Featured Artist: Nancy Lane
Pittsford Fine Art
4 N Main St.
Oct 7, 5:00 pm - 8:00 pm

When Canandaigua-based artist Nancy Lane finished illustrating a picture book for Gryphon Press in 2017 – her fourth for the Minneapolis-based publisher, and one of two dozen she has illustrated over her career – she vowed it would be her last because her work focus had shifted in recent years to fine art.

But then Gryphon made Lane an offer she couldn’t refuse: She could illustrate a book by a renowned naturalist using full-size oil paintings that are standalone works of art in their own right. The result was A Warbler’s Journey by best-selling author and Pulitzer Prize finalist Scott Weidensaul, featuring 17 original oil paintings by Lane.

Twelve of those paintings will be the focus of Lane’s turn as the featured artist throughout October at Pittsford Fine Art, the artists-run gallery at the heart of downtown Pittsford. Lane, a Webster native and one of the gallery’s original members, will be present in the gallery for a reception during the First Friday event of Oct. 7 from 5 to 8 p.m.

“Gryphon’s mission of ‘celebrating the human-animal bond’ has always struck a chord with me,” said Lane. “Scott’s moving and scientifically accurate story of a yellow warbler’s migration from Central America to the Canadian tundra describes a miracle of survival and offered the perfect opportunity to paint dramatic scenes of the many habitats and challenges on this tiny bird’s epic journey.”

Starred reviews in prominent book-industry publications have called Lane’s contributions to A Warbler’s Journey “marvelously detailed” and “spectacularly illustrated.” Each of the 18 x 24” paintings are available for sale, as are prints of the paintings.