Local artist's work shown in S.F.

Nancy Clark's original oil paintings will be part of the collection to be shown at the Celebration of Western Art in conjunction with the Grand National Rodeo at the Cow Palace in South San Francisco.

The Carson Valley artist has three western landscapes in the show. The dates are Friday, April 7 through April 15. There is a reception and wine tasting for the artists on opening night, this Friday. The art show will be open throughout the full rodeo period.

Clark was invited to submit her work on the artist pages of the Women Artists of the West Web site. So far there are five other WAOW painters and one WAOW bronze sculptress in the show.

WAOW also has a show at the Hart (silent movie star) Ranch Park in Newhall, showing in conjunction with the Santa Clarita Cowboy Festival, April 27 to April 30. There will be a WAOW reception Thursday night, with Cowboy Poets and musicians. There is another WAOW reception Saturday afternoon with the Wildlife Waystation, to whom WAOW donates part of the proceeds from the show.

Clark's art education has been an ongoing experience. It started with elementary school art projects, a smattering of high school art classes, and then two years of liberal arts; finally she majored in art at the University of Illinois. That curriculum was a combination of painting, drawing, sculpture and graphic arts. Before completing a degree, she left to marry and "create" a family, taking a few art classes at local colleges and doing a few paintings at home.

"I started taking painting classes at the California Art Institute in Westlake Village, Calif.," Clark said. "Here I learned the importance of value, color and technique. I was finally able to paint whatever scene I wanted."

She painted three or four days a week for five years, but then learned to pace herself to produce fewer, higher-quality paintings. The majority of her paintings are California scenes; including the Eastern Sierra, Mother Lode, Los Oivos and Figueroa Mountain, Malibu Creek State Park and the Santa Monica Mountains, Big Sur and Yosemite. She has also experienced and painted Jackson Hole and the Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde and the Taos Pueblo.

"Currently, I have paintings in the Brewery Arts Center Gallery in Carson City, and the East Fork Gallery in Gardnerville," Clark said. "I have also had paintings in the East Side Gallery in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., Yosemite Museum Gallery, Mountains to the Sea Gallery in Malibu, Calif., the Sierra Pacific Corporate Offices in Reno, Genoa Gallery and Coffee House in Genoa, the Ansel Adams Gallery in Lee Vining, Calif., the River Gallery in Reno, The Record-Courier offices in Gardnerville, The Valhalla Grand Hall in the Tallac Historic Site in South Lake Tahoe, Calif., the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., the Hart Ranch Park Gallery in Newhall Calif. and the Nevada State Library and Archives."

Clark is a member of The Nevada Artists Association, The Carson Valley Artists Association and an associate of The Women Artists of the West.