About

  • 88__h=x_ingbretson-studio_0001Education:

Ingbretson Studio of Drawing & Painting

Nancy Fernald spent five years studying classical methods of drawing and painting at the atelier of Paul Ingbretson, modern master of the “Boston School” and former president of The Guild of Boston Artists. Studies included cast and figure drawing, still life, figure, and portrait painting. Plein air landscape painting with Paul Ingbretson, David Curtis, and Thomas Dunlay.

Wellesley College

Nancy Fernald received her B.A. with Honors in Studio Art. Awarded a Stecher Grant for travel throughout Europe to study the work of Johannas Vermeer. While at Wellesley, her teacher and advisor was Richard Yarde.

Selected Exhibits:

  • 2018 Academic Artists Association 68th National Exhibition, Vernon CT.
  • 2016 Academic Artists Association 66th National Exhibition, Vernon, CT
  • 2015 Academic Artists Association 65th National Exhibition, Vernon, CT
  • 2014 Hadley Artists Association, Hadley, MA
  • 2013 Shades of Fall, Bryan Memorial Gallery, Jeffersonville, VT
  • 2012 The Pastelists, Bryan Memorial Gallery, Jeffersonville, VT
  • 2012 Academic Artists Association, 62nd National Exhibition, Springfield, MA
  • 2012 Land and Light Exhibit, Bryan Memorial Gallery, Jeffersonville, VT
  • 2011 Academic Artists Association, 61st National Exhibition, Springfield, MA
  • 2011 Land and Light Exhibit, Bryan Memorial Gallery, Jeffersonville, VT
    2010 Leila Gardin Sawyer Award at The National Arts Club Exhibition
  • National Arts Club, New York, Catherine Lorillard Wolfe Art Club 114th National Exhibition
  • 2009 New England Representational Painting Competition
  • Guild of Boston Artists, Boston, MA
  • 2009 The Burnett Gallery, Amherst, MA
  • 2009 383 Main Gallery, Amherst, MA
  • 2009 The Porter-Phelps Huntington Museum, Hadley, MA
  • 2004 The Burnett Gallery, Amherst, MA
  • 2002 The Natick Center for the Arts, Natick, MA
  • 2002 Dover Library, Dover, MA

Nancy Fernald grew up in the Brandywine River Valley north of Wilmington, Delaware—an area with a rich artistic heritage. Her family home was filled with paintings by her ancestors. One hundred years ago, her great-great-grandmother, great-grandmother, and great aunt were all artists living in Amherst, Massachusetts and Mount Desert Island, Maine. As a child, Nancy Fernald took art classes at the Delaware Art Museum. Here, she was introduced to the paintings of Howard Pyle and his students, notably N.C. Wyeth, as well as the work of the Pre-Raphaelites in the extensive Delaware Art Museum collection and exhibits.

Nancy Fernald was educated at Wellesley College where she received her B.A. with Honors in Studio Art. She was awarded a Stecher Grant for travel to study the works of Johannas Vermeer in preparation for her honors thesis. Her travels took her throughout Europe–from London, to Paris, Amsterdam, Florence, and Venice. Her teacher and advisor at Wellesley was renowned painter, Richard Yarde, of Northampton, MA. After graduation, Nancy Fernald worked as a free-lance archaeological illustrator for the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University and as a botanical illustrator for ” Horticulture” magazine in Boston. She also worked as a painter of decorative marbelizing, glazing, and faux finishes.

Her admiration for the work of American painters; Edmund Charles Tarbell (whose mother was Mary Sophia Fernald), Frank Benson, William MacGregor Paxton, Dennis Miller Bunker, and John Singer Sargent, led to her interest in the “Boston School.” The “Boston School” was founded over a century ago by painters who studied in the acclaimed ateliers of 19th century Paris, then returned to Boston to paint, teach, and establish their own studios. From Jean-Leon Gerome, to Tarbell and Paxton, to R.H. Ives Gammell, to Paul Ingbretson– the teaching methods of the “Boston School” painters have been passed from one generation to the next, continuing this unbroken lineage and legacy into the 21st century. Nancy followed a rigorous five year course of training in classical methods of drawing and painting with “Boston School” master, Paul Ingbretson at his atelier in New Hampshire. Her studies included cast and figure drawing, still life, figure, and portrait painting. She also studied plein air landscape painting with Paul Ingbretson, David Curtis, and Thomas Dunlay– students of the late R.H. Ives Gammell.

The “Boston School” is a branch of what is often referred to as “classical realism.” The “Boston School” is a method of teaching representational painting which embraces both academic draughtsmanship and an impressionistic approach to color. In keeping with this tradition, Nancy Fernald paints alla prima from life at her studio.