Nansi T. Lent
PAINTER
Nansi T. Lent
About Nansi T. Lent
Nansi T. Lent is a painter from Rhinebeck, NY, who was born in New York and grew up in Coconut Grove, Florida. She holds a BA from Boston College in Studio Art and a Masters in Visual Arts Administration from NYU. Painting for decades, she has exhibited widely in New York’s Hudson Valley region and beyond including The Katonah Museum of Art, The Woodstock Artists Association and Museum, The Coral Springs Art Museum in Florida, Goggleworks in Reading, PA., The New York Public Library, The Starr Library in Rhinebeck and in numerous co-ops and private galleries. She has received multiple awards and commendations. Her work is held in several private collections. Nansi has served on the board of The National Association of Women Artists and in 2018 founded Womenswork.art, a gallery in Poughkeepsie, NY. She is an Active Member of the Woodstock Artists Association and Museum.
Artist's Statement
My work is about process, the evolution of language and the urge to write. Over time I have invented a symbolic language that borrows from ancient symbols but represents no language system but my own, hybrid, created one, that continues to evolve with each new piece. The layers include scribbling, script, gestural calligraphics and invented symbols. It all adds up to glossolalia, or incomprehensible speech. An antidote to information overload, I think of my contemplative practice as Visual Poetry, Modern Hieroglyphics, Asemic Language, Automatic Writing and sometimes Language on Mars.
I have been practicing Asemic Writing for years and think of it as layers of thought, rumination, the clouds and shards of search and meaning that the mind goes through when practicing mediation. Visually the work can conjure graffiti. I identify with the urge to create graffiti. My process evolved through years of journal writing and not necessarily wanting an audience to explicitly read my words. The work explores the liminal space of thought processing, an experience that I believe is universal. There is also an aspect of performative prayer to my work, seeking order and wisdom in a chaotic world.
My joy comes from endless experimentation. I may work on 2-3 pieces at the same time that may be similar, but when I start something else I reboot my approach and process, giving the next works new form, scale, palette, tightness or looseness. There are many variations from piece to piece but a continuo of language study.
