Nancy Tankersley » About the Artist

Nancy Tankersley is a versatile and accomplished fine artist whose career spans portraiture,  figurative, marine painting, still life, and landscape — a creative journey that has taken her from the intimacy of the portrait studio to the open air of some of the world’s most celebrated painting destinations. Currently as she searches for the unpredictable, Tankersley moves between landscape, figures and still life. Incorporating non- traditional tools , supports and technologies for her paintings she remains faithful to her impressionistic style.

Beginning as a portrait artist, Tankersley developed a rigorous foundation in observation and technique that now informs her approach to all subjects. A former gallery owner and one of the founding members of Plein Air Easton — among the most respected plein air events in the country — she has been deeply woven into the fabric of the American art community for decades. She is also a frequent judge at top plein air festivals nationwide, bringing a practiced and discerning eye to the evaluation of outdoor painting at its finest.

Since 2007, Tankersley has shared her knowledge and passion through teaching at the local, national, and international levels, mentoring artists across a wide range of experience and backgrounds.

Her work has earned recognition at the highest levels of the fine art world. In 2026, she was elected as a Fellow of the American Society of Marine Artists — an honor reserved for artists of exceptional mastery and contribution to the genre. She has been invited twice to exhibit at the prestigious Master’s Exhibition at the Salmagundi Club in New York City, one of the oldest and most esteemed artist organizations in the United States. In 2019, Tankersley was named the Featured Artist at the renowned Waterfowl Festival in Easton, Maryland, and in 2023 was spotlighted by Fine Art Connoisseur magazine in the “Today’s Masters” feature— a fitting tribute to a career defined by curiosity, craftsmanship, and an unrelenting love of painting.

Tankersley is also a Signature Member of the American Impressionist Society, an Associate of Distinction of American Women Artists,  and is a juried  member of the Washington Society for Landscape Painters.