Meet Nancy Lamb: Nancy Lamb, Visual Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Nancy Lamb and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Nancy, have you ever found yourself in a spot where you had to decide whether to give up or keep going? How did you make the choice?
For me quitting has never been an option, There have been times when I’ve definitely had to be malleable or experiment, but I’ve created it the way I’ve wanted. It may be a cliche, that you should do what you love but its true, and if you do you’ll figure out how to make it work!! 

Please tell us more about your work. We’d love to hear what sets you apart from others, what you are most proud of or excited about. How did you get to where you are today professionally. Was it easy? If not, how did you overcome the challenges? What are the lessons you’ve learned along the way. What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?
What sets me apart from others is that I take the mundane, and make it something exciting. I paint people un-posed and off guard. In trying to catch the true spirit of the moment, I introduce a penetrating quality that is created by slipping behind social facade to uncover the mask society demands. I try to capture still-life of the psychology of this suspended expression and combine it with textures, fabric and designs that go along with visual rhetoric. My dear friend and mentor Mark Thistlethwaite says, “Through striking compositional cropping, Lamb creates an immediacy and slice-of-life quality that invites us to move in and among well-dressed, smiling revelers. The artist, who has long produced portraits, bases her festive images on closed-eye observation as well as on photographs. Immersed in the crowd with her small 35-mm. automatic camera, Lamb captures the ebb and flow of the scene at close range, producing images that convey the upbeat, vertiginous crush of a constantly-in-motion party. The scene as viewed by Lamb is a visual encyclopedia of facial expression, body language, and gestures. In some of the paintings, the subject in the ubiquitous, fixed party smile, which reveals as much as it masks. In other compositions everything we need to know about a person or situation is conveyed through the mere gesture of a hand. For all the compositions’ sense of realism-obvious in the rendering of forms and in capturing the party’s inherent randomness-Lamb’s art is also insistently abstract. This occurs because of the dynamic pictorial cropping, the frequent use of an elongated format, the intimate closeness of figures, the eye-popping intensity of highlighted areas, and the dizzy play of competing patterns. Lively party scenes dominate the artists “Social Spaces” series, but they are by no means her only subjects. Her art displays a range and depth of images. Yet no matter what captures her artistic attention and imagination, Nancy lamb’s compositions always intrigue and fascinate because of their remarkably expressive and provocative angles of vision. ” -Introduction of “Social Spaces” I am most proud of my two Terrazzo Floors in terminal D of DFW. This project was two 180 feet long floors in the Skylink stations. These colorful floors celebrate themes of a shared global connection available through the gates of DFW. My floors called, “See the World, Get There on Time” and “Stamps and Coins” represent the movement through international air. I am glad to be able to say that I’ve done something that so many people will connect to the world with. Was it easy? It’s taken me 60 years to get to where I am; depending upon your perception of time, this could seem long, but for me it has been my life and I had a lot of fun along the way! The lessons that I’ve learned along the way are to be thankful, and to give back as much as possible! I want the world to know that art is not superfluous, it is in everything and everywhere and I hope in your own life, you will consider how important it is!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
This is what I would do if there wasn’t a pandemic going on……… Am I limited to Fort Worth? If so, I would: Monday: I’d start with a tour of the North Side, stopping for lunch at World Famous Joe T’s Mexican restaurant. In the afternoon, we’d try to ride some long-horns and end up with dinner at Byblos Lebanese restaurant. Tuesday: A tour of the Amon Carter Museum of American Art. Then we can go to lunch at Taco Heads and eat elotes and drink great margaritas. Then a swing by the Botanical Gardens, and later Blue Sushi. Wednesday: A tour of the Kimbell Museum and lunch at Righteous Food for pistachio guacamole and yucca fries. After, we will go hit the zoo to feed the giraffes and make kissy faces with the hippos. Then a follow up dinner at Coco Shrimp on the South Side and drinks at Mcfly’s both on the North West Side. Thursday: A tour of the Modern Art Museum with lunch at the cafe modern eating the melon, chili lime and pepitas salad with capellini and local tomatoes. After we would visit Artspace111, then off to Haltom City for dinner at Sikhay Thai Lao for Pho and Boba. Friday: We will go Downtown to the Sid Richardson Museum and have lunch at Branch and Bird. Then over to Black Coffee to see Mia Moss for coffee, tea and scones. Then back to the West Side to show off the Jackalope!! After, dinner at Dive Burgers and then back to the South Side for old fashions at Proper Bar. During the week we’ve run into celebrity Tony Green, artist Jay Wilkinson artist Doug Blagg, artist Ariel Davis, artist Ron Crouch, artist Jeffrey Poole, George Shackleford and Katherine Stephens at the Kimbell, Pam and Bill Campbell at their gallery “William Campbell Contemporary Art”, artist Ronnie Hart, Patrick Grissom, artist Jana Renee, and Lauren Childs and all the gang at Fort Works Art! We’re exhausted and we’ve gained 20 pounds but oh my gosh, we’ve had a blast!!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Geez just about everyone I’ve ever met!! :-)) My late husband Robert Powell, definitely the old Museum of Science and History in Fort Worth and Artist111 where I’ve shown my work for over 20yrs and the Blagg family

Website: https://www.nancy-lamb.com
Instagram: @nancylamb1956 and @thenancylamb
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nancy.lamb.752
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARxzR_phLDM

Image Credits
Photograph of me is by Brian Hutson