The Vault: Nancy Topping Bazin - Whimsical Birds... and More!

Nancy’s iconic “Whimsical Birds” series captures the wonderfully eccentric essence of each bird using colors, patterns, and expressions through Nancy’s black gesso technique. View part of this collection in Nancy’s Vault Show at d’Art Center, as well as a wall of her other works that are not only for sale, but on sale!

Join us July 6th, 5:30 - 7:30 for the opening reception of Nancy’s Exhibition in The Vault, and the Portrayed Exhibition in d’Art’s Main Gallery.

Artist Statement:

After thirty years of creating Women’s Studies courses and teaching new literatures written in English, mostly at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Nancy Topping Bazin returned to an earlier love of art. At first, she painted many different subjects in various styles until her love of color and pattern gave birth to her whimsical birds. Whimsy was also encouraged by her technique of coating aluminum foil on one side with black gesso, placing it on white paper, and then drawing “blindly” on the clean, back side of the foil. Once she used that technique to draw birds, she never stopped. Her birds are unique and easily recognized as hers. Nancy says:

“I select my birds based on their unusual appearance and personality. My extensive travels have stimulated my fascination with birds throughout the world. I ‘introduce’ them to one another by allowing them to interact in my whimsical paintings. I enhance their whimsicality through their eyes and my imaginative use of colors and patterns.”

Nancy has earned the title of “signature artist” in the Virginia Watercolor Society and has had her work in many exhibits and publications. As juror of the June 2018 Gloucester Arts Festival exhibit, Jeff Harrison, Curator Emeritus of the Chrysler Museum, said of her whimsical bird paintings:

“Creating an entire world is an uphill battle for any artist, but Nancy Topping Bazin has done just that, populating a whimsical realm of fantastic-feathered creatures, a world of brilliant color and bold, semi-abstract patterns. It’s a charmed place of pure imagination that offers hours of joyful contemplation.”

Jurors have given Nancy seventy-three awards for her paintings. She has published a little book titled Why I Love to Paint Birds (2015). Her art is often described as unique, intuitive, happy, fun, and, most of all, whimsical.

www.nancytoppingbazin.com