Nancy Rourke

Artist: Nancy Rourke

Biography:

I started drawing and painting when I was seven years old and used art as a way of communicating. I was born two months prematurely, weighing only 2 pounds. My parents did not know I was Deaf until I was six years old.  The doctor originally said I had a learning disability and speech impairment. Not so. During my childhood, I was always creating new pieces and exhibited my artwork from age 8 through high school —from painting rocks to canvases—at art fairs, in contests, and at galleries.  I decided to study graphic design and painting at the National Technical Institute of the Deaf and Rochester Institute of Technology in New York and earned a master’s degree.

In 1979, I had my very first showing at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. I was among 12 Deaf artists participating at the Heart, Eye, Hand exhibit held at the Los Angeles-based Ankrum Gallery. (This gallery was owned by Joan Ankrum who is Morris Broderson’s aunt.) At this point, I stopped painting. Ididn’t have full confidence in my chances at success in the art community, so I chose to become a 9-to-5 employee.

I worked as a graphic designer for Xerox in San Diego, then became a palette designer for 20th Century Fox, where I created color palettes to colorize classic black and white films such as Casablanca, King Kong, Sherlock Holmes, and numerous John Wayne films. In 1991, I moved to Seattle, where she worked as a graphic designer for Microsoft Corporation designing Windows icons. I was unexpectedly laid off.

Throughout my career, I continued to long to paint. The layoff was the perfect opportunity for me to take workshops and courses in preparation for my return to painting. I knew I had revived my art career when I placed second in the Northern Colorado Regional Juried Show in the oil painting category. For eight years, I painted everything from portraits to landscapes and cityscapes to still life.

In 2010, I became involved in Deaf Art and discovered my passion. I wrote a proposal on Deafhood and sent it to the Puffin Foundation and received a grant to study, through painting, Deafhood, Deaf culture, Audism, Deaf history, Deaf politics, American Sign Language and bilingualism.

As of 2011, my paintings sell within days after being finished. The Deaf community clearly anticipates my new work.  Many have said, “It’s been long overdue there is art that includes an important message.” I focus mainly on the Deaf society and current issues. Hence, I created paintings that have stories to tell and opinions to open up.

The Art Process

I am greatly influenced by the Fauvism Movement—specifically, Henri Matisse, Andre Derain and Maurice de Vlaminck. Another influence is the Neo-Expressionism Movement, or yet New Fauves' Neue Wilden 'The new wild ones'; including Jacob Lawrence, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Matt Sesow.

I am is also influenced by the De Stijl movement, and this art allows only primary colours and black and white, only squares and rectangles, only straight and horizontal or vertical line. In her paintings I use uses not only horizontal and vertical lines but also triangle shapes. All of my paintings, I uses primary colours, and uses black and white pigments for saturated color areas.

I consider myself a  De’VIA artist, influenced by the  De’VIA movement.

I create symbols, metaphors and hidden messages in paintings. I use specific colours to represent certain meanings. My goal, aside from self-expression, is to show appreciation for the Deaf community and to convey my Deafhood journey and experiences.

Abstracts:

Mask of Benevolence
August 2011
Oil on Stretched Canvas, 30” x 40”

This painting is about ‘Mask of Benevolence’ by Harlan Lane's Mask of Benevolence book. This painting shows a class picture of a mainstreamed Deaf student with hearing students. These hearing students pretend to be 'friends' with the Deaf student, however the Deaf student knows and sees not-so-good vibes among them. The Deaf student signs 'STOP,' 'Enough is Enough'. The blue tape is the symbol which I use in many of the paintings, is a resistance remark to audism, oppression, crossed-out, tied down, trapped and masks.

Struggled Puppets
September 2011
Oil on Stretched Canvas, 30” x 40”

This painting is about Audism and what is happening today in the Deaf community. Deaf people are treated as 'pulled string puppets' controlled by the oralism, (i.e. AGBell) mainstreamed programs, the professionals, etc., who do not support America Sign Language, or respect their Deaf culture. This has been going on for years. The blue painter’s tape wrapped around hands means Deaf children are not allowed to sign. They must learn to speak and listen as AGBell said, “We should try ourselves to forget that they are deaf. We should teach them to forget that they are deaf.”

The painting is about what the Deaf community feels and how they have been struggling to overcome oralism for years. The two Deaf persons are tangled with strings and are pulling down the strings from the controllers, to stop them from oppressing them. 

Valli’s Dandelions
September 2011
Oil on Stretched Canvas, 30” x 40”

This painting is in honor of Clayton Valli, ASL Poet. The poem, 'Dandelion' was one of his most famous poems that he performed. He was a linguistic genius. There are four movements in the painting. Each hand movement shows different signs of how dandelions move. Each hand overlaps one another, to create shapes and colors. This is Deaf Art, a metaphor.

website: www.nancyrourke.com