My work begins with an examination of visual relationships and transformations found in nature. Influences include objects in nature that reveal a sense of order, elegance, and geometry. I utilize natural forms such as patterns of moving water and flow-like organic structures to describe or define visual systems that reference our human connection to nature. I am interested in elements that communicate the passage of time and illustrate cyclical occurrences. Drawing is an essential aspect of my work, defined in the broadest of terms and developed through multiple methods. Content or concept determines the process and material used for works that often straddle a line between drawing and sculpture. I work in a range of mediums, from works on paper to sculpture, installation, and public participatory projects. My work fluctuates from visual explorations that present beauty and order to projects that reveal decay, chaos, or endangerment to the natural world. I have developed site-specific projects and temporal works that respond directly to place, time, and visual perception. Several projects have incorporated aspects of meditation, viewer interaction, and public participation. It is my intention to present my art as a means for reflection, to allow the viewer to take note of something that may have gone unnoticed.
Artist Biography
Nancy Agati’s work addresses transformations and patterns in nature through physical investigations of materials. Her multidisciplinary work includes; works on paper, sculpture, textile, site-specific installation, and public art. Agati holds a BFA from Alfred University, School of Art & Design, NY, and an MFA from The University of the Arts, Philadelphia. She has exhibited her work widely throughout Philadelphia and nationally including exhibitions at the Philadelphia Art Alliance, Hillyer Art Space, Washington, DC, Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art, Staten Island, NY, The Calandra Italian American Institute, NY, Crane Arts Building, Philadelphia, and Pentimenti Gallery, Philadelphia.
Several exhibitions have allowed for experimentation with video, public participatory art, ephemeral works, and augmented reality. Nancy has been a recurring participant with Art in the Open, Philadelphia, where, in 2014, she conducted a community carving event entitled Churn Ripple Flow along the Schuylkill River. A similar project took place in 2015 on the Hudson Bay which culminated in the construction of the sculpture Ripple Effect at the Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art on Staten Island. The movement of water has been a recurring subject of Agati’s work. Her essay, entitled Noticing Water, was published by Cleaver Literary Magazine in 2014.
Agati has been a recipient of a Windows of Opportunity Award from the Leeway Foundation and has been awarded artist residencies at the Santa Fe Art Institute, New Mexico, Lo Studio dei Nipoti, Calabria, Italy, and Main & Station, Nova Scotia. Her time spent in Southern Italy initiated several bodies of work, including Portico Series, Ottanta Sette, and Francesca Series. Three works from the Portico Series are included in the permanent collection at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. In 2014, as a Hemera Foundation Tending Space Fellow, Agati began investigating the intersection of mindfulness meditation as it relates to her art making process.
Education
2007 The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA MFA
1985 Alfred University, College of Art and Design, Alfred, NY BFA
1984
Camberwell School of Art, London, UK
International Study
Awards & Honors
2022
Ecotopian Toolmaker Award, University of Pennsylvania Program for Environmental Humanities
Illuminate the Arts Grant, City of Philadelphia office of Arts, Culture, and the Creative Econony
2021
Artist Residency, Philadelphia Hornicultural Society, Meadowbrook Farm, Jenkintown, PA
2017 Artist in Residence, Main and Station, Parrsboro, Nova Scotia
2016 Creative Paper Construction Award, Main and Station Nonesuch Paper Awards, Parrsboro, Nova Scotia
