about nancy tingey
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About Nancy
Nancy Tingey
Cook, ACT 2614
e-mail: hello@nancytingey.net.au
m: 0437377320
websites:
www.nancytingey.net
www.networksaustralia.blogspot.com
Born Nancy Howarth in 1942 she spent most of first 29 years in the North of England, studying at Bury Grammar School then at King’s College, Newcastle, which in those days was part of Durham University, for an honours degree in Fine Art. There she painted and studied stained glass which in 1965 earned her a travelling scholarship to study post-war stained glass in France and Switzerland. As she was by this time working at the Ferens Art Gallery in Hull, stained glass took a back seat, although she wrote her Museums Diploma thesis on stained glass in museums.
In 1966 she became Keeper of Art at Bolton Museum, taking the committee to have tea with Henry Moore while negotiating the purchase of 3 helmet studies and curating a major exhibition of works from the collections of people connected with Bolton, the highlight of which was the controversial portrait of Lord Leverhulme by Augustus John now in the Port Sunlight collection. She also founded the Friends of the Bolton Museum and Art Gallery. She then lectured for a year in liberal studies and art history at the Bolton School of Art.
Next she was headhunted for the job of art curator at Abbot Hall Art Gallery in Kendal and later to teach at the Lancaster and Morecambe Schools of Art, and St Martin’s College, Lancaster.
After marrying and emigrating from England in 1971 Nancy settled with her husband Bob in Canberra. She taught at the Canberra School of Art and took up glass work again, fulfilling three commissions, then the mix of three small sons and shards of glass loomed large and, while the painting continued, fibre art gradually took over.
When Bob was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 1987 Nancy returned to her career as an art curator, working at the Australian War Memorial and the National Museum, and training as a guide at the National Gallery. Then for the third time in her working life she left gallery work to teach and make time for her art practice. In 1994 she founded Painting with Parkinsons and in 2008, Networks (see below).
Life in Australia opened new opportunities while presenting challenges, not least the migrant issue and the problem of living two lives. In 1994 she began analysing these through her artwork, initially comparing the landscapes of England and Australia, then developing a new body of work which resulted in her qualifying for an MA with distinction at the Cumbria Institute of the Arts in 2004. See Fibre Art Journey, Original Material E-subject by Janet de Boer.
Nancy still lives in Canberra. Bob died of late-stage Parkinson’s in 2017. (See the Tingey Painting with Parkinsons Program for that story.) Their 3 sons live in Canberra, Sunshine Coast (married with three children) and Byron Bay.
THE TINGEY PAINTING WITH PARKINSONS PROGRAM
Nancy Tingey founded Painting with Parkinsons in Canberra Australia in 1994 to combine her role as a visual artist with caring for her husband Bob.
In 1995 she was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to study art as a therapy for Parkinson’s, travelling to Italy, Switzerland, Holland,England, Scotland, Canada and the USA in the following near. Her overseas studies formed the basis of specialist program Nancy devised addressing Parkinson’s symptoms and exploring ways of overcoming them to facilitate creative expression.
In 1997 Nancy gave a presentation about the program at the Fourth Australian Multi-Disciplinary Conference on Parkinsons Disease in Perth, Western Australia, and took an exhibition of work by the Canberra Painting with Parkinsons group to the First New Zealand Multi-Disciplinary Conference on Parkinson’s Disease in Wellington.
In 1997 she took the program to England and over the next four years ran workshops at five Parkinson’s conferences in Holland and England.
In 2000 Nancy ran the Art for Parkinson’s pilot trial for Parkinson’s UK and established art groups in the Midlands and West Cumbria. She also contributed the chapter on Art as a Therapy for Parkinson’s in ‘Arts Therapies and Progressive Illness – Nameless Dread’ edited by Diane Waller and published in 2002 by Routledge, UK.
In 2003 she co-curated the Painting with Parkinsons and Art for Parkinson’s Catalyst exhibition in London which included workshops and an art therapy seminar.
In 2005 she ran workshops at the Parkinson’s Asia and Pacific Parkinson’s Disease 5th International Symposium in Melbourne and in 2006 presented a paper on Art as a Therapy for Parkinson’s at the First World Parkinson Congress in Washington, USA.
After nearly ten years in the making the film Making a Mark: Art as a Therapy for Parkinson’s, directed by Nancy, was produced by Just Wright Productions, Melbourne, in 2008.
