An internationally acclaimed artist, Nancy Worthington’s unique and controversial style has attracted thoughtful art patrons the world over with her creations of political/social commentary art. She has been creating these amazing artworks for over 40 years.
In 1976, her controversial life-size sculpture, “Euthanasia” was censored from an exhibition at Syntex Corporation in Palo Alto, CA. Television interviews, the SF Chronicle and the Associated Press covered this incident.
Worthington’s insightful and courageous art drew national and international attention in February 2003, when “The Crossing”, from her 26 artwork George Dubya Series, created from 2000-2004, was censored from the French Cultural Center in San Francisco. The Sunday New York Times, Le Monde (in Paris) and The World of Art Magazine (Stockholm Sweden), all featured the story and artwork.
In the summer of 2008, Worthington’s artwork “Gateway to Hope”, accepted into the International Women’s Biennial VIII, at the China National Art Gallery in Beijing, was censored by the China National Censorship Board.
Nancy Worthington broke the glass ceiling to become the first woman to graduate with an M.F.A. in sculpture from the College of Arts and Architecture at Pennsylvania State University in 1972 and the first woman to teach Sculpture at PSU.
Worthington’s artworks represented the U.S.A. in the 18th International Biennial in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Her works are in the permanent collections of the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C., the U.S. State Department Art in Embassies Program, The San Jose Museum of Art, The Mills College Art Museum, the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum, among others, and private collections worldwide; with artworks exhibited in the United States, Europe, South America, China, India and Japan.
Worthington places her images on a tightrope between comic absurdity and tragic consequence. Art Historian Susan Platt, comments: “In the tradition of Bosch and Breughel, Worthington feels the injustices and ironies of our society. She uses her art as a vehicle for arousing our awareness of situations that concern her.” Worthington states, “It has been said that civilizations are recorded and remembered by their wars and their art. The arts act as checks and balances against the more destructive side of civilization. My sense of hope for the future compels me to facilitate change with my art for a better, more humane world.”
PBS FILM–A CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE
This short film entitled “A Conspiracy of Silence?” about Nancy Worthington is an intimate look into her life and works, in a candid and intimate interview filmed by Dan Villava.
SELECTED EDUCATION AND TRAINING
1972 M.F.A., Sculpture, Pennsylvania State University
1969 B.A. Fine Arts, James Madison University
SELECTED INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITIONS
2012 Art Museum, Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam, Her Presence in Colors X
2008 Galerie Gora, Montreal, Canada
2008 Her Presence in Colors VIII – International Women Artist’s Exhibition, Beijing China
2007 Espace Chatelet-Victoria, Paris, France
2005 Galleria Tondinelli, Rome, Italy
2004 Oslo City Hall, Oslo Norway
2004 Majlis Cultural Center, Bombay, India
2002 France-Ameriques, “Exposition Franco-Americaine”, Paris, France, Catalog
1998 First Venice Annual, “Masks in Venice”
1997 Galerie Everarts, Paris, France
1996 2nd International Female Artists Biennial, Stockholm, Sweden
1996 “Latent August”, Tokyo
1995 U.N. 4th World Conference on Women, Beijing, China
1993 Grand Palais, 109eme Salon, Paris, Catalog
1992 Musee de Mougins, Mougins, France, Catalog
1985 “XVIII Bienal lnternacional de Sao Paulo, Museo de Art Moderna
de Sao Paulo, Brazil,” Catalog
1983 International Association of Art, 10 Congress, Helsinki, Finland, Invitational
1981 “The Exchange Show–San Francisco-Berlin”, Gallerie Franz Mehrig, Berlin,
Germany, Catalog
1980 “First International Festival of Women Artists,” NY Glypotek, Copenhagen,
Denmark, Catalog
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2017 Galleria Marconi, Palm Springs, CA
2015 Archangel Gallery, Palm Springs, CA “Icons”
2010 “Planet Pluto” commissioned painted 9 litter wine bottle, Charlotte, N.C.
