DVAA Member since 2026

Nancy Sophy

WEBsite: nancysophy.com

About:

Nancy Sophy’s studio practice is concentrated in painting and drawing; her imagery is inspired by place, memory and the endless variety of nature. Nancy is Professor of Painting at Rowan University and received her MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.

Her work has been included in significant regional exhibitions, including First Look: Collecting for Philadelphia at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Art of the State at the State Museum of Pennsylvania, Useless Weapon at Green Lantern Gallery, Chicago, AxD Gallery, and Seraphin Gallery, Philadelphia. She has had solo exhibitions at Seraphin Gallery, The Delaware Contemporary, Fleisher Art Memorial and The Center for Emerging Visual Artists, and has received grants and awards from The Leeway Foundation, The Center for Emerging Visual Artists, Change Inc., Artists’ Fellowship Inc., and the Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation. Nancy’s work has been purchased by private collectors and is in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Artist Statement:

My work reflects a moment, offering a connection to a place, time, and memory. My imagery is linked to observed and collected sources, taken from nature or evocations of identity and heritage to create a vocabulary of symbols and marks. The drawings and paintings describe intangible subjects as succinct visual expressions. Process and materials are integral to my studio research — for example, my drawings with unpigmented oil on paper can be backlit with a light box, while others are grounded with pastel. These techniques hide, reveal and change effects and textures and suggest shifting points of view. Similarly, my paintings explore a cohesive range of subjects through a variety of techniques and experimentation with surface effects and materials.