Inner Infinity
by Nancy Brandsma
Saturday, February 21 - Thursday, March 12
Vernissage: Saturday, February 21   1:00 - 4:00 pm

Nancy is a contemporary artist born in Montreal in 1975. She has been actively involved in the French-speaking artist community in Ottawa since 2009, where she currently resides. Her bright and colourful oil abstracts have been exhibited in solo, group and juried exhibitions across Ontario, Québec and in NYC in several galleries and public places. Nancy divides her time between painting in her studio and teaching art to young and old in her community. Her captivating, textured, monochromatic and minimalist work is found in numerous North American private collections and in several published catalogues.  

Inner Infinity
These paintings are built through touch, resistance, and release. Thick oil paint is worked into the surface until colour becomes physical—felt as much as seen. The works invite close viewing, drawing the eye along their grooves and into the quiet tension between control and surrender. Each mark is made with a fork, carving direct paths through the paint, much like a rake in a Zen garden. The gestures are immediate and unpremeditated, capturing fleeting inner states as they arise. Texture becomes language, and the act of painting records the moment itself. The monochromatic surfaces function as mirrors, absorbing as much as they reveal. Beneath their apparent simplicity, each canvas becomes an intimate map—a topography of the mind in motion, sometimes restless, sometimes calm. Painting becomes a way to slow the internal current and navigate inner infinity. This exhibition brings together a cohesive body of work created in a state of radical honesty, shaped by a mind in constant motion. The paintings invite quiet contemplation, offering a space to pause, to look slowly, and to encounter a wordless, interior landscape.        

Artistic Resumé
Gallery Representation 2023 – Galerie Carleton Place, Carleton Place, ON (current)
2024 – 2026​ Galerie L’Art de vivre, Jonquière, QC (current)
2021 – 2026 Play Food & Wine, ByWard Market, Ottawa, ON (permanent rotating display)
2024 – 2025 Société Art Villeray, Montréal, QC
2019 – 2024 Marten Arts Gallery, Bayfield, ON
2019 – 2023 Art+ galerie (formerly Galerie d’art Alpha — permanently closed), Ottawa, ON Solo Exhibitions 2025 Moments inédits | Unscripted Moments, Galerie Eugène-Racette (MIFO), Orléans, ON
2024 Dessert for the Soul, North Folk Café, Perth, ON
2020 Nouveaux horizons | New Horizons, Galerie Alpha, Ottawa, ON
2019 Je suis tache | I am Stain, Café Good Eats, Ottawa, O
2019 Je suis tache | I am Stain, Café Altern, Ottawa, ON

​Art Fairs
2024 Affordable Art Fair, New York City, USA (Galerie L’Art de vivre, Jonquière, QC)
2021 Toronto Outdoor Art Fair (TOAF Online, Juried), Toronto, ON

Group Exhibitions (selected 2019–2025)
​2025 Wallacks Galleries × SSO Artists (Juried), Wallacks Galleries, Ottawa, ON
2025 Ottawa Jazz Festival (BRAVO), Marion Dewar Plaza, Ottawa, ON
2025 Festival Franco-Ontarien (BRAVO), Major’s Hill Park, Ottawa, ON
2025 Voyage au cœur de l’abstrait : Quand l’âme se libère, Galerie L’Art de vivre, Jonquière, QC
2025 2nd Annual Juried Show, Cline House Gallery, Cornwall, ON
2024 Naughty or Nice, The Art Factory, Renfrew, ON
2024 Group Show, Galerie L’Art de vivre, Jonquière, QC
2023 Le Nouveau Louvre 2023, Galerie du Nouvel-Ontario, Sudbury, ON
2023 Exposition d’hiver, Galerie de l’École d’Art d’Ottawa, f Ottawa, ON
2023 Valentine Group Show, Art+ galerie, Ottawa, ON
2022 POP Exposition BRAVO-Est, Club SAW Gallery, Ottawa, ON
2021 Summer Group Show, Art+ galerie, Ottawa, ON
2019 Pentadécagone (BRAVO-Est), Galerie WKP Kennedy, North Bay, ON
2019 Pentadécagone (BRAVO-Est), Galerie 180 Projects, Sault-Ste-Marie, ON
2019 À la croisée des chemins (BRAVO-Sud), Café Altern, Ottawa, ON Additional exhibitions prior to 2019 include presentations at SAW Gallery, Centre d’artiste Voix Visuelle, and La Galerie de la Nouvelle Scène during Ottawa’s first Nuit Blanche (2012). A complete exhibition list is available at www.nancysart.ca 

Bibliography 
2021 CONFLUENCES: Six Expositions de l’Ontario Francophone, BRAVO, ISBN 978-1-9995627-5-5
2019 ICI Nord de l’Ontario : Première exposition d’artistes francophones à Sault-Ste-Marie depuis 1987, Radio-Canada
2017 Francophone artists unite at SAW Gallery, Centretown News
2017 À la croisée des chemins, Exhibition Catalogue (BRAVO-Sud), ISBN 978-0-9734922-1-7
2016 Pentadécagone, Exhibition Catalogue (BRAVO-Est), ISBN 978-0-9734922-0-0
2013 Nancy Brandsma, Artist Catalogue (BRAVO), ISBN 978-0-9864769-7-6
2012 Frenchkiss(er), Exhibition Catalogue (BRAVO-Est, Nuit Blanche Ottawa — first edition). Foreword by Nancy Brandsma and Yves M. Larocque
2010 re-inventio, Exhibition Catalogue (ICSCIS/Walkthearts Inc.), ISBN 978-9865093-0-8
2010 The Arrival of Surrealism in Canada, article by Nancy Brandsma, Walk the Arts Blog

Professional Experience
2025 Exhibition Curator, BRAVO – Ottawa Jazz Festival, Ottawa, ON
2012 / 2024 / 2025 Exhibition Curator, BRAVO-Est – Festival Franco-Ontarien, Ottawa, ON
2019 Exhibition Curator, À la croisée des chemins | Crossroads (BRAVO-Est), Ottawa, ON
2012 Exhibition Curator, Frenchkiss(er) & Palindrome, Nuit Blanche Ottawa, Ottawa, ON
2010 – 2012 Administrative Committee Member, BRAVO-Est, Ottawa, ON

Education
2009 – 2019 Painting: Resource B (Prof. Yves Larocque), Ottawa School of Art, Ottawa, ON
2011 Artist Educator Foundation (Royal Conservatory / Ontario Arts Council), Kingston, ON
2010 Art History – Canadian Art (Prof. Yves Larocque), Ottawa School of Art, Ottawa, ON
2006 – 2007 Real Intro to Painting (Prof. Yves Larocque), Ottawa School of Art, Ottawa, ON
2004 Intro: Life Drawing (Prof. Blair Sharpe), Ottawa School of Art, Ottawa, ON
2003 Intro: Drawing (Prof. Gail Bourgeois), Ottawa School of Art, Ottawa, ON

​Associations
2021 – 2025 SSO – Studio Space Ottawa, Studio #220, Ottawa, ON
2010 – 2025 BRAVO – Bureau des regroupements d’artistes visuels de l’Ontario, Ottawa, ON
2003 – 2023 Ottawa School of Art, Ottawa, ON