Lucy Nelson: Material Relationships — CUBE ART BOSTON

My conversation with artist Lucy Beecher Nelson covered topics from oak galls and commissions to Renaissance art. Throughout relationships and family, particularly motherhood in all its material forms—inspired, tired, and honoring —was a constant theme.

We've all been there, right? Lucy's two girls, Tate and Olive, are in middle and high school. Both lead active lives. Her art is grounded in portraiture that blends figuration with pattern work that captures relationships in her life: mother, daughter, sister, spouse, teacher. Where historical portraits are about one point perspective and hierarchy, Lucy sees the world by navigating relationships with others. Lucy mentioned how exciting it was that Tate had elected to take her drawing class at the school where she teaches, their easels three away from each other. Lucy shares that she and her husband Brad Nelson, an artist, haven't pushed the girls to take art classes, but knowing Lucy and her work, it is hard to imagine that being part of this artist family hasn't made an impression on the girls. Literally.

Lucy is a gifted draftsperson. Her pictorial space is filled with patterns from her past and ideas about the future. We talked about the things handed down — wedding plates, heirlooms, an apron from her grandmother that she wears when cooking, the pattern finds its way onto her work oftentimes on to herself or her family. The patterns form a second skin to create a dialogue with her lineage, particularly with women from her past - her mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. Lucy shares that honoring the memory of women of her past is one reason Lucy makes objects. The objects help tell someone’s story; they help us remember. Time spent making marks is itself a way of honoring these women.

Growing up a Lucy, a name passed down from the women in her family, people often tell Lucy: you’re such a Lucy. In considering the essence of being Lucy, Lucy invited other (unrelated) Lucys and told them to dress up as their most Lucy version of themselves. Historically, portraiture has been a way to present identity typically from the male gaze, true or not. Lucy Nelson, furthest right, barefoot, her arm around her great-grandmother Lucile in a patterned dress, represents herself, as the other women have just as they are.

Painting by boston-based artist Lucy Nelson — lucy, oil on unstretched canvas, 78 x 156, 2007

Lucy’s work varies with the rhythms of life and sometimes serendipity. Discovering a photo album of her mother from a 1969 trip to Austria provided a glimpse into her parents' lives before Lucy was born. Fiction, fantasy, and age enhance the pictorial space, putting Lucy in a dialogue with her mother at nearly the same age.

Navigating the patterns of married life is a theme she returns to in her work. In this diptych, Lucy has us consider the Renaissance use of one-point perspective. But here, the lines merge at the heart center.

After Lucy’s father’s death, she took long walks in the woods, collecting oak galls. Lucy explained these were abnormal growths from the oak trying to protect itself. With these, Lucy made inks from scratch. It’s the same stuff that was used in the Declaration of Independence. While this little fact might seem random, Lucy shared that her family are descendants of the earliest colonists. This more abstract language of mark making and making her inks was the pictorial language for this moment. Even the brushes are different. The figurative patterned work uses tiny brushes; Lucy uses Japanese Hake brushes for these more abstract works. There’s less control over the material; the ink does its own thing.

This conversation was one of many getting to know Lucy and her work. After the Cube tour at the Quin club, I brought Trim and Mother and, more recently, have worked on a few commissions with Lucy. Commissions are a natural fit for Lucy’s interests, and she welcomes them. Marriage Portraits have been part of her practice and commissions for a while. (Cube Now 9.13.23). The idea behind Lucy’s marriage portraits is less about the individual portraits and more about the relationship at a particular time. The couple dresses, adorns, and poses one another, creating an intimacy between them that was absent in historical wedding portraits. Lucy also paints bridal bouquets.

The marriage portrait of my daughter Abby was a gift to myself. I loved this picture: Abby alone, deep in thought, being her beautiful, determined self. My dad's Tallis hangs overhead. I knew Lucy would be the perfect person to take care with this image. I was so grateful to find out the level of care. Lucy borrowed Brad's jeweler glasses, used tiny brushes with just 20 bristles, and consulted with botanist friends for the flowers to get the details just right. And yet, with all these specificity - the falling leaf pattern on Abby's wedding dress, the opacity of the veil, the wood grain of the processional and chuppah structure- it is the elegance of Lucy’s pictorial space, where each bloom is its own portrait, animating the moment and Abby, that takes my breadth away.

What’s next for Lucy? She mentioned heading to Austria with Brad and retracing her mother’s steps in the 1969 photographs from On the Count of Three. Maybe even rekindling her relationship with oil. No doubt whatever medium Lucy chooses, she will handle it with care and insight.

Please contact Lucy Beecher Nelson or contact Cube to commission a painting or learn more about purchasing a work of art. Small works in oak gall ink or watercolor cost $700-$2000, depending on their complexity.

website; instagram