Meet Bev Nagy
Interested in art since childhood, Nagy took a more practical path as a career. Throughout her 40-year clinical career, she was an artist by night and on weekends. It kept her centered and focused and provided her with an outlet for her creativity that she did not have in her psychology practice.
While she lived in North Carolina, learning from the masters in the craft of basketry, she studied traditional forms and techniques handed down through generations, perfected her skills and began incorporating her own ideas into her work. She decided to take a “time out” from her clinical practice and return to her first love full time. S
While she lived in North Carolina, learning from the masters in the craft of basketry, she studied traditional forms and techniques handed down through generations, perfected her skills and began incorporating her own ideas into her work. She decided to take a “time out” from her clinical practice and return to her first love full time. She took a studio in the arts district in Charlotte, where she made baskets and shared her love of basketry with the public, bringing this art form increased attention and respect. She was selected as an 11-month affiliate at The McColl Center for Visual Art, where she pushed the boundaries of traditional basketry into sculpture and branched out into mixed media. With a group of four other artists, she formed an art collective, Charlotte ARTery. The group did pop-up shows initially, but secured a Knight Foundation grant to form a non-profit and get a full-time gallery space.
In 2014, she moved with her husband to New Mexico. Initially moving to Santa Fe, then relocating to Placitas where she found a home and a place in a thriving artists’ community. With her fiber materials and tools unpacked and her studio appointed, Nagy resumed her art journey, inspired by the rich culture and fine craft tradition of New Mexico.
Having retired from the University of New Mexico in 2023, Nagy and her husband returned home to North Carolina and found their place in the mountains. She continues to take her craft to a new level, adding new twists to traditional forms and incorporating found objects to produce the unexpected. She continues to explore materials and medi
Having retired from the University of New Mexico in 2023, Nagy and her husband returned home to North Carolina and found their place in the mountains. She continues to take her craft to a new level, adding new twists to traditional forms and incorporating found objects to produce the unexpected. She continues to explore materials and media to expand the role of basketry beyond the obvious to fine craft, worthy in its own right to be construed as “art” as it is assimilated into daily life.