NEW! If you like
my images, you can go to
http://FiresignArt.imagekind.com/ and order
prints. You can even order the mat and frame. If you don't see
the image you want, email me and I will upload it to the site.
Firesign Studio is a comfortable studio in
the woods of Quadra Island. Eight people can work in the studio comfortably and
the workshops have been great for all concerned. Time in the studio is available
to artists that want to come and work when they stay in the B&B for a small fee.
Or bring your own students and teach a workshop here! Contact Nanci
for details
Nanci Cook
paints, hosts painting workshops, designs websites and makes breakfast for her
guests. Her paintings reflect her life and surroundings. She came to the Quadra
Island in search of a quiet, safe place to raise her family and live a creative
life.
Nanci believes in life-long learning—her paintings are an
intuitive exploration of her perceptions and a translation of the patterns,
colours and lights she sees in Nature. Her art is about finding joy in everyday
life and focusing on what she can do, not on what she can’t. Art is an important
part of her life's vision and she integrates it into everything she does.
Nanci was born in Chicago, Illinois, raised in New Jersey
and earned her BA in Arts & Crafts and their History from University of
California Santa Cruz in 1977, where she studied under master potter and
painter, Al Johnsen. Upon graduation, she moved to Hornby Island, making
functional pottery and ceramic art as a studio potter for 12 years until chronic
tendinitis and arthritis in her wrists made it too difficult to continue.
In 1991, Nanci met Tracy Tomlinson and moved to Quadra
Island. She attended North Island College (NIC) in Campbell River and earned her
Tourism & Hospitality Diploma in 1999. She continued her formal education at NIC
in Courtenay for 2 more years, learning more about graphic design, drawing and
painting. For five years, Nanci worked at the Heriot Bay Inn (HBI) as front desk
agent, gift shop manager and marketing director.
Nanci opened
Firesign Art & Design
Studio and B&B in June 2005 where she paints in acrylic and
watercolour, designs for web and print, hosts painting workshops and runs a
three-bedroom bed and breakfast. Her paintings hang on the walls of Firesign
Studio, the HBI, the Campbell River Art Gallery and several private homes. She
will be part of a “Firesign Four” art show in the Tidemark Theatre lobby for the
month of March 2007, one of four artists from Quadra and Cortes Islands.