Nancy Jung Warmke
Painter

Nancy Jung Warmke was born in West Germany and raised in West Berlin attending a bilingual school. Art was a love for her from early childhood. As a shy, quiet, and withdrawn child she found stimulation and comfort in creating things from anything she could find, including plaster, food coloring, or plastic wrap. Her high school art teach, an American, was a great influence, encouraging painting in oils and mixed media, and keeping the art room open at all times. One of her student works was shipped to the United States for an exhibition in New York City. The bicultural, bilingual experience of growing up as an American in a foreign country influenced Nancy's vision of humanity and the world. She observed that people can be intensely different while still maintaining characteristics that are indisputably human regardless of culture.

After coming to the United States, she married a man very supportive of her creativity and was able to attend classes for several years at the Corcoran School of Fine Art. In spite of being a working mother of three boys, she continued to work at home at the dining room table whenever possible. Because of the toxicity of many chemicals involved in oil painting, she switched to pencil and pastels as her media of choice.

In 1990 Nancy became a single mother of three small children and rarely had the opportunity to do much drawing or painting; however, a few wonderful works in pencil came out of that time in her life. She was able to begin attending classes at the Torpedo Factory in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. Here her style became more polished and realistic after taking a drawing class which focused on pencil and colored pencil only. One of her drawings was exhibited at the Torpedo Factory in a student show.

Several years after Nancy moved to Calvert County, Maryland, she was approached by several neighbors interested in private instruction for their children. She ran a successful business from home teaching various art forms to groups of adolescents and teenagers, and adults in private lessons. For several years Nancy has also taught Reflections Art Classes at Northern Middle School in Maryland, which is an after-school program funded by he Arts Council of Calvert County. In 2005 and 2007 she was the creative director for the Arts Council's benefit and art auction, "Springtime in Paris" and "Springtime in London", respectively.

Her works hang in many private collections around the country. She has been commissioned to paint or draw portraits, homes, and sceneries such as the Calvert Cliffs. Because of her enthusiasm and courage to explore any medium, her body of work is a multifaceted kaleidoscope of visual delights. Her newest endeavors include painting glass. She has found a creative voice in both collage and pastels, and plans to stay focused in these two medium for the time being.

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