|
Nancy Harkins was born in Independence, Missouri, and has lived in Oklahoma since the age of seven. She excelled in drawing and painting as a young child; and at 16, she was accepting portrait commissions from classmates and teachers. Watercolor soon became her favorite medium, and she has studied it for over 30 years independently and through workshops with such artists as the late Bill Harrison, Jim Hamil, the late Leo Smith, Sonya Terpening and John Pototschnik.
Strong value contrasts and patterns of light and shadow in Harkins’s landscapes and architectural subjects have won awards in numerous exhibitions, including the Pennsylvania Watercolor Society’s International Watercolor Exhibition in 2004. That same drama is captured in her nearly 100 botanical-style iris paintings, two of which have been published in the book The Best of Flower Painting. The American Iris Society also chose her design for its commemorative poster, awarding her first and second places in its competition to design the Wister medal.
Harkins holds signature memberships in the Pennsylvania Watercolor Society and the Oklahoma Watercolor Society. She is also a member of Tulsa Artists Guild, Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition and the Bartlesville Art Association. Recently she was accepted into Women Artists of the West as an associate member.
In addition to mounting seven one-woman shows, Harkins has shown her work at Tulsa’s Gilcrease Museum in conjunction with the About Face portrait exhibit and in the American Art in Miniature show the last several years. Her work was also chosen to hang at Philbrook Museum in the Oklahoma Landscape exhibition, as well as in the annual Festival of Trees event.
Although known for her watercolors, Harkins’s graphite pencil drawings are featured in two books: Seasons of Life, published in 2004; and Seasons of Love, released in March 2005. Her work is included in private collections around the country. |
