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ARTIST
of the MONTH –
NANCY
BEHM
 Nancy
(New Wilmington, PA) was an English major when she graduated from
college in Monmouth, Illinois, but she was always an artist. Though
art was not taught at her high school, she took a lot of
classes—then, and throughout her life, including a few semesters at
the Art Institute of Chicago. In her varied career, she was a
recreational therapist, ran a nursery school, ran a bed & breakfast,
wrote columns for several newspapers, and taught speech &
composition, as well as private art lessons. Writing and art have
been her biggest interests all of her life.
In 1981 she began taking classes from Tom McNickle at the Hoyt
Institute of Art in New Castle. It was then that she fell in love
with watercolor. Nancy says, “I learned everything from Tom McNickle
(Volant, PA), especially about light—looking at light, seeing
light.” She studied with Tom for 13 years.
Nancy has had several 1-woman art shows (Trunick Gallery in
Brookfield, Westminster College in New Wilmington, a small gallery
in New Wilmington, etc.) and has won several awards. Many of her
works have been purchased and currently hang in local banks, as well
as in her son Jeff’s Photography Studio in New Wilmington. Having
work accepted at The Butler Institute of American Art gave her a
feeling of “validation” as an artist. Her work has also hung at The
Hoyt in New Castle, Valley Arts Guild in Sharon, and Youngstown
Playhouse.
In 2003, she organized an “All in the Family” Art Show featuring 20
members of her artistic family at Valley Art Center in Sharon,
another in Vermont, and finally in Monmouth, Illinois.
Please click on thumbnails to see larger view.
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