Artists' Talk: 50 Years: The Art of Nancy Mee and Dennis Evans

Join Dennis Evans and Nancy Mee as they discuss and share images from their 50 years as working artists. With an introduction by Chief Curator Greg Robinson, this presentation will cover Dennis and Nancy's fascinating artistic journey. Beginning in the 1970's by selling ceramics in the Seattle area, they then studied printmaking in Paris and established their performance art practice at Evergreen College. Soon they branched out further - with Nancy incorporating fused and slumped glass to her sculpture practice and Dennis' exploration of large-scale installation in museums and galleries throughout the American West. By the 2000's, they were working collaboratively on thematically and conceptually based exhibitions across the U.S. and internationally. They have since returned to their individual art practices and styles, and remain prolific, working from their Utopian Heights Studios in Seattle. Audience Q & A and reception to follow.

NANCY MEE - Born in the San Francisco Bay Area, California, Nancy attended the University of Washington where she earned a BFA in Printmaking in 1974. Mee spent the year of 1972 at Atelier 17, the studio of S.W. Hayter, where she studied his technique of multicolored etching. In her last year at the University of Washington, she met Dennis Evans whom she married in 1980. Her artist in residency at the Pilchuck School in 1984 had a profound impact on her work. It is there where she experimented with fusing and slumping glass, which opened up tremendous possibilities for new forms and a larger scale. The only vestiges of her printmaking background that can be found in Mee's work are her innovative use of photographic images. In 1994, Mee was invited as one of seven international artists to the Center for Contemporary Art in Beychevelle, Bordeaux, France, where she was asked to create a body of work using Justice as a theme. This work was then fabricated at her studio in Seattle and shown at Chateau Beychevelle the following year. Mee's sculptures incorporate a variety of materials, including glass, welded and forged steel, bronze, stone and photography. She is shown commercially in several galleries in the United States and is also represented in many public and private collections, nationally and internationally.

DENNIS EVANS - Born in Yakima, Washington in 1946, Dennis studied Chemistry at the University of Washington in Seattle. He then studied and earned a BFA in Ceramics and an MFA in Design from the University of Washington. His artwork is included in many major museums and public corporation collections, including the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Evans was also selected for the 1978 Whitney Biennial exhibition in New York. He has worked as a teacher and mentor to many young artists and as a set designer for numerous Seattle theater productions. Evans is also a book and print publisher, publishing five limited edition suites of prints in collaboration with poets and other artists. He has worked as a performance and installation artist as well as a painter. He lives in Seattle, Washington, working in oil on wax encaustic with mixed media. He specializes in topics of arcane interest.

Guest website/social:

https://www.utopianheights.com

Host or Publisher Bainbridge Island Museum of Art