2014 Tending Space Fellowship, The Hemera Foundation, Boulder, CO
2012 Visiting Artist & Lecturer, Marywood University, Scranton, PA
Residency Artist, Lo Studio dei Nipoti, Monasterace, Calabria, Italy
2007 MFA Faculty Award, The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA
2005 - 2007 MFA Merit Scholarship, The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA
2004 Artist Residency, Santa Fe Art Institute, Santa Fe, NM
Painting Award, Honorable Mention, Abington Art Center, Jenkintown, PA
2001 Award for Painting, Phillips Art Association, New Hope, PA
2000 Window of Opportunity Award, The Leeway Foundation, Philadelphia, PA
Bibliography
2021
Schultz, Eric “Climate in Four Acts” State of the Arts, NJ/PBS Video Documentary of Water Table
2019 Crivelli, Elaine, “The Worth of Water”, FLOW catalogue essay, October 2019
Kaufman, Leslie, “the nature of water is to flow”, FLOW exhibition catalogue, October 2019
2015 Carse, Kathryn, “9 Things You Shouldn’t Miss at Snug ‘Harbor in Bloom’”,SILive, May 2015
2014 Agati, Nancy, Essay ‘Noticing Water”, Cleaver Magazine, September 2014
Jenkins, Mark, “DC Galleries, Portico”, The Washington Post, February 2014
Brady, Shaun, "Schuylkill River inspires Art in the Open artists", Metro Philadelphia, May 2014
2013 Grillo, Lucia, “Four Artists, Lo Studio dei Nipoti”, ITALICS, CUNY TV, Calandra Institute, September 2013
Nixon, Bruce, “Four Artist, Lo Studio dei Nipoti”, Calandra Institute Exhibition Catalogue, 2013
2012 Jenkins, Mark, “Lo Studio dei Nipoti”, The Washington Post, September 2012
2010 Lewis, Susan, "Creatively Speaking, WRTI", radio interview for Art In the Open, June 2010
Friedman, Sally, “Festival Takes Art into the Open”, The Philadelphia Inquirer, June 2010
Newhall, Edith, “Galleries: Art In the Open”, The Philadelphia Inquirer, June 2010
Richards, Ryan, “Ceramic Art in Conjunction with the National Conference”, Main Line Times, April, 2010
2009 Brady, Shaun, “You Can’t Take It with You”, Philadelphia City Paper, January 2009 #1235
“Annenberg School sponsors CRISES: exhibition commemorating anniversaries of 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina,” The Annenberg School for Communication, September 2006
Newhall, Edith, “Art Alliance shakes it up,” The Philadelphia Inquirer, 2006
2005 “Haverford School Art Teacher Nancy Agati’s Fluir In New Mexico Show,” Haverford School News, Haverford, PA
2004 Strauss, R.B., “Visions Merge at Pentimenti,” The University City Review, Philadelphia, PA
Fallon, Roberta, “Friday sampler,” artblog, December 06, 2004
Collections
FMC Tower at Circa Center, Philadelphia, PA
Temple University, Fox School of Business, Philadelphia, PA
The Pennsylvania Convention Center, Philadelphia PA
AIMCO Park Towne Place, Philadelphia, PA
The Hemera Foundation, Boulder, CO
Keswick Hall, Charlottesville, VA
The Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education
Exhibitions
Solo
2021
TANGIBLE paper-clay-ink, No. 5 Butchie Alley, Philadelphia, PA
2017 Sewn Line, The Philadelphia Art Alliance, Philadelphia, PA
2015 Continuum, The Marlin Gallery, Rutgers, Camden County College, Blackwood, NJ
Churn Ripple Flow, Fairmount Water Works, Philadelphia, PA
2014 Portico, International Art & Artists, Hillyer Art Space, Washington, DC
2013 Laccio, Solo Series, Abington Art Center, Jenkintown, PA
2010 Stratum, InLiquid at the Crane Arts Building, Philadelphia, PA
2004 Drawn to Scale, Pentimenti Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2003 Helix Series, Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts, Harrisburg, PA
2002 Pools and Paragraphs, Abington Art Center, Jenkintown, PA
2001 Terra Toma, ARC Gallery and Educational Foundation, Chicago, IL
2000 Terra Toma, Allens Lane Art Center, Philadelphia, PA
Group
2023
Breaking Ground: Art About the Earth Annemarie Sculpture Garden and Arts Center, Solomons, MD
Interconnected Artessa at Francis Cope House, Awbury Aboretum, Philadelphia, PA
2022
Ecotopian Toolkit Project, Independence Seaport Museum, Philadelphia, PA
