Nancy is a member of:
SAQA-Studio Art Quilt Associates
PFAD-Partners For Art and D
FAMA-Fiber Art Miami Association
TSGNY-Textile Study Group New York
Bio
Nancy Billings, a New York native, received her BFA in Fashion Design at Pratt Institute. She was always surrounded by fabric visiting her dad’s and uncle’s fabric stores in the depths of the NY garment center. The main focus of her early career was teaching fiber arts to students from elementary school through college. Her movement from fashion design to fiber art was a natural evolution using the same medium in new and innovative ways. She has been a quilt maker for 40 years, encompassing the complete spectrum of traditional bed coverings to contemporary wall art. Billings loves texture and uses upholstery fabric, sheers and other unlikely fabrics to achieve the results that she is envisioning. Along with dyeing fabric, Nancy utilizes mixed media and photography for both textile art and art to wear. Billings has been published in many magazines and books, the latest being Quarantine Quilts: Creativity in the Midst of Chaos due out summer 2021. She has exhibited in juried art shows around the country including the Coconut Grove Arts Festival and the Red Brick in Aspen CO.
Nancy’s art quilts have been displayed in galleries in the South Florida area and works extensively with interior designers creating sight specific art for discerning clients. Nancy displays her unique style in every one-of-a-kind work of art.
Published
Patchwork Profession/ German Magazine 10/22 Uppercase Magazine/Sept-Oct 2022 Quarantine Quilts, Sandra Sider, 2021 Cutting-Edge Art Quilts- Mary W. Kerr 2013 Studio Art Quilt Associations Portfolio 2012, 2013, Bayside News- Tampa Bay-2006 Miami Herald 2004. American Quilter Magazine 2002 Miami Herald 2002 American Quilter Magazine 2001 Art Quilt Magazine 1997 Magical Effects of Color-Joen Wolfrom 1992
Artist Statement
My maternal grandparents had no idea when they taught me how to use their sewing machine that they would be influential in releasing the artist in me. They taught me respect and admiration for fabric and stitching. Creativity became my inner voice and working with fabric was my passion.
Partner my love of color and my passion for fabric and you will grasp my lifelong journey of creating art with textiles. I work extemporaneously dyeing, cutting, stitching, painting, and mono-printing, always building on the step before using many of the tools and techniques I’ve amassed over the last 40 years.
Some of my work parallels the fabric layers to the many layers of a person’s life and the stitching to the countless directions and choices we make that can change our destinies. Although each small part may represent individuals or communities, this work tries to show their overall relationship to others and the global world around us, how we are all sometimes “Hanging By A Thread”.
Threads alone are thin and vulnerable but together each stitch strengthens the others and constructs a strong body of work just as we hope relationships and communities can do the same. For me, the tangled threads represent how relationships can be so stressful. The underlying layers peeking through are meant to remind us of where we came from and who came before us.
This art is designed to hang away from the wall so the fluctuation of wind and air can alter the movement of the squares while projecting shadows on the wall. The shadows are reflections of the art that are transferred from fiber to wall as our personalities are echoed to the next generation.
I also create Judaica Wedding Canopies, Chuppot. It is extremely meaningful to me to create a personal statement for a bride and groom to begin their life together. These Chuppot, become family heirlooms that get passed from generation to generation. L’Dor V’Dor.
I love the process of creating a design concept, expanding it, and cajoling it until it becomes a reality.
