NAN KRUZIK

(American, b. 1976)

Nan Kruzik, a Pennsylvania native, was born in 1976. As a youth, Nan began her “formal” training on Saturday mornings at a local art teacher’s barn/studio where she and other students of all ages learned in a warmly guided environment how to copy landscapes and greeting cards using whichever medium interested them. She continued formal artistic training at St. Bonaventure University in 1994 under the guidance of landscape artist Cole Young. He tapped into her naïve talent, allowing her to explore and render without restriction. She studied abroad at the prestigious Glasgow School of Art in 1996. After her undergraduate degree, she continued her studies by learning about the other side of the scale in the technical Masters Program at The New York Academy of Art in Tribeca, Manhattan (graduating in 2001). There she learned the ways of the old Masters and other techniques of rendering (focusing on the human figure) from such artists as Fischl, Zlamany, Schuman, Citron and Erlebacher.

Nan has always been able to see a portrait in any object in life. Her natural responsiveness to paint allows her to express this universal portraiture and explore achieving a realistic effect by using sometimes unconventional color. Although classically trained in her later education, she tries to remain true to the way she genuinely reacts to a subject and the narrative. She in turn trusts the viewer to tap into an intrinsic suspension of disbelief in order for their eyes to get lost and play within the subject matter and brushstrokes she presents.

In addition to her art, Nan works full-time as an alliance and project manager in the University City area of Philadelphia and enjoys spending lots of time with her partner, Nick (paleo artist & freelance designer at Fonseca Art & Design - Facebook) and their two children Maxwell & Eleanor.

Nan currently resides in Wynnewood, PA.