Nansi Bielanski

Freediver with Lemon Shark

2021

Nansi Bielanski is a native southern Californian who grew up with a deep appreciation of the exceptional beauty of California's beaches and seascapes. While she loves her home at the beach in Malibu, she is a worldwide traveler with a passion for adventure. Her love of exotic lands and their people has been the inspiration for many of her paintings, and recently she and her artist husband David C. Gallup have purchased a small island in the coral sea which now serves as their tropical studio away from home. Before becoming a professional Artist, Nansi was a Television Director and producer of many award-winning television commercials. She lived in Budapest, Hungary for three years, producing over one hundred commercials and several documentaries. She returned to her first love of painting and sculpting in the '90's, studying under internationally recognized masters Jove Wang, JeremyLipking, Aaron Westerberg, and David Gallup. Nansi is a certified Scuba Diver, and her travels have taken her to some of the finest dive spots in the world: Belize, Turks and Caicos, Fiji, and the Cayman Islands. Her experiences scuba diving in these locations and at the local Channel Islands have led to her latest work in underwater oil paintings of coral and fish. With her involvement with conservation groups like the Ocean Artists Society, Reef Check, Sea Save, Heal the Bay, and Artists for Conservation, Nansi is using her art to educate people about the need to protect this fragile environment. She has exhibited at the Weisman Museum, USC Fisher Museum of Art, Carnegie Museum, Wildling Museum of Art, and the Autry Museum of the AmericanWest- a prestigious list of Museums which is set to grow as she and David kick off their international museum exhibition featuring paintings of coral reefs starting in 2024.

(Biography provided by Izen Miller Gallery)