Ro2 Art is proud to present The Past Informs, a solo exhibition featuring new works by artist Nancy Ferro. The show will run from June 16 through July 14, 2018. There will be an opening reception held Saturday, June 16, from 7-10pm at Ro2 Art located at 1501 S. Ervay Street, Dallas TX 75215.

Nancy Ferro is interested in the reclamation and transformation of old structures and architectural forms. Contemplating the negligence of erasing old frameworks and erecting new ones in their place, Ferro seeks to elevate the historical significance of the past, while entrusting new meaning into it. The Past Informs, Ferro’s newest body of mixed media work, is a manifestation of the artist’s concepts about perpetual reinvention and acknowledging the importance of memory.

Nancy Ferro began her studies, with Ruth Harrison, while at The Hockaday School, in Dallas. She continued at Stephen F. Austin University, graduating with a BA degree in Education, Art, and French. When time would permit she attended The University of Dallas, Irving, Texas, on scholarship, for both an MA and an MFA in Drawing and Printmaking- studying with Juergen Strunck as her major professor.

She enjoys working with a multi-media and textural approach, containing layers of paper, drawing, found objects, and paint, most often beeswax. She enjoys gathering, cutting, pasting, drawing, and painting. She has had exhibits, both gallery and museum, one person and multi person, both in state and out of state. She has been included in several national and international publications. She has reached out in the area of curation, and teaching workshops on many levels. She is particularly proud of a large gallery for student work that opened for all of the art students at Highland Park High School. She engaged the help of Highland Park Arts, HP Arts, and the Principal at the time, Robert Albano for space, and financial support. While there, she also found a large exhibiting space, off campus, for yearly shows at Half Price Books in Dallas for her AP and Printmaking students. She continued to teach as well as make art until very recently. Now she enjoys art making solely.

The juxtaposition of the past with the present, both visual and conceptual, these are the contrasts and intersections with which I work. This concept manifests itself from very basic design contrasts to more complex current topics.

“.....Reclamation of architectural fragments and building materials, as well as books and other ephemera, underscores Ferro’s philosophy of continuous reinvention. Instead of discarding old structures, she uses them as a scaffolding to transform them into works built from memory and history.

“Clearly, one of Ferro’s allusions is to the perceived architectural “tradition” in Dallas, which is to carelessly raze old structures and build new ones in their place. She sees this pattern as wasteful and short-sighted, lacking respect for history, artistry and ecology. These mixed media works beautifully illustrate her commitment to salvaging the old and breathing new purpose into the transformed state.” - Margaret Belcher