Nancy Becker & Susan Luckey Higdon—Dreaming of Water

Glass artist Nancy Becker and landscape painter Susan Luckey Higdon are combining their love of color and shape in Dreaming of Water, opening November 4, from 3-7pm, during the Old Mill District’s First Friday Gallery Walk.

Finding an affinity that resonates for both artists about the mystery and movement of water, Nancy and Susan have joined forces to create art in their respective mediums, in 2D and 3D for this November exhibit.

Glass becomes liquid when heated, swirling with color that Nancy shapes with mastery and wizardry into vessels, vases and platters. She is inspired by the natural world that surrounds her creating colors and shapes that remind her of rivers, lakes, a gust of wind or the shades of autumn reflections.

Some of Nancy’s vessels are dense with color and others are clear with notes of color swirling loosely throughout. The making of glass is challenging all the way through the process. After the initial hand-blowing of the glass at the furnace, it must be annealed, meaning it needs to cool very slowly so that it doesn’t crack. Only after the annealing is complete are the true colors of the piece revealed. The last step, polishing, must be handled with extreme care.

Susan is transfixed with the movement and color of water, capturing it’s layers, from the pebbles on the bottom to the creatures in the stream, to the continually changing reflections. For the past few years she has been abstracting her work with composition by cropping closely to find the essence of the scene. Her rendering is representational and impressionistic to capture what has moved her to paint. Susan wants to express the chaos of pattern existing in nature.

Both artists have been working in their chosen mediums for over 30 years. They continue to challenge themselves to interpret nature in a way that connects emotionally, intuitively and joyfully with the viewer.