Nancy Meaden displays artwork in Studio One at Gateway

​The Rossmoor Art Association in pleased to present a show of works in watercolor and alcohol inks by member Nancy Meaden. The show is in Studio One at Gateway and runs into April.

Meaden has been painting in watercolor for about 20 years and is also an accomplished ceramicist and silk painter.  Recently, she has added alcohol ink to her repertoire.  The paintings she has on display at Gateway include realistic and abstract works.

Meaden was born and raised in a suburb of Chicago.  As a young girl, she spent hours drawing and perusing art instruction books at the local stationery store. 

Following college, Meaden married and moved to New Mexico, where she raised her children.   During her time in New Mexico, her connection with nature was peaked by the wonderful differences she observed between the Midwest and the Southwest.  The family spent time outdoors regularly and travelled throughout the parks and mountains of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.  

Although not yet painting, Meaden found an abundance of other creative outlets, including doing needlework and creating wreathes and arrangements from wild plants and vines collected on hikes and camping trips.  She also took photos to capture images of the things and places of which she had become so fond.

When her children were grown, Meaden’s life took on another direction.   She moved back to the Chicago suburbs to be close to her parents. She worked in a variety of fields, including travel, real estate, law and accounting, all of which left her yearning for creative outlets.  

That is when her love for painting bloomed.  She studied under Phyllis Kozloski and Nancy Nordloh.  She, her mother and her sister collaborated twice a year on an Art in the Garden show featuring Nancy’s art, her sister’s creative nibbles and her mother’s beautiful garden.  Meaden also participated in art shows, such as an annual outdoor event supporting a local historic grist mill which functioned as an educational site, a holiday show at the local art center featuring her notecards with images of local architecture and at the town’s annual July 4th arts and crafts fair.

Years later, Meaden was transplanted once again—this time to northern California to begin another adventure in 2006.  She joined the Rossmoor Art Association in 2007, where she became involved with developing the calendar on the bulletin board, assisting and then chairing the exhibits committee, and acting as club president. 
 
Meaden is also a member of the California Watercolor Association and the Transparent Watercolor Society of America, and she is on the board of the Valley Art Gallery in Walnut Creek.