Nancy retired from coordinating the Canberra program in 2014 then spent the next four years writing ‘Magic Happens – The Story of Painting with Parkinsons’, published in 2018, the year in which the Tingey Painting with Parkinsons program was patented.
For further information about the Tingey Painting with Parkinsons program please consult www.paintingwith parkinsons.org.au
In 2024 Painting with Parkinsons will have been meeting continuously in the Australian National Botanic Gardens for 30 years.
Qualifications and Training and Awards
Qualifications and Training
MA (Contemporary Applied Art) with Distinction, Cumbria Institute of the Arts, UK 2004.
Guide, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra 1991.
The Museums Diploma (AMA), Museums Association, UK 1969.
Honours Degree in Fine Art, King’s College, Newcastle-upon-Tyne (BA p), UK 1964.
Awards
WPC (World Parkinson Coalition), Robin Elliott Award for Service to the Community 2019.
OAM, Order of Australia Medal for service to community health 2019.
ACT Chief Minister’s Inclusion Award for Long Service 2014.
‘Fulfil the Dream’ ACT Centenary Award, Churchill Fellows Association 2013.
Life Membership, Parkinson’s ACT 2012
Vocational Excellence Award, The Rotary Club of Hall 1999.
Churchill Fellowship 1996.
Accredited Professional Membership (APM) of Craft ACT 1996–2016.
Travelling Scholarship, Worshipful Company of Glaziers and Painters in Glass, UK 1965.
Collections
The Police Academy, Canberra (National Capital Development Commission purchase 1984).
Annette Gero Australian Quilt Collection, Sydney.
The Ruskin Museum, Cumbria, UK.
Private collections in Australia, New Zealand, USA, Italy and the UK.
Public Commissions
Canberra Odyssey exhibition piece, Canberra Museum and Art Gallery 2013.
Morris Memorial glass panel, Bury Grammar School, Lancs. UK 1978.
Publications
Janet de Boer’s E-Bulletin, Tree Conversations 2020.
Magic Happens – the story of Painting with Parkinsons, Nancy Tingey, 2018.
www.barbaramacey.com (blog).
Janet De Boer, Nancy Tingey, The Australian Forum for Textile Arts, Original Material E-Bulletin No.1, June 2015.
Tingey, N, Netting Strathnairn, Textile Fibre Forum, Issue No.112, 2013, pp 52–55.
Cousins, K-A, Casting Nets — fibre artists in the ACT, Women’s Art Register, The Bulletin, No.53, Summer 2013, pp 15–18.
Panorama, The Canberr.a Times, 16 February 2013, p 38.
De Boer, J, Nets at Tafta’s Geelong Forum 2012, Textile Fibre Forum, Issue No.109, 2013, pp 13–15
Cousins, K-A, Nancy Tingey – Spinner of Webs, Textile Fibre Forum, Issue 1, No.97, 2010, pp 46–47.
Tingey, N, Two Ply, Felt Matters, UK, Issue 92, September 2008, p 21.
Craft Arts, No.14, December1988 to February 1989, pp 63, 67.
Tingey, N, Two Ply, Textile Fibre Forum, Issue 3, No.87, 2007, pp 46–47.
Tingey, N, Two Ply – UK, Echoes, The Journal of the International Feltmakers Association, September 2006, pp 12–13.
Tingey, N, Art as a Therapy for Parkinson’s, Chapter 12 in Arts Therapies and Progressive Illness — Nameless Dread, edited by Diane Waller, Brunner-Routledge, 2002, pp 146–164
Gallery 4, Textile Fibre Forum, Issue 3, No.56, 1999, p 54.
Landsborough, D, Patch Mad, Quilt Crazy, Reader’s Digest, Australia, November 1992, p 49.
Bottrell, F, Taking a Line for a Walk, Textile Fibre Forum, 1992, Vol.11, Issue 3, pp 10–11.
Finnegan, D, The Quilters’ Kaleidoscope, Simon & Schuster, 1992, pp 36, 45,45.
Hartley, S, Stitching a Kaleidescope of Patches, Country Craft, Express Publications, 1991, p 51.
Finnegan, D, Piece by Piece, Simon & Schuster, 1990, pp 12-13, 23-25, 29, 110, 112, 141, 144.
The Quilters Guild, Sydney, Quilt Australia, Bay Books, 1988, p 87.
Macey, B and Denton, S, Quiltmaking, Nelson, 1987, insert no 34.
Tingey, N, Hands All Around, Leman Publications, E. P. Dutton, USA, 1987, p 15.
