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ARTIST'S STATEMENT

Japanese paper appears delicate, but it is strong because of its long fibers. I love it because it has this translucent flimsiness that sort of defies its truer self. The idea of painting pictures on such paper interests me even more so because the ink moves across this paper as if it were bleeding. I think of this work as napkins—images quickly painted, something to wipe your mouth with after you’ve been too polite, or maybe even for coughing up odd nightmares.

              —Nancy Kiefer

Nancy Kiefer’s paintings have been exhibited widely in the Northwest, including the Tacoma Art Museum and the Kittredge Gallery at the University of Puget Sound. In collaboration with writer Rebecca Brown she provided the images for Woman in Ill-Fitting Wig. Her visual work has been included in Tarpaulin Sky and Cranky. She is currently working on a book of poems for children to be published in 2008 and on “Flying Heads”, a project through a grant from The Drachen Kite Foundation. Born in Rock Island, Illinois, only eight blocks from the Mississippi River, she currently resides in Seattle where she works as a librarian.