Nancy Goodman Lawrence – Art and Cake

Nancy Goodman Lawrence
Los Angeles, CA
Age 75

What keeps you excited in the studio?
When I have something on my easel that I see each morning upon walking into my studio, I am motivated to keep the creative juices flowing. Anything unfinished inspires the next step, and the point is to keep taking those steps.

Looking back at your trajectory as an artist, how would you say your work has developed?
In the decades that I have been making art, I have lost count of the number of different bodies of work I have produced. Each series somehow leads to another, and where I am today is a culmination of many explorations. Maybe I should say accumulation rather than culmination, since the latter suggests an ending, and I hope to continue to grow and change.

What role do you think the artist has in today’s society?
The artist and the arts in general perform many functions in society. In many ways the arts are a mirror of what’s happening socially and politically. And apart from seriousness, the arts are just plain fun – an escape of sorts from the everyday grind. Everyone benefits from listening to music, watching a play and visiting a museum. The arts provide enjoyment, expand our minds and open ourselves up to points of view outside of ourselves.

What’s the most important advice you could give to an aspiring artist?
The advice I would give an aspiring artist is to make connections with other artists by joining arts organizations and using social media to your advantage. If you can break down the larger art world into a smaller version for yourself, making your art will be less of a lonely and private venture.

Does age matter in art? Why or why not?
Is this question asking if age matters to the art world or if it matters to the individual artist? It’s easy to make generalizations about how the older artist may be perceived in the larger art world, but for the individual artist, I believe age matters in the sense that, hopefully, the more years you have put into your practice, the more wisdom you will have acquired about your path, the less you will feel buffeted by trends and the more secure you will be in what you create. If that has happened for you as you age, then age does matter.

What can we look forward to from you next?
I am continuing to make my mixed media art, and after sorting through family memorabilia to fine tune what I want to save, I am seeing some vintage portraits as a possible new source for work, so stay tuned…..

Is there anything else you would like to share about being an artist later in life?
Since none of us can stop the clock, we may as well embrace our aging process and put the enrichment of our years into our art in any way that we can.

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@NancyGoodmanLawrence