2004 “The George Duyba Series”, Domaine Joyeux, Sonoma County, CA
2003 Art-Tech at Skyranch, San Jose, CA
2001 Kendall-Jackson Winery, Sonoma County, CA
2000 “Automaton”, Skyranch, San Jose, CA
1999 “Elvis & Marilyn”, Silicon Valley Institute of Art and Technology, San Jose, CA
1996 “Interactive Environments”, Art Tech, San Jose, CA
1993 Institute for Design and Experimental Art,
Sacramento, California
1988 Vorpal Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1984 San Jose Museum of Art San Jose, CA, Catalog
1979 California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, CA
1979 University of California, Davis, CA
1978 “East Coast – West Coast) exhibit, Peninsula Musuem of Art, Belmont, California 1976 San Francisco Art Commission Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1976 Montalvo Center for the Arts, Saratoga, CA
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2017 Palm Springs Art Museum Artists Council, UC Riverside, Palm Desert, CA
2017 “Art Marks The Spot”, Makerville, CA, Parallel Event to Desert X
2017 Cultural Arts Museum, Cathedral City, CA, Invitational Exhibit
2017 LGBT Center, Palm Springs, CA, Invitational fundraiser
2016 Style Fashion Week, Palm Springs Convention Center, Palm Springs, CA “Women, Cats and Super Heroines”
2016 UC Riverside, Palm Desert CA
2015 Fiaco Fine Art Projects, “W Hollywood”, Los Angeles, CA
2015 Cambria Gallery, Palm Desert, CA
2015 Venus Studios Gallery, Palm Springs, CA “Characteristics”
2015 Archangel Gallery, Palm Springs, CA “California Dreamin”
2014-“10 x 10″ Exhibit, I5 Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2013-14 LA Center for Digital Art
2013 Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs, CA
2012, 2013, 2014 99 Bucks Fundraiser for the Palm Springs Art Museum
2012 Culture I.D., Boston, MA
2012, “Reflections”, The Cannery, San Francisco
2012 Penn State University, “Same Difference”, SoVA alumni postcard art
2011 Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs, CA
2010 “Redrawing The Lines”, The Seed Corn Gallery, Berkeley, CA, juried exhibition, catalog
2010 “Journeys”, Marin, CA, juried exhibition
2009 “Control”, SOMArts Cultural Center, San Francisco, Ca, juried exhibition, catalog
2008 The Center for the Book, San Francisco, “Banned and Recovered” invitational exhibit
2008 “I Express…”, Sonoma State University Library Art Gallery, invitational exhibit
2008 “Women On War”, Solo Mujeres 20th Annual Juried Exhibit, Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, San Francisco
2007 Salmagundi Center for American Art, New York, New York
2007 Asylum Gallery, Sacramento, CA,” International Women Artist”s
2007 Works Gallery, San Jose, CA
2006 Potentially Harmful: The Art of American Censorship, GSU Gallery, Atlanta, GA 2006 2006 Jan Baum Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, “Dynamic Essesnce”
2006 Marin Technology Center, San Rafael, CA
2005 Jan Baum Gallery, Los Angeles, CA “Ladies With Figures”
2005 “Bon Appetit–A Feast For All Seasons”, Mill Valley, CA
2003 The Blue Room Gallery, San Franciso, CA
2003 “Art Against War Poster Exhibition”, Columbia University, New York, NY
2003 “Art Against War Poster Exhibition”, NY Arts Space, New York, NY
2003 Alliance Francaise, San Francisco, CA
2001 “The Impact of Ylem-20 Years of Art on the Edge”, San Francisco, CA
2001 Spear Tower, San Francisco, CA
2001 George Lucas Complex, Marin, CA
2000 S.J. Performing Arts Center, San Jose, CA
2000 San Jose Museum Southerby’s auction “Cool Stuff”, San Jose, CA
1998 Gallerie Internationale, Palo Alto, CA
1997 “Finding the Fulcrum”, Leonardo Magazine 30th Anniversary
Exhibition, San Francisco, CA
1996 Bechtel International Center, Stanford, CA
1995 “Latent August”, Pier One, San Francisco, CA
1994 “Book Works”, 7th Bienial Exhibit, Pacific Center for the
Book Arts, SF, CA
1993 “Techno Art”, Spectrum Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1993 Alliance Francaise, San Francisco, CA
1992 CA Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA
1989 University of Wyoming Art Museum. Laramie, WY
1984 San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
1984 “CADRE ’84” San Jose, California, Catalog
1982 “Twelfth International Sculpture Conference”, Oakland, California
1982-84 “Forgotten Dimension…A Survey of Small Sculpture in CA Now”,
Traveling Exhibit, SF International Airport to public spaces in CA, Illinois, Colorado and Florida, Catalog
1982 Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1975 Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara, CA
SELECTED AWARDS
2005 Medial 1. art biennial, London, England, Award of Honor
1998 Certificate of Merit, 1st Venice Annual, Venice, Italy
1996 Gold Metal Winner, 2nd International Female Artist Biennial,
Stockholm, Sweden
1988 Represented the U.S.A., 18th International Bienal,
Sao Paulo, Brazil
1982 Honorable Mention, “West ’82/Art and the Law”
1979 San Francisco Arts Commission Award: Solo Exhibition
1978 Nomination, Artist of the Year, Oakland Museum, Oakland, CA
1978 Award for set design, Theatre of Man, San Francisco
1977 Artist in Residence, California Arts Council
SELECTED MUSEUM & PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
U.S. Dept. of State, Art in Embassies Program, Washington, D.C.
National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.
