About the Artist - Nancee Jo Luciani
Born in Kansas, raised at the Jersey Shore, Nancee Jo Luciani pursued her interest in the arts wherever she found herself - Hawaii, California, Florida and New Jersey. Her interests took her studies through almost every American folk art with major focus on wood carving and tole (decorative) painting. Photography became part of her repertoire with an emphasis on wildlife related to her carving work.
Nancee Jo began her study of Tole Painting in the mid-70s when she saw a PBS program featuring Priscilla Hauser. At the time she was an Instructor for Artex Hobby Products, a popular line of ball-point pen textile paints. .
Nancee Jo studied basketry at the Fletcher Farm School (Society of Vermont Craftsmen), at the Mid-Atlantic Fiber Conference at Bucknell University (PA) under Robin Taylor-Dougherty, and under Master NJ Basketweaver Mary May.
Since 2003 concentrating on her interest in decoys and wood carving has led her to classes at Tuckerton Seaport, Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art, and privately with several world-renowned carvers. She has won major awards at Toms River (NJ) Art & Decoy Show, Ocean County Decoy & Gunning Show (Tuckerton, NJ), and Chesapeake Challenge (Salisbury, MD) and has exhibited throughout southern New Jersey.
She serves on the Jersey Shore Folklife Center Advisory Board, Toms River Art & Decoy Festival Committee, and is Editor of “The Watchgander”, a monthly publication of the NJ Decoy Collectors’ Association. She has assisted in curating exhibits, photographed exhibits for publication, created museum signage and taught workshops for museums, schools, clubs, and private clients. Nancee Jo mentors a youth carving club with emphasis on painting techniques.
Her artwork is in collections in across the USA, and is part of the permanent collection at the Barnegat Bay Decoy & Baymen's Museum @ Tuckerton Seaport, Tuckerton, NJ.
The PAINTED PARROT Art & Decoy Studio
