Woodrow Nash
 Woodrow Nash was born on September
28, 1948, in Akron, Ohio. He is the product of sanctified churches,
1950’s television images, and black inner city neighborhood schools run
by predominantly white middle-class educators. His chief interest was
in art. Drawing and painting became the means he used throughout school
to acquire decent grades in subjects that sometimes bored him.
Woodrow’s artistic career began as a freelance artist in Akron, Ohio.
He painted murals for local institutions, and worked as an illustrator.
In 1975, he moved to New York and worked as a fashion illustrator for
the trade. He also designed and illustrated record albums for Music
minus one and Inner city jazz labels that represented such jazz greats
as Father Hines, Cat Anderson, Arnett Cobbs and Jeff Lorber fusion.
"Beaded Warrior"
In 1977, Woodrow earned an Associates Degree in
Commercial Art from Pels School of Art in New York City, and worked as
a freelance illustrator. In 1985, he moved back to Ohio and took a job
with Goodyear Aerospace Corporation as a technical illustrator, and
between 1988 and 1991, Woodrow was an illustrator for American
Greetings Corporation in Cleveland Ohio.
In 1991, Woodrow moved to Madison, Wisconsin, and worked as a graphic
artist, a trade that has undergone the full infiltration of computer
and electronic imaging. While still an art form, it seemed light years
away from the tactile expression offered by the manipulation of clay.
“I’m looking for that expression that cuts across a cultural grain.”
That attitude may lead many artists into the bizarre and oblique, but
for Woodrow the search has guided him to the very foundations of
African and world tribal culture.
African Nouveau is the term I use to describe my present body of work.
It’s specifically African and European in influence. The images are
African, in general. The concept is 15th century Benin with the
graceful, slender proportions and long, undulating lines of 18th
century Art Nouveau.”
Both styles were often asymmetrical. They both use decorative shapes
and ornamental motifs derived from natural forms. The two styles lend
themselves well to each other. “Hence the term African Nouveau.”
Decades have come and gone since Nash first delved into the world of
art. Today his work is collected internationally. His collectors range
from working professionals to politicians, sports figures and
entertainment superstars.
Nash’s work involves the combination of different techniques and
styles, handbuilding, coiling, working with slabs and casting. These
techniques are then combined with different ceramic media, such as
stoneware, earthenware, terracotta and porcelain. This combination of
technique and medium is then fired in an array of styles. Whether fired
electrically, gas reductions, pit fired or utilizing a “raku” effect,
it’s the combination of Nash’s approaches that makes his work unique.
For more info visit www.theragegallery.com
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