Florida Artists Group

Nancy's Bio:

Artist and art educator, Nancy Baur Dillen is Art Professor Emeritus, Eastern Florida State College (EFSC).  She was born and raised in Quincy, a small town in rural north Florida.  She graduated from Florida State University with an M.A. in Art Education and Constructive Design in 1971.  After graduation, Nancy moved to Melbourne, Florida, where she became an art instructor at EFSC.

With her excellent background in art, Nancy already had a head start toward establishing herself in the art community.  As an educator, she had the opportunity to work with and influence the art programs on all levels. While at EFSC, she expanded the art program and taught a variety of courses that included drawing, figure drawing, painting, advanced painting, watercolor, acrylics, two-dimensional design, art history 1 and 2, and the business of art. She has been a guest lecturer, juror, exchange instructor, and art consultant both nationally and internationally.

Dillen’s landscapes reflect the two worlds in which she lives…  the real and imaginary. Nancy’s current series of magically realistic oil paintings treats these concerns by placing symbols found in the local environment, along with fruit, vegetables, animals, and/or invented characters that inhabit her whimsical make-believe world against the intense color and open space of Florida and other places she has visited and imaged.  The intensity of color and contrast found in Nancy’s work reflect her single-mindedness. Using her vocabulary of symbols, she makes a statement on contemporary society. To her, art and teaching are one.  Each challenges the other to see the world in a new light.

After 35 years of teaching, Dillen retired in May 2006. She is now painting and drawing on a full time basis, creating art for public places, exhibiting and conducting painting and drawing workshops locally and nationally. Her current goals are to seek exhibition opportunities and develop a new series of drawings based on influences found in nature. 

Nancy’s paintings and drawings are exhibited in museums and galleries throughout the United States and Canada. They are also in the permanent collections of the City of Melbourne (Mosaic monument at the Eau Gallie Pier… the City’s first Public Art), Eau Gallie Arts District Main Street Museum Mural Program (Exterior mural on Indian River Potters’ Guild), City of Orlando, (Orlando, FL) Marriott HOST International (Orlando International Airport), Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts (Gatlinburg, TN), Orlando Utilities (Orlando, FL), Price Waterhouse, DuPont Center (Orlando, FL), Southeast Bank (Miami, FL), Administrative Arts (Orlando, FL), Maitland Art Center (Maitland, FL), Vero Art Museum (Vero, FL), and Hubbard Construction Co. (Orlando, FL)

Artist Statement:

All of my paintings reflect my intrigue with color and space within the landscape. My aim is to merge imagery of the real, the unreal, the romantic and the dramatic. Two concepts reflected in my work are the need to accept things as they are, and the need to dream. The more my work evolves the more complex it becomes. I compete with myself to find new and challenging solutions to the painted composition. In all my work, the natural world connects with the imagined. Reality and fantasy join.

Painting Technique:

I use dry pigment and burnt plate oil (refined linseed oil) to make my own paints. Burnt plate oil, because of its viscosity, requires the paint to be applied in thin layers. After taking an egg tempera workshop with artist Fred Wessel, I decided that the ancient egg tempera technique of painting with many layers, would work well with my oil painting medium. Thus, my love for drawing merged with my fascination with color. Now, I am able to model form using tonal values, glaze with color, and push and pull the elements to create the spatial relationships that I strive to achieve.

Forthcoming Exhibitions:

Magical Worlds of Nancy Dillen, Frits van Eeden Art Gallery, Foosaner Art Museum, Melbourne, FL 2017
Fluid Nature (3 person exhibit), Museum of Art and Culture, Avon Park, FL 2017
Magical Worlds of Nancy Dillen, Seminole State College of Florida Fine Arts Gallery, Sanford, FL  2018

Selected Awards:

2021 71st Annual Florida Artists Group Exhibition, Dunedin Fine Arts Center, Dunedin, Cecily Hangen & Ahlin Emeritus Award, Juror: Wendy Earle, Curator of Contemporary Art at the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art in Winston-Salem, NC 2021
70th Annual Florida Artists Group Exhibition, Foosaner Art Museum, Melbourne, FL
2019 The Florida Artists Group in Naples, Naples Art Association Gallery, Naples, FL, First Place, Juror: Lauren Huff
2016 26th Annual All-Florida Arts Juried Exhibition, Arts Council of Martin Co, Stuart, FL
2015 Kaleidoscope, Art & Antique & Fine Arts Gallery, Melbourne, FL, Best of Show
2014 Spring International On-Line American Salon of Fine Art Competition, Honorable Mention
2013 Animal Other, Shemer Art Center & Museum, Phoenix, AZ, First Place
2012 Visions Strawbridge Art League, Melbourne, FL, J. Van Dyck Oil Painting Award
2011 Texas National 17th Annual Competition & Exhibition, Stephen F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches, TX, Texas Medal of Arts
2010 FL Biennial V, Museum of FL Art, Deland, FL Honorable Mention 