Tasmanian Crafts Makers & Sellers, The Crafts Council of Tasmania, 1986, pp 8, 10.
Tingey, N, Self Portraits, Fibre Forum, Vol.3, No.3, 1984, pp 27–29.
Crafts Council of the ACT Annual Exhibition catalogue, 1984.
Cooper, R, and Outteridge, A, Precious Little Scraps – An Australian Patchwork Survey, Craft Australia, Special Supplement, winter 1984, p 31.
Saclier, M, Exhibitions at The High Court, Australian Law News, Vol. 19, No. 7, Law Council of Australia, August 1984, p 38.
Power, P, A Portrait of the Artist as a Busy Mother, Home Beautiful, September 1982, pp 42–47.
Reviews
The Canberra Times 5.9.1983, 17.7.1987, 20.3.1994, 31.7.1994, 28.8.1994, 11.3.2006, 9.4.2007, 2.10.2008, 14.6.2011, 30.1.2012, 11.8.2012.
Professional Appointments
The Canberra Hospital, Arts in Health Committee Member 2012–2016.
Belconnen Arts Centre, casual tutor and speaker 2012–2014.
Ludlow College, and Church Stretton Community Centre, UK, art lecturer 2000–2001.
SAEC, Copland, Ginnindera and Hawker Colleges, recreational art lecturer 1993–1994.
National Gallery of Australia, gallery guide 1992–1996.
National Museum of Australia Information / Education officer 1992–1993.
Australian War Memorial, art curator and lecturer 1987–1992.
Hobart Adult Education Centre lecturer 1986.
Colour and Design tutor for quilters in Canberra and Tasmania 1984–1986.
Canberra Technical College and Canberra School of Art lecturer 1972, 1982–1984 and 2007.
Lancaster and Morecambe Schools of Art and St Martin’s College lecturer, UK 1970–1971.
Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal, UK, Education Officer and Keeper of Pictures 1968–1970.
Bolton School of Art, UK, Lecturer 1967–1968.
Bolton Museum and Art Gallery, UK, Keeper of Art 1966–1967.
WEA (Workers Education Association), Hull, UK 1965.
The Ferens Art Gallery, Hull, UK, Assistant to the Director 1964–1966.
Occasional art lecturer for various organisations including Norwich School of Art in 2006 and NADFAS in the North of England 1964–1971 and 2004–2006.
Community Projects and Residences
Art Nature and Spirit, course facilitator, Silver Wattle Quaker Centre, Bungendore, NSW 2015.
Networks, founder member 2008 – to date.
Creative Painting Weekend, Taking a Line for a Wander, Cumbria, UK 2000.
Painting with Parkinsons, founder, co-ordinator and facilitator — see separate CV 1994 – to date.
Artist in Residence, Theatre By The Lake, Keswick, UK 2004.
Backyard Project Facilitator, Majura Women’s Group, Canberra 1998.
Participant in The Mantle project, National Council of Churches in Australia, Service of Inauguration, Canberra 1994.
Artist in Residence, Canberra Grammar School, ACT 1993.
Print a Tea Towel Project, and the Hall Heritage Art Show 1993.
The Young People’s Art Show, Hall, ACT.
Awards and Grants
OAM, Order of Australia Medal for service to community health 2019.
World Parkinson Coalition Robin A. Elliott Award for Service to the Community 2019.
Grant of $3000 from the Rotary Club of Hall awarded towards graphic design and printing costs to complete the story of Painting with Parkinsons 2018.
ACT Chief Minister’s Inclusion Award for Long Service 2014.
Grant of $3000 from Parkinson’s ACT awarded towards editing costs involved in writing and publishing the story of Painting with Parkinsons 2014.
‘Fulfil the Dream’ ACT Centenary Award, Churchill Fellows Association 2013.
Life Membership, Parkinson’s ACT 2012.
Vocational Excellence Award, The Rotary Club of Hall, ACT 1999.
Churchill Fellowship for overseas travel to study art as a therapy for Parkinson’s 1996.
Radio Interviews
Two Ply with Sylvie Stern 2XX (FM 98.3) 23.4.2007
The Mantle textile project, Compass, ABC TV and Dovetalk, 2XX 1994.
‘Send me more paint!’, Albury local radio 1991
Venetian Glass, World Wild Life Photographs, Border TV, UK 1969.
Stained Glass, with Florence Aske. BBC (Yorkshire) Spectrum, 1969.