Kathryn Markel Fine Arts is thrilled to announce an upcoming exhibition of new work by Nancy Cohen. The State We’re In It marks the artist’s fourth solo exhibition with the gallery and her first exhibition at the gallery’s new 179 10th Avenue location. The exhibition will run concurrently with Drawing on Memory, a group exhibition curated by Cohen.

We’re in a state—it’s unavoidable. We look in, we worry. We look out, we worry more.

(Nancy Cohen)

Nancy Cohen’s unconventional drawings, drawn with paper pulp and fritted glass, find their origin in her move to Jersey City in the 1980s. Along the shore and waterways, the evergreen vegetation thriving amid industrial waste sparked Cohen’s environmental awareness. Waterways, as subject and imagery, draw from personal experience and recur in her work as symbols of nature's ability to endure adversity. In "The State We're In," Cohen pursues the theme of survival, environmentally and personally. Cohen describes her process as “thinking with her hands.”

Concerns outside the studio and challenges within are explored through physically pushing the boundaries of paper and glass. The materials serve as collaborators and provocateurs, where fused glass objects or handmade paper are repurposed as source material and inspiration for later works. Cohen’s choices of materials and processes challenge notions of fragility and resilience. Like fritted glass undergoing transformation in a kiln, Cohen’s work focuses on strength and beauty in the struggle for survival.

Nancy Cohen holds a BFA from the Rochester Institute of Technology and an MFA from Columbia University. Throughout her career, she has received numerous awards and residencies, including 6 fellowships from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. Cohen has been the recipient of various awards, such as the Pollock Krasner Foundation Grant and the Yaddo Artist Residency. Most recently she was the recipient of the Studio Residency Grant at Women’s Studio Workshop and a Fellowship at MacDowell in 2023 where many of the drawings in this show began. She has also been an artist-in-residence at prestigious institutions like the WheatonArts and the Studio at Corning. Her work is included in several public and museum collections, such as the Yale University Art Gallery, the New Jersey State Museum, and the Hudson County Community College.