Nancy Kahlow-Curtis explores children and women figures’ mythological legacies in visually arresting compositions that accentuate light and texture. The Minnesota native frequently works with models, but her inspiration generally comes from within, after which she poses her scenes and sets to work. This process of painting from inner vision means certain artworks have taken Kahlow-Curtis decades to develop, but also imbues each one with a magical sense of space and staging. In works with rippling fabrics, thrown shadows and brilliant lights, she puts her palette of strong colors to emotive effect, creating moods and conveying atmosphere in a manner that evokes both Giorgio de Chirico’s architectural flair and Henri Rousseau’s stylized surfaces and forms.

Kahlow-Curtis’s paintings, however, are first and foremost about her human subjects, the legends they echo and the imaginative possibilities they inspire. Often, her empowering characters are extremely agile and strong, frequently staring outside the canvas as if contemplating the vast options available to them in the world.