Nancy Servis

Teaches at Harvard University - Office of the Arts

Nancy M. Servis, from Sacramento, California is a recognized art historian, gallerist, and author having served as curator, educator and arts administrator in the greater San Francisco Bay Area for over twenty years. She developed expertise in contemporary ceramics through years of curation and research in association with the California Conference for the Advancement of Ceramic Art in Davis, CA; and the development of the original course, A Century of Northern California Ceramics that she taught for six years at the California College of the Arts, Oakland. Much of her curatorial work includes original catalogue essays. Recent publications include: The Ceramic Pot Shop at UC Berkeley, 1959-1964; John Toki: A Life That Is More Than Clay; Local Treasures: Bay Area Ceramics; Wanxin Zhang: Innovation in Ceramic Sculpture; Stephen De Staebler - The Sculptor's Way; Contemporary Studio Ceramics: The Dauer Collection; and The Eve Aesthetic: Contemporary Figurative Clay Sculpture by Artists from TB-9. Published artist monographs include: Bill Abright - Mining Meaning; Alan Osborne - Expressionist Enamels; Danae Mattes - The Sibyl Series, Donna Billick, and René Martucci.
Also, Nancy's writings have been featured in the art periodicals Ceramics: Art and Perception, Ceramics Monthly, the NCECA Journal, Neue Keramik and Studio Potter. Recent articles include: Ruth Rippon: Her Story; Innovations In California Clay; James Melchert: Works of Resonance; Jun Kaneko: Beyond Sculptural Boundaries; Erna Aaltonen: Nostaligia; and Ceramics Excellence: Fellowships at the Archie Bray Foundation, 2013-2014.