Biography

Nancy Tingey graduated with honours in painting and stained glass at Kings College, Durham University, home of Richard Hamilton's Developing Process which revolutionised British art schools in the 1960's.

She then trained as an art curator, working in regional galleries in England and, twenty years later, in national museums and galleries in Australia. She also lectured in art schools, including the Australian National University School of Art.

Soon after graduating she won a travelling scholarship to study modern stained glass in France and Switzerland. This led to lecturing opportunities but limited practical work. Although Nancy exhibited and carried out commissions her glass work had become secondary to her textile practice by the mid 1980's.

By this time Nancy's pieced fabric works had been reproduced in several quilt publications and she had become a recognised colour and design workshop presenter for textile artists in Canberra and Tasmania.

Then her husband was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. Nancy went back to museum work for five years, then picked up on another strand of her previous visual arts career, teaching adults to paint. This led to her founding Painting with Parkinsons in 1994. In 1995 she was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to look at ways of using art as a therapy for Parkinson's disease, travelling to Italy, Switzerland, Holland, the United Kingdom, Canada and United States of America. After that she divided her visual arts activity time between her Parkinson's work and her studio practice.

From 2002 to 2006 Nancy worked in a studio in Cumbria, northwest England from where she studied for her MA in Contemporary Applied Art (textiles), qualifying with distinction in 2004. She returned to live in Australia in 2006.

Nancy is currently working in a studio at Strathnairn Arts Association, Canberra.