Solo and Two-Three Person Exhibitions

2021 Pop-Up Window Exhibit: Nancy Baur Dillen, Ormond Memorial Art Museum and Gardens,
Ormond Beach, FL
2021 Visual Poems by Nancy Baur Dillen, Art Center Sarasota, Sarasota, FL
2019 Blended Themes, Artwork by Nancy Dillen, MA, Beachside Arts and Studio, Satellite Beach, FL
2019 Where Am I? A Wednesday Group Exhibit, Fifth Avenue Art Gallery, Melbourne, FL
2019 The Beauty of Small, Florida Artists Group, 69th Annual Symposium Exhibit, Ringling Art, Sarasota, FL
2019 Vision 2019, Strawbridge Art League, Foosaner Art Museum, Melbourne, FL
2019 The Zoological and Botanical Fantasies of Nancy Dillen and Marilyn Rackelman, The Gallery at Melange, Lake Wales, FL
2019 Nancy Baur Dillen, Magical Worlds of Nancy Dillen, Daytona State College, Daytona Beach, FL
2018-19 Visual Poetry: Real and Imagined Paintings by Nancy Baur Dillen, Garden House at Harry P. Leu Gardens, Orlando, FL
2018 Magical Worlds of Nancy Dillen, Seminole State College of Florida Fine Arts Gallery, Sanford, FL 2018 1NightR 1 and 2 Art Popup (3 person show), Melbourne, FL
2018 Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts Instructor’s Exhibition, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg, TN
2017 Fluid Nature (3 person exhibit), Museum of Art and Culture, Avon Park, FL
2017 Magical Worlds of Nancy Dillen, Frits van Eeden Art Gallery, Foosaner Art Museum, Melbourne, FL Reunited: Nancy Dillen and Quentin Walter, Art on 18th Gallery, Vero Beach, FL
2009 Nancy Dillen: Solo Exhibit, Mary Woerner Fine Art, W. Palm Beach, FL
2009 Nancy Dillen: Solo Exhibit, Orlando City Hall, Mayor’s Gallery, Orlando, FL
2009 Nancy Dillen Retrospective: 20 Years of Art in Brevard, Highway Grrl’s Art Gallery, Melbourne, FL 2008 Arabesque: Candace Knapp and Nancy Dillen, Atlantic Center for the Arts/Harris House, New Smyrna Beach, FL 2008 
           
 
           
Selected Group Exhibitions:

2020-21 Robot Love, Foosaner Art Museum, Melbourne, FL.
2020 70th Annual Florida Artists Group Exhibition, Foosaner Art Museum, Melbourne, FL
2016 Inspired Lines: Appleton Drawing Biennial, juror: Alison Ferris, (curator at the John Michael Kohler Art Center, Sheboygan, Wisconsin), The Appleton Museum of Art, Ocala, FL
2015 25th Annual All Florida Juried Arts Show, Court House Cultural Center, Stuart, FL, Juror: Joshua Hunter Davis
2015 Visions, Strawbridge Art League, Melbourne, FL, Juror: Steve McLachlin
2014 New Visions of the Florida Landscape: Nancy Dillen and Liu Nan, Gadsden Art Center, Quincy, FL
2013 Animal Fairy Tales, Fables, Fact Or Fiction, Las Laguna Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA
2013 Winter Garden: 27th Annual Holiday Show, Dunedin Fine Art Center, Dunedin, FL
2013 Strawbridge Art League’s VIVA 500 Traveling Exhibit Sites: Melbourne Beach Library, Cocoa Beach Library, & Orlando City Hall, 3rd place, Nature Category
2013 Aesthetics of Nature St. Augustine Art Association Nature and Wildlife Exhibit
2012 Members’ Choice, Fifth Avenue Art Gallery, Melbourne, FL 2012, 11, 10, 09 Annual Juried Exhibition, FL Museum for Women Artists, Deland, FL 

Corporate, Permanent & Public Collections:

Administrative Arts, Orlando, FL (Corporate Collection)
Dean, Mead, Egerton, Bloodworth, Caponano & Bozarth, Olympic Plaza, Orlando, FL (Corporate Collection)
Diebel, Lazar, & Stroup, MDPA, Winter Park, FL (Corporate Collection)
Hubbard Construction Company, Orlando, FL (Corporate Collection)
Knollwood Army Retirement Center, Washington DC (Corporate Collection)
Marriott HOST International, Orlando International Airport, Orlando, FL. (Corporate Collection)
McBride Marketing, Melbourne, FL (Corporate Collection)
Orlando City Hall, Orlando, FL (Corporate Collection)
Orlando Utilities Commission, Orlando, FL. (Corporate Collection)
Price Waterhouse, Dupont Center, Orlando, FL (Corporate Collection)
Southeast Bank, Miami, FL (Corporate Collection)
Maitland Art Center, Maitland, FL (Permanent Collection)
Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts, Gatlinburg, TN (Permanent Collection)
Berman, Hopkins, Wright & Laham CPA, Merritt Island, FL. (Permanent Collection)
Eastern Florida State College, Melbourne, FL (Permanent Collection)
Vero Beach Art Museum, Vero Beach, FL (Permanent Collection)
Eau Gallie Pier Mosaic Monument, Melbourne, FL, (Public Art) 2007
Indian River Potters’ Guild Mural, Eau Gallie Arts District’s Outdoor Mural Museum Program, Melbourne, FL (Public Art) 2011

Professional Affiliations:

Ten Women in Art (Founding Member 1984 – Present, 54 Exhibits in Southeast)
Eau Gallie Arts District, Chair Mural Committee, 2010-Present

Education:

MA Art Education & Constructive Design, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL
BS   Art Education & Constructive Design, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL
Post Graduate:  56 credit hours (UT, FSU, FIU, UCF, ASU)
Painting Workshops:   Jack Beal, David Chang, Sandra Freckleton, Leonard Koscianski, & Fred Wessel

Positions:

1971-Present        Professional Artist/Art Educator
1971-2006            Eastern Florida State College (Brevard Community College),
                               Melbourne, FL, Art Program Coordinator, Professor of Art
1985-2018            Taught summer classes at Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts (10 years), Gatlinburg, TN