Silicon Valley Institute of Art and Technology, San Jose, CA
Mills College Art Museum, Oakland California
San Jose Museum of Art
SELECTED PRIVATE COLLECTIONS
Chuck and Pam Richards, Charlotte, NC
Arabella Decker, Montara, California, Art Collector
John J. Davis, Esq., San Francisco, CA, Attorney
Patricia D’Alessandro, Sacramento, CA, Art Collector
Dr. Greta Berman, New York, NY., Art Historian
Marion Chapman, Esq., Oakland, CA, Attorney
Alfred Knoll, Esq., Oakland, CA, Attorney
Elizabeth Rigali, San Francisco, CA, Art Collector
Elaine Cook, San Francisco, CA, Art Collector
Dr. Ann Sutherland Harris, Pittsburgh, PA, Art Historian
Meryle Holmes, San Jose, CA, Art Dealer
Dr. Susan Platt, Seattle, Washington, Art Historian
Gianluca Salotto, Switzerland, Art Collector
Dr. Judith Fein, Sonoma County, Art Patron
Keith Roizman, Los Angeles, CA, Architect
Irma Cordova, Attorney, Sonoma County, CA
Jan and John Stanford, Palm Desert, CA
Virginia Strom-Martin, Sonoma County, CA, Politician
Carol Migden, San Francisco, CA, Politician
Dr. Richard Meyers, Art Historian, Los Angeles, CA
Barbara Boyajian, Long Beach, CA, Art Collector/Investor
Randy Coffman, Realtor, Sebastopol, CA
David Barnett, Musician, Sebastopol, CA
Clark Smith, Winemaker, Santa Rosa, CA
Peter Selz, Art Historian, Berkeley, CA
Dr. Claire Kruppe, Palm Desert, CA
Patty Henderson, Palm Desert, CA, Art Collector
Dr. David and Dr. Madhu Berman, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA, MDs
Randy Pack, Palm Springs, CA, Art Collector
Jonathan Brown, Palm Springs, CA, Art Collector
Marushka Kovalska, Palm Springs, CA
John Paul Valdez, Art Collector, Palm Springs, CA
Kenn Gray, Designer, Rancho Mirage, CA
Laura and Annie Meeks, Rancho Mirage, CA
SELECTED REVIEWS
Dryer, Dianne, “Nancy Worthington’ Social Commentaries”,
Artweek, 3/19/77
Arts Magazine, February 1981, Illustration
Jan, Alfred, “Exhibitions: Polemetics Through Art” Artweek, Vol. 10,
No. 15, 4/15/84
Ghent, Gregory. “Nancy Worthington at Zara”, Visual Dialogue, Vol. 3,
No. 3, Mar-May 1978, Illus.
Frankenstein, Alfred, “A Haunting Series of Boxes”, SF Chronicle,
1/15/77, illus.
“Art With a Social Conscience”, SF Examiner, 1/5/78
Weeks, H.J. “Nancy Worthington at Zara”, Art Voices South, Vol. 2,
No. 3 (May-June 1979 (illus.)
“Art Shock: Strategy to Raise Consciousness”, Sonoma Business
Magazine, March 1994
Swartz, Susan, Press Democrat, “Femalines”, May 7, 1995
Art Pictorial, Vol. 6, Tokyo, Japan, January 1996
Schiffman, Karen “In The Studio with Nancy Worthingt0n”, March 2015
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS & VIDEOS
Albright, Thomas. Art in the SF Bay Area, 1945-80.An Illustrated History.
Univ. of CA Press, 1981
Jones, Virginia Watson. Contemporary American Women Sculptors,
Onyx Press, 1986, illustrated
Specimen UI2, The American Rat Race”, Leonardo, Pergamon Press,
Oxford, U.K., V. 42, No. 1, 1991
Worthington, Nancy. Femalines, Torrance Publishing. Co, 1994
Art Pictorial, Vol. 6, January 1996, Tokyo, Japan
Owens, G.L. International Women Artists, 1997 and 2001
“Constructive Criticisms”, Documentary Video, 13 minutes.
National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C.
(videocassette available)
KGO-TV 7. Studio interview (videocassette available)
World of Art Magazine, Issue 5, Volume 2, December 2002
NT Times, Sunday, February 23, article by Dean Murphy
Le Monde, article, February, 2003
100 Contemporary Artists, Masters of Today, Petru Russu, Editor, 2003
“The Terror Project-George Dubya series, Nancy Worthington”, World of Art Magazine, Issue 6, Volume 3, pp. 44-45, May 2003
Who’s Who in America, 60th Diamond Edition, 2006
Potentially Harmful The Art of American Censorship, GSU Catalog, 2006
American Art Collector, juried works, Volume 3, Book 4, Alcove Books, 2007
American Art Collector, juried works, Volume 4, Book 2, Alcove Books, 2008
American Art Collector, juried works, 2009 edition
Susan Noyes Platt, “Art and Politics Now”, Midmarch Arts Press, NY, NY 2010, Nancy Worthington: Subversive Games
Fein, Judith T, Ph.D., “Breaking The Intimidation Game–The Art of Self-Defense, Torrance Publishing Company, 2010, Cover and Artworks by Live Magazine, Vol 8, Issue 207, 2015, “Nancy Worthington–Assembling a New Reality”
Desert Outlook Magazine, January 2015, “A Fine Balance” by Victor Barocas