Nancy Allen Equine Artist - Flipbook - Page 21
Bits & Pieces
Nancy Allen is a retired graphic designer
and colored pencil artist living in La Grande,
Oregon. Her main interest is equine
portraiture and the use of colored pencil as a
ûne art medium and she continues to do
selected graphic design work for local
clients.
Horses have been the main source of
inspiration for her throughout her career and
she mainly worked in pen and ink until a
friend convinced her to try working with
colored pencils about 15 years ago and since
then it has become her main medium of
expression in the realist art world.
Nancy enjoys portraying horses in unusual
poses and angles, regardless of breed or age,
if she can capture the personality of the
subject, their intelligence, humor and
knowledge.
Nancy resides with her husband, Matt, a
radiologist, on a small farm in Union
County, growing cherries and alfalfa hay in
Northwest Eastern Oregon at the foot of Mt.
Emily, a local rural landmark, with two
horses, two dogs and six cats.
Her work has recently been shown at the
Salmagundi Club in New York (one of the
oldest art organizations in America) with the
American Artists Professional League, the
Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, KY, The
Academy of Realist Art in Toronto Canada,
The Aiken Center for the Arts in South
Carolina, Emerald Downs Racetrack in
Auburn, Washington, and was named Best
in Show at the 40th Annual Wallowa Valley
Festival of Arts in Joseph, Oregon, she
received second place and the Jean G.
Barclay Memorial Award for Pastel and
Drawing in the 2024 Equine Art Show for
the Washington Thoroughbred Association,
as well as a Semi-Finalist & Finalist in the
2022/2023 Art Renewal Center9s 16th
Annual International Salon and The
Almenara Art Prize 2024 Online Exhibition
featuring works from 65 diûerent countries,
and in the 2024 International Guile of
Realism Online Show.
Nancy also enjoys contributing her work to
horse rescue nonproûts with a special
attachment to Fletcher Farms in Amarillo,
Texas, a rescue facility for Belgian Draft
Horses. She also takes on limited graphic
design projects in the rural area she lives in
and is currently a Board Member for the
American Artists Professional League as
Graphics Director and collaborates with
their quarterly newsletter for artist members.
Nancy was accepted into Art Center College
of Design in Pasadena, CA at age 17 (then
the #1 design school in the US) through the
typical portfolio process required at the
time. She did not attend due to her parent9s
divorce and the death of her mother.
Competed on a Hawaiian crew in the 1985
Molokai Channel Outrigger Canoe Race, a
38+ mile open ocean paddling race in the
Ka'iwi Channel starting at Kawakiu Bay on
Moloka'i's west side to Honolulu9s Waikiki
Beach.
Her California crew was California
Outrigger Canoe Champion, six-woman
crew, four years running.
Nancy was Hawaii State Cycling Road Race
and Time Trial Champion 1986 to 1989 and
Best All-Round Women9s Champion four
years in a row. She was a two-time National
Cycling Championship participant and
nationally ranked in the US in the Individual
Time Trial, a one time US Olympic Trials
Road Racing participant, and a one time US
National Mountain Bike Champion, 35+
Division.
She is a student of the Latin language .
