Ree Nancarrow

NWDC is pleased to share the art and ideas of Ree Nancarrow for the first NWDC Artist Interview in 2025. Ree currently has a solo exhibition titled Ree Nancarrow: Sharing the World I Know on view at The Alaska State Museum until March 15, 2025.

Ree grew up in Redfield, South Dakota, and graduated from the University of Minnesota with a B.S. in Education. She lived near Denali National Park in Alaska for 50 years and currently lives in Fairbanks, Alaska. She was a Denali National Park Artist-in-Residence, has been accepted and won awards in many national shows, and has had multiple solo shows. Major commissions include a four-panel quilt for the U.S. Army (Fort Wainwright Bassett Hospital, Fairbanks AK) and a four-panel quilt for the Eielson Visitor’s Center in Denali National Park, Alaska. She received an Interior Alaska Mayor's Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts in 2012. She was a Rasmuson Individual Artists Grant recipient in 2020.

How were you introduced to art?

My mother was very creative, and involved me and my sister in art projects regularly while we were growing up.  The small school in South Dakota where I went to grade and high school had no art classes, but she supported my plans to go into art when I went to college.  

Where do you find inspiration when creating new work?

My inspiration comes from many, many different places. For over a decade I have been involved with "In Time of Change," a program that selects artists to work with scientists for 1 or 2 years and then produce pieces for a visual show informed by that new knowledge. I take classes and learn new techniques, which invariably gives me a new way of expressing an idea. I spend time in the natural world, and often observations and thoughts that occur to me surface in future work.

What do you consider your greatest artistic achievement?

I completed a 4-panel quilt for the Eielson Visitors Center in Denali National Park in 2008. It became a labor of love, taking a full year to complete. I portrayed the view of Denali from the visitor center, depicting the changing seasons from left to right, from the last hint of winter through spring, summer and fall, to the beginnings of winter. Sun, plants, animals, and migratory birds increase in a crescendo, then decrease with a rapidly approaching winter This project utilized every way I knew to work with fabric, and required learning new techniques as well.

Ree Nancarrow, Inner Light, 2024 / Ree Nancarrow, Dwarf Birch (Dark), 2024 

What is the quality you most like in an artist?

Flexibility, a way of looking new information and allowing it to influence and affect ideas and ways of working.

Which living artist do you most admire?

David Hockney, and his ability to reinvent himself with new techniques and ideas.

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

I have always worked on one thing until it is completed to the exclusion of almost everything else. Life would flow more smoothly if I were able to work on a major project for only part of a day, so I could simultaneously keep up with other demands in my life.

What is your most treasured possession?

My collections of photos.

Who has had a significant influence over your work?

It would be difficult to overemphasize the influence my husband played in my artistic development. We lived remotely in interior Alaska for many years, raising two children, and he always encouraged, supported, and even collaborated with me on projects. David Passalacqua taught me how to draw and reinforced my work ethic: "If you can think it, you can do it." Nancy Crow taught me a revolutionary way to fearlessly approach cutting and sewing fabric. Kes Woodward encouraged me to think of myself as a serious artist, not just a "craft" person. The "In a Time of Change" program in Fairbanks has introduced me to working with scientists, so I see and understand the natural world in a different way.

Ree Nancarrow, Ancient Dwellers, 2024 / Ree Nancarrow, Caribou Migration 2, 2024

How has your studio practice changed?

I have worked with a variety of media over time, all of which necessitated different studio set-ups. I have produced limited-edition silk-screen prints, spun, woven and needle-pointed dog fur, painted, and done illustration work. I learned traditional quilting and improvisational piecing techniques. I create my own fabrics by immersion dying, silk-screening, deconstructed silk-screening, stamping, and painting, Recently I learned to design on the computer, and I use images of my own fabrics. drawings, and photographs to make new work. I combine, layer, create new color palettes, and experiment with apps. My son Eric has an enormous understanding and ability to work with color and images on the computer, and his patience in teaching me things I want to know has made my recent work possible.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?

I think I have perfect happiness right now. I can get up in the morning and do whatever I want to. I have very good health and stamina considering my age, so I can work for long hours when I want to. I have supportive, creative artist friends that I work with, interact with, and am inspired by on a regular basis. My son and daughter-in-law now live in the same town I do. I was married to an incredible husband for many, many years, and have a life-time collection of wonderful friends to stay in touch with.