lulu Publications

A Gathering of Sparks, Jewish Artists Initiative

The Peace Project: 2011, Peace Rises, The Whole 9

Master: Collage; Major Works by Leading Artists, Randel Plowman

Collage, Assemblage and Altered Art, Diane Maurer-Mathison

'Hybrids Make the Best Pets', acrylic and collage on panel, 16 x 16 inches

'The View Through', acrylic and collage on panel, 21.5 x 29.5 inches

'The Shape of Things', acrylic and collage on panel, 16 x 16 inches

'Gravity', acrylic and collage on panel, 24 x 18 inches

'Gravity #2', acrylic and collage on panel, 24 x 18 inches

Nancy Goodman Lawrence, in her studio.

Website: http://www.nancygoodmanlawrence.com