The Waterfowl Festival is pleased to announce the selection of painter Nancy Tankersley as its Featured Artist for the 2019 Festival taking place on Nov. 8-10. Tankersley, a 15 year resident of Easton, has been an exhibitor at the Festival since 2015 and welcomes the opportunity to be part of what makes her town so special.
“As a resident of Easton, I’m privileged to see the excitement build as our little town is transformed into the site of a major art and conservation festival,” she said. “The enthusiasm of the crowds, the local businesses, and the volunteers make the months of preparation and labor well worth the effort. The fact that this festival is in its 49th year is a testament to the vision of its founders, the support of the local community, and the wisdom and hard work of the people that keep it going year after year!”
It’s been a busy few years for Tankersley who was invited to participate in the annual Masters Exhibit at the Salmagundi Club in NYC in both 2017 and 2018. Last year she also became a Signature Member of the American Society of Marine Artists and participated in their juried exhibit in Charleston in November.
“We are so excited to be working with Nancy this year,” commented Kevin Greaney, Waterfowl Festival Board President. “She is an amazing artist and a valued member of the arts community in Easton. Nancy is someone who understands the value of the organization and its mission to support conservation efforts on the Shore. We couldn’t be happier to have such a local treasure as our 2019 Featured Artist.”
Tankersley began her career as a portraitist in 1983 but entered the gallery scene with figurative paintings of people at work and at leisure. Currently her creations move between landscape, figures and still life. Incorporating non-traditional tools, supports and technologies for her paintings she remains faithful to her impressionistic style.
“In the years I have lived on the Eastern Shore my interest in painting figures at work has extended to images of our working watermen,” Tankersley said when asked about her inspiration for the Featured Art Piece she is creating for the Festival. “Yet I know that environmentalists and watermen are sometimes at odds, so I hope to portray the importance of a well-balanced and symbiotic relationship. My painting will certainly have watermen, boats and some of the wildlife that is native to the Chesapeake Bay and its environs. I like activity and color so my painting will have plenty of both.”
Active in the current plein air movement, and a founder of Plein Air Easton, she travels worldwide participating in competitions, judging and teaching. In 2018 and in 2019 she was invited to be an instructor and demonstrator at the Plein Air Convention in Santa Fe and released her first instructional video with Lilliedahl Videos. In 2016 and 2017 she was invited to exhibit at the prestigious Masters Exhibition at the Salmagundi Club in NYC. Recent honors include Best of Show at Parrsboro, Nova Scotia International Plein Air 2018, Best of Show at the Lighthouse Plein Air Festival 2017 and the Dickinson Award for Best Painting by a Signature Member of the American Impressionist Society 2016 Annual Juried Exhibit.
Tankersley is a Signature Member of the American Impressionist Society, the American Society for Marine Art, and the Mid-Atlantic Plein Air Painters and also holds memberships in the Washington Society for Landscape Painters and the Salmagundi Club. Founder and Director of the Easton Studio, a workshop facility begun in Easton in 2010, the artist mentors and teaches and sponsors workshops by nationally known painters.
‘Sorting the Oysters’ Copyright 2019 Nancy Tankersley.
Awards:
2018 – Award of Excellence, American Impressionist Society National Annual Juried Exhibit
2018 – Bold Brush Award, June, Fine Arts Studio Online Competition
2018 – Best Architectural Painting, Plein Air Easton
2018- Best of Show, Parrsboro International Plein Air Festival, Nova Scotia
2017 – Life on the Farm Award, Plein Air Easton
2017 – Best of Show, Lighthouse Art Center Plein Air Festival, Tequesta, Florida
2016 – Dickinson Signature Member Award, American Impressionist Society Annual Juried Exhibit
2016 – Best Painting by a Maryland Artist, Plein Air Easton
2016 – Plein Air Richmond, Honorable Mention
2015 – Oil Painters of America Eastern Exhibit, Award of Excellence
2015 – American Impressionist Society Annual Juried Exhibit, Honorable Mention
2015 – Academy Art Museum, Easton, MD Members Show – Best Landscape
2015 – Door County Plein Air Quick Draw, Artist’s Choice Award
2014 – En Plein Air Texas, Award of Excellence for Capturing the West Texas Light
2014 – Plein Air Richmond, Gamblin Award
2014 – January Finalist in Raymar On-line Competition
2013 – Plein Air Easton, Second Place
2013 – Plein Air Richmond, Third Place
2012 – Finalist, February Bold Brush Competition
2011 – Jane Shannanhan Offutt Memorial Award, Excellence in Painting in the Realist Tradition Academy Art Museum, Easton, MD.
2010 – Finalist, Fine Art Studios Bold Brush on-line competition
2010 – Vasari Award for Excellence in Oils, Plein Air-Easton! Quick Draw Competition
2010 – Honorable Mention, Wayne Plein Air Festival
2009 – A. Brittain Banghart Award for Excellence in Painting the Figure, Academy Art Museum, Easton, MD
2008 – Best in Show and First Place in Professional Category, Chesapeake College Open Competition, Wye Mills, MD.
2007- A. Brittain Banghart Award, Academy Art Museum, Easton, MD
2006- Artist’s Choice Award, for painting River Bend Paint-out, Great Falls, VA
2006- Directors Award, First Place. Art League, Alexandria, Virginia
2005 – Award of Merit, Urban Landscapes, Art League, Alexandria, Va
2005 – Equal Award, Art league, Alexandria, VA
2005 – Finalist, Raymar National Art Competition
2004 – Kirstein Award, Best in Show, Art League of Alexandria, VA
2000 – First Place, Patrons Show, Art League, Alexandria, VA.
For more information, visit www.waterfowlfestival.org or call 410-822-4567.
About the Waterfowl Festival
Waterfowl Festival Inc., a partner of Waterfowl Chesapeake Inc., is dedicated to wildlife conservation, the promotion of wildlife art, and the celebration of the life and culture of Maryland’s Eastern Shore. The 49th Annual Festival will be held November 8-10, 2019 in historic Easton, MD. General admission tickets are $15 for all three days (if purchased prior to October 31) and $20 after or onsite. VIP and corporate sponsorship packages are also available. For more information, to volunteer, or donate, visit www.waterfowlfestival.org or call 410-822-4567.
Carolyn Jaffe says
Nancy Tankersly … how completely appropriate that Waterfowl should choose you this year to lead the lineup of excellence! Your contributions to making us the “ Arts Destination” of Easton, Talbot County and the Mid-Atlantic cannot be over-stated!
It has been such a pleasure for me to know you from the very beginning of Plein Air Easton! To watch the growth, enthusiasm and excellence of arts activities and accessibility continue to thrive is so exciting for our whole community! You are an inspiration to me to work for health and cultural improvements in our neighborhoods and precious rural communities, to celebrate the Shore and the Bay!
Congratulations, Nancy. cj