Francesca 3

Nancy Agati was born and raised in upstate New York. With a BFA from Alfred University School of Art & Design, she relocated to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to pursue a career in art and art education. Agati earned her MFA in 2007 from The University of the Arts in Philadelphia. She currently resides and maintains an active studio practice close to the wooded area of Fairmount Park in Philadelphia, which along with the contrasting city streets, offer an abundance of source material.
Agati's work addresses transformations and patterns in nature through physical investigations of materials. She is interested in elements from nature that communicate the passage of time and illustrate cyclical occurrences. Influences include natural forms that reveal a sense of order, elegance, and geometry often found in patterns of moving water and flow-like organic structures. Drawing is an essential aspect of Agati's work, defined in the broadest of terms and developed through multiple methods. Her multi-disciplinary work includes works on paper, sculpture, textiles, site-specific installation, and public art. Nancy Agati has exhibited her work widely throughout Philadelphia and nationally including exhibitions at the Philadelphia Art Alliance, Hillyer Art Space, Washington, DC, Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art, Staten Island, NY, The Calandra Italian American Institute, New York, Crane Arts Building, Philadelphia, and Pentimenti Gallery, Philadelphia.
Agati was a recipient of a Windows of Opportunity Grant from the Leeway Foundation and has been awarded artist-in-residence placements at the Santa Fe Art Institute, New Mexico, Lo Studio dei Nipoti, Calabria, Italy, and Main & Station in Nova Scotia. Her time spent in Southern Italy initiated several bodies of work, including Portico Series. Works from the Portico Series were recently added to the permanent collection at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. In 2014, as a Hemera Foundation Tending Space Fellow, Agati began investigating the intersection of mindfulness meditation as it relates to her art-making process.