Nancy Tieken Lopez

As an artist working in the landscape, Nancy Tieken Lopez fuses art and nature together to offer those rare, fleeting moments when sights and sounds seem to take on an added importance, filling us with a sense of profound but equivocal mystery, which often lie hidden beneath the trees, and within our own imagination. Rightly so, the art hikes may open to an act or attitude that is capable of multiple interpretations of meaning, enhanced with each fleeting mark created by an artist, dancer, musician, or poet.

“Through the art hikes the act of walking in a small community carries equal importance with the creation of the art and the land. The experience turns the act of walking into a collection of visual and audio memories filled with emotions, taking each person from the viewer to participant. The art within nature that appears and disappears into the landscape opens up new experiences of art within nature, as well as a new perspective on viewing the natural world around us.”

Nancy received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Southwest Texas State University and Masters of Fine Arts from San Jose State University. Her graduate studies included an emphasis in bronze sculpture and later installation and performance art. Taking art outside lead her to using more ephemeral materials in her earth installations. She began creating art hikes in nature while completing her Master of Fine Arts in 1997, and founded the non-profit organization Trails and Vistas in 2004. Collaborative strategies continue to play an essential role in her work as a professional artist with her unique art hikes.