photo by Carolina Monroy
STATEMENT
MAKING LIGHT VISIBLE has challenged and enlivened me for the last four years. While earning my MFA, I newly realized that Light had always been both my medium AND the subject of my work. I finally found the freedom to dive into what I already loved without hesitation, giving myself permission to follow the Light wherever it takes me. I am now joyfully walking that road. Recently, I’ve completed a challenging photographic series addressing perception and refracted light, titled Ambiguous.
I am a conceptual photographer, sculpture, and installation artist, seeking to make light visible through exploration and discovery.
My practice is grounded in play, exploring Light’s qualities with curiosity in unexpected ways. I’m energized when testing new materials and new concepts to engage with Light. I begin my projects by reaching outside the norms of traditional genres, waiting to find what challenges Light has yet to reveal. In my latest photographic series, I worked with the camera to capture refracted light that records what our eyes don’t see. With the aid of the lens, I exposed an unfamiliar world, refocusing attention and challenging visual perception.
My installations highlight the presence of Light and Shadow in our lived spaces, with an awareness of the passing of time, the rising and setting sun, and our spinning planet. All of my work centers on looking and seeing, bringing consciousness to our daily experiences of the constant Light that surrounds us.
BIO
As an artist, Nancy Edelstein is best known for her deep engagement with light and shadow. Through photography and installation she explores their shifting qualities that shape perception. She earned her BFA at the University of Michigan and her MFA in Studio Arts at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). After graduation, MICA awarded Nancy a full residency to MASS MoCA in North Adams, MA. There, she transformed her studio into a wondrous space of light. She returned to North Adams as an artist-in-residence the following year, where she developed an elaborate site-specific installation of light and color, culminating in an open studio installation titled Pray for Sun.
Back in Seattle, Nancy developed a strong group of artist friends, and set to work in her studio to observe and capture the subtlety of light throughout the seasons. Nancy has engaged in a variety of approaches, looking to understand the multiple possibilities of interrupting light and making shadows visible. Currently she has returned her practice to focus on creating unique photographic images by documenting the world of light as it engages with layered, reflective surfaces.
Edelstein participated in the Pacific Northwest Annual Exhibition at the Bellevue Art Museum in Seattle, Wa. At the Davis Orton Gallery in Hudson, New York and the Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester, MA. And more. Her Friday Night Dinners artist book was exhibited at the juried Month of Photography Los Angeles, Photo Book Exhibition, Lucie Foundation, in collaboration with Venice Arts. It is now permanently held in the collection of the Swarthmore College Libraries, PA.
Edelstein’s solo show, ‘The Shape of Light’, was installed at Method Gallery in Seattle, WA. in 2023.
Nancy lives and works in Seattle and travels often to California to play with her two granddaughters.
CONTACT
Email edelstein.nancy@gmail.com
Instagram nancyjo.art
Website: https://nancyedelstein.com