American, 1958

In her etchings at Crown Point Press, she combined images from old art with those of living things recorded in snapshots. She says she learned in art school that “you could paint anything. What mattered was the attitude.” Her attitude is one of pleasure in stillness, delight in detail, and recognition of the capacity in nature for renewal. She works on her multiple copper plates in a way comparable to how she paints on wood, making changes and additions until a dense, layered image magically takes on life. “I’m usually pretty passionate about the art I’m working from,” she has said. “Sometimes I’m in love with it.”
Nelson’s work is included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Minneapolis Museum of Art; the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington D.C.; and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. She lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
-Rachel Lyon, Crown Point Press
Courtesy Crown Point Press