I remember as a small child in Philadelphia where my family lived on 25th Street, a stone's throw from the Museum of Art,
earnestly looking out the window for part of every day. From that time onward, both windows and the process of seeing life
through them has fascinated me.
The art work behind me as I climb to my barn loft at my present location in rural Pennsylvania is a four-part conceptual work about perception.
Phase #1 is a series of photographs taken looking out
my studio window at tree branches.
Phase #2 is a series of drawings, selecting and examining the lines made by the branches.
In phase #3, several branches are arbitrarily selected, isolated and placed inside a windowed box to be a presence, a focus of perception. Now we are looking in instead of being on the inside looking out.
The final phase, #4, is a series of large glass jars containing the fragmented components of the art work:
sawdust from the milled lumber, the bark of the branches, sand that is the main ingredient of glass, flecks and scraps of the paint that separates the sticks from their natural state. Once again, we are separated from the physical world by the transparent barrier of the jars’ glass.
From an initial impulse/attraction to inner and outer examination mingling nature’s randomness and civilization’s formal activity, the art work has come full cycle and returns to its original formlessness and potential. Its process and mine are the same.

Nura is a graduate of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the University of Pennsylvania and the Barnes Foundation.
She was awarded the Cresson and Scheidt Traveling Scholarships from PAFA which resulted in her extensive travels in Europe, Africa and Asia. Her work has been exhibited in juried and one person shows and she has participated in educational and public art projects.

For a formal resume-CV click here (Opens in new page)

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