Visit "The Gallery", in Big Bear Lake, from February 4h through March 2011, to view Nancy Mendoza's artwork. Ms. Mendoza has been involved with “The Gallery” since it opened in the 90's.
Her watercolors are expressive abstracts with a surprising twist of realism. Her work is fresh and full of life. Her use of colors causes the eye to dance across the page and the colors hold you in the painting. Best of all, one can look at her art and see this wonderful bold design and then see the boldest individual. Her work is enjoyable.
Nancy Mendoza has roots in the Big Bear Valley since she was born. She and husband, Joe, live in a home on property that has been owned by her family since 1912. She has visited the Big Bear Lake area every summer since childhood and she and Joe have been permanent residents for 10 years in her family home.
Nancy was one of the original artists on exhibit in The Gallery, the Arts Council’s fine art gallery on Village Drive when it was established in 2001. She has also exhibited in the Arts Council’s “Art on the Lake” fine art show since the first show in 2000. Her artwork has been on exhibit in prestigious galleries that include the Sandstone Gallery in Laguna Beach and the Ratcliff-Williams Gallery in Sedona, AZ. Her work is in private collections in the United States, Canada, Europe and Latin America.
She began taking art classes in high school and completed an art minor at Cal Berkley. Her involvement in Laguna School of the Arts began in 1976 when she rejoined the art world after raising her family. She studied with Ray Jacob, Roger Armstrong, and Sueo Serisawa, whose particular influence is evident in some of Nancy’s work on exhibit at The Gallery. The Laguna School of the Arts evolved into the Art Institute of Southern California.
Nancy has withdrawn from The Gallery as a participating artist; however several pieces of artwork will remain on exhibit and offered for sale for a period of time. A reception was held on January 28th to celebrate Nancy’s longstanding relationship with the Arts Council and the Gallery. The guest list for Nancy’s reception included fellow artists, collectors, friends and family members who visited Big Bear for the event. Arts Council President, David Leach, commented, “Nancy has been a strong supporter of The Gallery since its inception, as well as an avid supporter of the artistic community in the Big Bear Valley. She will be missed in The Gallery, but we wish her continued success.
Nancy’s work beautifully reflects her own words from her Artists Statement, “I am always excited and stimulated by the restatement of the known and the experimentation into the unknown – sometimes achieving the unexpected. The observed interpreted – improvisation based on reality.”
The Gallery is located at 40750 Village Drive and is open daily from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm.
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