Biography
Trained in traditional pottery at Rochester, NY's School for American Craftsmen, Nancy Jurs spent the first fifteen years of her artistic career creating functional raku works. In 1980, however, she began to expand the parameters of her ceramics, creating functional wall shelves, or "wall pouches," that suggested butterflies or female forms. These pieces were soon replaced by "blouses" that Jurs considered emblematic of women's bodies and spirit.
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The relationship of the clothing-inspired pieces to Greek and Roman draped sculpture led Jurs to experiment with larger-than-life-size sculptural forms that suggest goddesses, women, and animals. The emotionally expressive clay shapes are hand-built or wheel-thrown and are glazed, painted with acrylics, or finished with any combination of techniques that appeals to the artist. "Where all my work was once a many-faceted female expression," Jurs has said, "it now appears to be much more about women in emergence—a growing out, rising above, or hatching from other forms and constraints."
EDUCATION
Rochester Institute of Technology, New York BFA 1963
Spencerport, New York 1955-1958
Lower Merion Township (Philadelphia), Pennsylvannia, 1946-1955
TEACHING
1975 State University of New York Brockport, New York
1972 Teachers College Columbia, New York, NY 1972
1969-1972 School for American Craftsmen, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY
1968-1969 Nazareth College Rochester, NY
SELECTED MUSEUM COLLECTIONS
Museum of Art and Design, New York, NY
Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Instituition, Washington, D.C.
Utah Museum of Fine Arts, Salt Lake City, Utah
Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY
Burchfield-Penney Art Center, Buffalo, NY
The Museum of Ceramic Art, Alfred University, Alfred, NY
Antonio Prieto Memorial Collection, Mills College, Oakland, CA
Memorial Art Gallery, Rochester, NY
Society for Contemporary Craft, Pittsburgh, PA
Mint Museum, Charlotte, NC
Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
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PUBLIC INSTALLATIONS
Rochester International Airport, Rochester, New York. “Triad: Gateway to Rochester,” 16’ x 10’ x 10’, stoneware with patina, free-standing, three element group sculpture, 1995.
Center for Optoelectronics and Imaging, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York. “Aurora: Goddess of the Dawn,” 14’ x 4’ x 4’, stoneware with patina, free-standing, single element sculpture, 1993.
SUNY Brockport, Brockport, New York. “Blox,” Monulith, 78” x 26” x 24”, stoneware with patina.
Itawamba Community College, Fulton, Mississippi. “Eos,” Monulith, 14’ tall, stoneware with patina.
Fletcher Brown State Park, Wilmington, Delaware. “Small Wonders,” Tryptic, 6’ tall on 10’ diameter base.
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INVITATIONAL AND SOLO EXHIBITION HISTORY
2017 "Nancy Jurs and Wendell Castle: That Was Then, This Is Now," The Delaware Contemporary, Wilmington, DE
2016 Snyderman-Works Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
2015 Burchfield-Penney Art Center, Buffalo, NY
2014 Bevier Gallery at RIT, Rochester, NY
2013 “Juxtapositions” Spencer Hill Art Gallery; Corning, NY
2012 Castellani Art Museum, Niagara Falls, NY
2012 Burchfield-Penney Art Center; Buffalo, NY
2011 International Art Acquisitions Gallery; Pittsford, NY
2010 Blue Streak Gallery, Wilmington DE
2010 “Mentors & Makers” Rochester Contemporary Art Gallery; Rochester, NY
2009 “50/50: Meanings & Messages” Everson Museum of Art; Syracuse, NY
2008 “Transformation” Society for Contemporary Craft; Pittsford, NY
2007 “Relativity,” Roberts Wesleyan College; North Chili, NY
2007 Towson University Art Gallery; Towson, MD
2006 “Contemporary Works in Found Materials;” Society for Contemporary Craft; Pittsburgh, PA
2005 “Gatherings,” Davison Gallery, Roberts Wesleyan College; North Chili, NY
2005 River Gallery, Chattanooga, TN
2005 “Synthesis” River Gallery; Chattanooga, TN
2004 Fuller Museum of Art; Brockton, MA
2004 Castellani Art Museum; Niagara University, NY
2003 “Armor Series,” John Elder Gallery; New York, NY
2003 Burchfield Penney Art Center; Buffalo, NY
2002 Nancy Jurs Sculpture, Blue Streak Gallery; Wilmington, DE
2002 Stone Quarry Hill Art Park; Cazenovia, NY
2001 “Clay USA” Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; Washington D.C.
2000 Rockefeller Gallery, SUNY NY; Fredonia, NY
1999 John Elder Gallery; New York, NY
1998 John Elder Gallery; New York, NY
1997 Gallery 10 LTD., Washington D.C.
1996 Delaware Center for the Contemporary Art; Wilmington, DE
1995 Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester; Rochester, NY
1995 Arkansas Art Center; Little Rock, AK
1994 San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts; San Angelo, TX
1993 Adams Art Gallery; Dunkirk, NY
1992 Helen Drutt Gallery; New York, NY
1991 Oxford Gallery; Rochester, NY
1990 Alice Bingham Gallery; Memphis, TN
1989 Contemporary Art Center; Kansas City, MO
1988 Delaware Art Museum; Wilmington, DE