Nanci Cook

Nanci Cook paints, hosts painting workshops, designs websites and makes breakfast for her guests. Her paintings reflect her life and surroundings. She came to the Quadra Island in search of a quiet, safe place to raise her family and live a creative life.

Nanci believes in life-long learning—her paintings are an intuitive exploration of her perceptions and a translation of the patterns, colours and lights she sees in Nature. Her art is about finding joy in everyday life and focusing on what she can do, not on what she can’t. Art is an important part of her life's vision and she inte...

Nanci Cook paints, hosts painting workshops, designs websites and makes breakfast for her guests. Her paintings reflect her life and surroundings. She came to the Quadra Island in search of a quiet, safe place to raise her family and live a creative life.

Nanci believes in life-long learning—her paintings are an intuitive exploration of her perceptions and a translation of the patterns, colours and lights she sees in Nature. Her art is about finding joy in everyday life and focusing on what she can do, not on what she can’t. Art is an important part of her life's vision and she integrates it into everything she does.

Nanci was born in Chicago, Illinois, raised in New Jersey and earned her BA in Arts & Crafts and their History from University of California Santa Cruz in 1977, where she studied under master potter and painter, Al Johnsen. Upon graduation, she moved to Hornby Island, making functional pottery and ceramic art as a studio potter for 12 years until chronic tendinitis and arthritis in her wrists made it too difficult to continue.

In 1991, Nanci met Tracy Tomlinson and moved to Quadra Island. She attended North Island College (NIC) in Campbell River and earned her Tourism & Hospitality Diploma in 1999. She continued her formal education at NIC in Courtenay for 2 more years, learning more about graphic design, drawing and painting. For five years, Nanci worked at the Heriot Bay Inn (HBI) as front desk agent, gift shop manager and marketing director.

Nanci opened Firesign Art & Design Studio and B&B in June 2005 where she paints in acrylic and watercolour, designs for web and print, hosts painting workshops and rents a three-bedroom suite. Her paintings hang on the walls of Firesign Studio, the HBI, the Campbell River Art Gallery and many private homes around the world!