Suspended in Nature, Allens Lane Art Center, Philadelphia, PA
2021
SUMMERHOUSE, Hot Bed Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Celebration of Trees, Henry Gallery, Penn State Great Valley Campus, Malvern, PA
Sculpture in the Glen III, InLiquid, Gladwyne, PA
Water Table, New Jersey Climate Risk Project, Atlantic City, NJ
Della Vite - Art in the Park, Site-Specific Installation, High School Park, Elkins Park, PA
Group Show 2, SHRINE, online exhibition New York, NY
2019 FLOW, Independent Seaport Museum, Philadelphia, PA Floating sculpture/installation
We All Fall Down, Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, Philadelphia, PA
2018 Woods to Water, Art Across the Academy, Germantown Academy, Fort Washington, PA
Pleasure/Terror en Plein Air, Pierro Gallery, South Orange, NJ
Oars for Art, Harve de Grace Maritime Museum, MD
SWAY art/walk, Art in the Open 2018, Schuylkill Banks Park, Philadelphia, PA
Let's Connect, The Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia, PA
Nancy Agati/Agathe Bouton, NoBA Artspaces, Bala Cynwyd, PA
Onishi Project, Summer Group Exhibit, Onishi Gallery, New York, NY
Women in Craft, Art Across the Academy, Germantown Academy, Fort Washington, PA
2016 Constructing Organics, InLiquid at Park Towne Place Premiere Apartment Homes, Philadelphia, PA
Nonesuch Paper Exhibit, Main & Station, Parrsboro, Nova Scotia and Griffintown, Montreal
2015 FLUID, Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art, Snug Harbor, Staten Island, NY
Open Spaces, The Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, Philadelphia, PA
Lumen Festival, Snug Harbor, Staten Island, NY
2014 Within the Foreground, Rosenwald Wolf Gallery, The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA
Open Channels, Art in the Open Exhibition, CFEVA, Philadelphia, PA
FROST, The Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, Philadelphia, PA
Art in the Open IV, Schuylkill Banks Park, Painted Bride Art Center - Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2013 Four Artists, Calandra Italian American Institute, New York, NY
Art of the State, The State Museum of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg, PA
Library of Life, Art in City Hall, Philadelphia, PA
2012 Lo Studio dei Nipoti, International Art & Artists, Hillyer Art Space, Washington, DC and Monasterace, Calabria, Italy
2011 Art in the Open II, Schuylkill Banks Park, Painted Bride Art Center - Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
The Sketchbook Project, National Traveling Exhibition, Brooklyn Art Library, Brooklyn, NY
Virtual Public Art Project, Breadboard/Esther Klein Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2010 Art in the Open I, Schuylkill Banks Park, Painted Bride Art Center - Rosenwald-Wolf Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Virtual Public Art Project, Breadboard/Esther Klein Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
6-III*, NCECA Conference, site-specific ceramic installation, Haverford, PA
2009 - 2010 Ephemerality, The Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education, Philadelphia, PA
Selected Group Exhibitions 2000 - 2009
Re.action, Annmarie Garden Sculpture Park, Solomons, MD 10 Year Retrospective, Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts, Harrisburg, PA MFA Thesis Exhibition, Rosenwald Wolf Gallery & The Milk Depot, The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA Atmosphere in Flux, Kirkland Art Center, Clinton, NY Crises, The Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA OUTsideIN, The Philadelphia Art Alliance, Philadelphia, PA The Nature of Language, LAND/ART site, Albuquerque, NM Landscape Revisited, Main Line Art Center, Haverford, PA International Exhibition, Womanmade Gallery, Chicago, IL 50/50 installation, Santa Fe Art Institute, Santa Fe, NM New Works in Paint, Mesa Contemporary Arts, Mesa, AZ Modular Multiples, Main Line Art Center, Haverford, PA Artist as Teacher as..., The Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, PA
