"Each time we look at one of Nancy's pieces, we are transported to our favorite places."

Nancy Carter’s first memories as a toddler living in Savannah, Georgia are of sitting in her swing and studying the sunlight filter through the pine trees. Nancy’s father would frequently drive her down to the beach at Tybee Island. One evening during one of these drives Nancy uttered her first word: “lighthouse.”

Throughout Nancy’s childhood she loved to draw and sketch. During elementary school, she was given the assignment of creating a self-portrait. Nancy drew herself cheerfully floating through the air in an armchair eating one of her beloved pimento cheese sandwiches. It was during this time that she wistfully told her mother “I wish it was always summer and everything was chocolate.”

While at UNCW earning her sociology degree, she spent most of her days at the beach or sketching during classes. After graduating, she moved to the Washington, D.C. area where she held jobs in politics and academia, but continued to feel a longing for the sunshine and beauty of the coast.

One day a few years ago Nancy decided to paint her first pastel, inspired by photographs she took on one or her recent beach trips. She began using a blend of her lifelong passions to create blissful coastal art.

Today Nancy’s pastels can be found in galleries and private collections throughout the Southeast. Her honors include being selected “Best in Show” by Wilford Scott of the National Gallery of Art, having two of her paintings selected for inclusion in a major motion picture and being commissioned by EPA’s Office of Water. Reviewers have described her work as capturing vignettes of the coast with breathtaking intensity of color and detail.

Nancy feels most honored when she inspires visceral reactions to her paintings. She wants her paintings to prompt a sense of unencumbered happiness and beauty. “I am privileged to have the opportunity to create and explore my artistic passion to achieve that.” Through her art, her days are now filled with sunshine, summer, the beach and sometimes even chocolate.