NANETTE NEWBRY
CONTEMPORARY ARTIST
Nanette Newbry has exhibited her work since 1990. She received her BA in Visual Arts from the University of California with graduate studies with Barbara Kruger, Eleanor Antin and Paula Roland. She had a leading role in Eleanor Antin’s film The Ballerina, which explored issues of gender, race and identity. Later, Ms. Newbry took on a male personna, Henri Bobo, exploring cultural expectations and gender differences. She performed in a number of notable performance artworks including The Bride, Henri Bobo Goes to Town, Crossfire and Sandboxed.
She owned N. Newbry gallery from 2000 to 2009 where she exhibited her work and held numerous performances and exhibitions. She teaches encaustic, collage and monotype workshops in her studio in Carlsbad. Her work is in the permanent collection at the Museum of Encaustic Art and in corporate and private collections.
ARTIST STATEMENT
I freeze time with fire. I bury symbols, words, straw, sand, seeds, and other natural elements into beeswax, encapsulating the passage of time and memory for you to discover.
Encaustic gives me the ability to build five, ten, even fifteen layers which I scrape, gouge, carve and draw into to build texture which adds depth to the painting. Finally, I fuse each layer with fire so that they become a cultural record of my process.
In my practice, I explore the nature of the human condition using color, symbols, shadows, texture, and abstract forms. My intuition often drives each step, sometimes allowing the unpredictability of the encaustic to guide the way. It creates a mystery that is surprising to me while letting the viewer into the work.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022 Upstream and Other Perspectives, Community Center Art Gallery, Encinitas, California
2021 Upstream, Violet Salon and Gallery, Encinitas, California
2012 New Work, Violet Salon and Gallery, Encinitas, California
2010 Image and Memory, Ivanffy-Uhler Gallery, Carlsbad, California
2007 Back Forward Everyday, N Newbry Gallery, Carlsbad, California
2003 New Work, City of San Diego, Benjamin Public Library, San Diego
2003 Inside/Out, N Newbry Gallery, Carlsbad, California
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024 44th National Print Competition, Artlink Contemporary Gallery, Fort Wayne, Indiana
2024 Changing the Narrative, Pacific Art League, Palo Alto, California
2023 Climate Reckoning, Grossmont College, San Diego, California, Feminist Image Group Exhibtion
2023 Lift the Sky, Front Porch Gallery, Carlsbad, California
2022 Resilience, First Annual Catalyst Art Lab Members’ Exhibition, Chicago, Illinois
2022 Annual Juried Exhibition, Front Porch Gallery, Carlsbad, California
2022 Flow, Encaustic Art Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico
2022 Women Antiracists International Exhibition, Women’s Soaring Project [online], First Place Award
2022 Second Act, Front Porch Gallery, Carlsbad, California
2016 Summer Juried National Exhibition, Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, Marin, California
2016 Juried Exhibition, Front Porch Gallery, Carlsbad, California
2014 Regional Exhibition, San Art Institute, Balboa Park, California
2014 Encaustic Monotypes, Miles Conrad Gallery,Tucson, Arizona
2014 International Juried Exhibition, San Diego Art Institute, Balboa Park, California
2013 International Juried Exhibition, San Diego Art Institute Balboa Park, California
2013 Juried Biennial, Cannon Gallery, Carlsbad, California
2013 Regional Juried Exhibition, San Diego Art Institute, Balboa Park, California
2012 Regional Juried Exhibition, San Diego Art Institute, San Diego, California
2011 Regional Juried Exhibition, San Diego Art Institute, San Diego, California
2010 Juried Biennial, Juror’s Award, Cannon Gallery Carlsbad, California
2008 The Contemporary Scroll, San Diego Art Institute, Balboa Park, California
SELECTED PERFORMANCES
2006 Sandboxed, N Newbry Gallery, Carlsbad, California
2005 Henri Bobo Comes and Goes, Del Mar, California
2002 CrossFire, Leucadia, California
2002 Henri Bobo and Ground Zero, New York, New York
2000 Henri Bobo and Rhoda, Encinitas, California
1996 Face-to-Face, Arthouse Gallery, Carlsbad, California
1996 Tree Circle, Julian, California
1995 The Virgin Bride, San Diego, California
1994 The Bride Visits the Psychiatric Hospital, La Jolla, California
1993 Meat, UCSD Mandeville Center, La Jolla, California
1991 My Mother Myself, SDSU Art Gallery, San Diego, California
1990 Henri Bobo Joins the Group at Jerome Rothenberg’s Party, Encinitas, California
AWARDS
2022 Juror’s First Prize, Women’s Soaring Project
2016 Honorable Mention, Front Porch Gallery
2014 Juror’s Award, San Diego Art Institute
2013 Juror’s Choice, Cannon Gallery Biennial
2007 Honorable Mention, San Diego Art Institute
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Private and corporate collections: United States, France, United Kingdom
Museum of Encaustic Art, Permanent Collection, Santa Fe, New Mexico
RESIDENCIES
Encaustic Art Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico
PUBLICATIONS
2021 Ten Years of Encaustic Art, Encaustic Art Magazine
2014 Encaustic Art Magazine, “Excursions and In-Between”
2008 Ranch and Coast Magazine, “Nanette Newbry, Encaustic Artist,” Bob Stefanko
2007 KUSI Online News, “Encaustic Art”
2006 Lifestyle, “Sargent Art Group Exhibition,” Savannah Arrigo
2006 The Coast News, “Carlsbad Artist Gives 3-Day Performance Art Piece,” Chrystall Kanyuck
2006 KFMB Radio, San Diego, Sandboxed Performance Art
2005 Art and Gallery Guide, “Performance Artist Nanette Newbry”
2004 KUSI Television, Good Morning San Diego, Encaustic Demonstration
1980 Union Tribune, “An Affair of the Art,” Robert Pincus
EDUCATION
B.A., Major Visual Arts, Minor Theatre Arts, University of California, La Jolla
Extended Master Studies, Barbara Kruger, University of California, San Diego and Los Angeles
Encaustic Workshops: RF Paints; Paula Roland; Jeffrey Hirst
