Nerys Levys Sketches for Climate Change Awareness

Employing a use of form and limited space reminiscent of Milton Avery, with a strong contour line like Alice Neel or Georges Rouault, Levy has woven these stylistic elements from the strands of her own personal history. 

Influenced by her native Welsh culture which “reveres landscapes and nature in both poetry and music,” the artist’s creative journey began with her grandfather. A Welsh poet and artist from Snowdonia, he would “go outside with me and look at the landscape and describe it” in Welsh, she recalls. 

With views of the River Dee estuary and beyond, to the Irish Sea and England, Levy says she “grew up looking at vistas” every day. “I was aware of the power of nature,” shares the artist.

Working on-site using her water-based media on paper, Levy portrays what she calls the “forms and forces of nature,” often creating a series of the same subject “in shifting light, seasons and weather.” She always starts with a drawing— a step she considers essential before abstracting any subject matter. 

While she cites the later works of Picasso as one of her primary influences, her travels have shaped her approach the most. Levy’s linear work became more pronounced during her time in China through exposure to calligraphic influences, as well as what she describes as a minimalistic depiction with ink and line. “I was very interested in the way they could depict atmospherics: very, very simply,” adds the artist.

Levy then braved the “huge, forbidding area” of the Antarctic, a landscape that taught her to produce quickly, for practical reasons. “Working in the Antarctic left no time for anything other than minimal representation and rapid lines,” she explains.

The Antarctic boasts the coldest temperatures of any continent, so to prevent her water bottle from freezing, she had to keep it on her hip. She was encouraged by her expedition's doctor to pack light. This meant keeping her art kit very simple, working only with a small pocket paint box of watercolors and water-soluble pens.

Of her sketches, Levy explains, “The line became very important because of the rapidity required to record what was going on.” In the Arctic Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, however, the polar bear is considered the greatest threat. Located between the North Pole and Norway, this area is warmer now due to climate change, the artist reports.

Levy continues to create paintings from her polar sketch books, describing them as the “underlying form” of her work. She often enlarges sketches as a basis for larger paintings. “I do take a photograph of the venue, but this is just a guide. I always work with the basic sketch for authenticity,” she explains. “My sketches take me right back to the place of origin and the emotions generated there.” 

The artist is currently addressing the impact of Australian bushfires on the Antarctic polar ozone layer through her new series— evocatively titled Warming Skies— in which she is metaphorically pushing color by adding more pink.

Levy is also active in a humanitarian project that provides an arts foundation and social support for Karen refugees. A distinctive tribal group from the southern Himalayas in war-torn Burma/Myanmar, the Karens are persecuted by the government. They now live in refugee camps on the Thailand/Myanmar border. 

Previously working in West London’s Indian Community at the height of the Asian Migration from Uganda helped Levy to understand the experiences of the Karen refugees. Around twelve years ago, the founder of a Karen language school wanted to bring children to the FRANK Gallery, a non-profit space in Carrboro, NC that is listed on the Art & Object Marketplace.

Since they had no television in the camps, the children would draw. If they ran out of pencil and paper, they would draw with rocks, says Levy. Eventually art classes were held for some of the children. “They were exceptional artists,” she says.

One of the students later attended the University of North Carolina at Greensboro for fine arts; he now teaches at the Children's Museum in Chapel Hill. In a full circle moment, Levy shares that they are now merging the FRANK Gallery program with the Children's Museum. “I am first of all an artist,” declares Levy, “but [I] see art and arts enrichment as empowering – [as well as] the empowerment facilitated by education.”