A portrait of Nancy Jo Ward, above, and her work Taisha, Pantsuit Nation, and Jesslyn, featured in the 23rd International Art Exchange Exhibition in Japan. Courtesy images.
SANTA MARIA — Three mixed-media portraits created by esteemed Hancock art and design professor Nancy Jo Ward will be on display during the 23rd International Art Exchange Exhibition in Tokyo, Japan from June 15 – 20.
Ward is one of 57 visual artists selected to represent the United States at the 23rd International Art Exchange Exhibition. The event fosters curiosity, artistic expression, and meaningful interactions. The exhibition is officially supported by the cultural embassies of Japan, China, Thailand, and Australia.
“I am honored to have my work included in this celebration of diversity, cultural specificity, and individual expression of the human condition,” said Ward.
Working in a lush color palette, the artist offers archival prints on aluminum which are each hand-finished using acrylics, oils, and pastels. The dreamy, vibrant result is alchemic and graceful. For the Tokyo exhibition, she will be showing three of her mixed-media works, Taisha, Jesslyn, and Pantsuit Nation, each depicting a compelling female subject in nuanced rainbow shades.
A professor of art and design at Allan Hancock College, Ward received her Master of Arts with Distinction in Digital Fine Art from the University of Art London in 2018. Her hybrid portraiture work has been featured globally in numerous exhibitions; her experimental video Aura won an award at the 13th Concorso d’Arte Donne in Rinascita in Milan, Italy in March of this year.
“Through innovation, experimentation, hybridization of forms, and techniques that mix past and present, that contaminate the contemporary with tradition, Nancy Jo Ward creates unique and stylistically sophisticated work,” said Isabella Fortunato, art critic for Icon Art Magazine. “Her practice embraces a range of mediums, both digital and analog, used to explore the aesthetics of post-internet culture in the pursuit of an engagement with relevant fiction.”
For more information about Ward and her artwork, visit https://www.nancyjoward.com