Femina Lucida: The Art of Nancy Mee

Guest-curated by Matthew Kangas

January 24 - May 3, 2026

Nancy Mee, Reconstruction of Plato and Persephone, 1999, fused, slumped and sandblasted glass, steel, photo-sandblasted glass, 84 x 5 x 22 inches, courtesy of Tacoma Art Museum

Femina Lucida: The Art of Nancy Mee is the first major museum survey of Mee’s life work. The exhibition documents the variety of material approaches used by the artist over five decades of her career to interrogate both the personal and cultural construct of the female body. Known for her use of readymade sheets of clear glass, Mee slumps, laminates, stacks, splinters, and layers the glass medium to both explore and celebrate the image of the female body.

Curated by Matthew Kangas, Femina Lucida features Mee’s early works which reveal the artist’s obsession with bodily deformity and “normal” anatomy inspired by her access to unsettling medical records (often grotesque photographs and x-rays) of spinal disorders like scoliosis in adolescent girls. 

Following these works, Mee’s subsequent use of imagery drawn from the Classical Greco-Roman ideal of beauty corrects the bodily distortions: in these works, beauty triumphs over deformity. From the high point of her Classical female figures, Mee continued her artistic inquiry into the perception of the female body through series like the Botanicals, with the metaphorical association of flowers to femininity, and her Chinese pi sculptures, with the direct association of jewelry to the female body ornament. 

The evolution of Mee’s themes of distortion and perfection has spanned nearly 50 years, enhancing the contemporary art tradition in the Pacific Northwest and beyond.

This exhibition is sponsored in part by The Klorfine Foundation.

Click here to check out educational programs related to this exhibition. View the digital gallery guide in English. Ver la guia en español.

Pictured at top: Detail of Nancy Mee, Napoleon’s Sister, 1999, Fused, slumped glass, steel. Photo Credits: Tom Collicott

Nancy Mee, Napoleon’s Sister, 1999, Fused, slumped glass, steel. Photo Credits: Tom Collicott

Nancy Mee, Napoleon’s Sister, 1999, Fused, slumped glass, steel. Photo Credits: Tom Collicott

Nancy Mee, Reconstruction of Plato and Persephone, 1999, fused, slumped and sandblasted glass, steel, photo-sandblasted glass, courtesy of Tacoma Art Museum

Nancy Mee, Reconstruction of Plato and Persephone, 1999, fused, slumped and sandblasted glass, steel, photo-sandblasted glass, courtesy of Tacoma Art Museum

Nancy Mee, Venus Vector, 1992, Fused and slumped glass, photo-sandblasted glass, forged and fabricated steel, courtesy of Nan Romney collection - Yakima, WA

Nancy Mee, Venus Vector, 1992, Fused and slumped glass, photo-sandblasted glass, forged and fabricated steel, courtesy of Nan Romney collection - Yakima, WA

Nancy Mee, The Post of Babelicious, 1995, Fused and slumped glass, fabricated and forged steel, Courtesy of Mary Alberg

Nancy Mee, The Post of Babelicious, 1995, Fused and slumped glass, fabricated and forged steel, Courtesy of Mary Alberg

Nancy Mee, Naterc, 1990, Fused and slumped glass, forged and fabricated steel, Courtesy of the artist

Nancy Mee, Naterc, 1990, Fused and slumped glass, forged and fabricated steel, Courtesy of the artist

Nancy Mee, The Eternal Cycle, 2004, Fused, slumped, water-jet cut and sandblasted glass, fabricated and cast bronze, Courtesy of the artist

Nancy Mee, The Eternal Cycle, 2004, Fused, slumped, water-jet cut and sandblasted glass, fabricated and cast bronze, Courtesy of the artist

Nancy Mee, Sky Charter, 2004, Sandblasted glass, cast and fabricated bronze, Courtesy of Chap and Eve Alvord

Nancy Mee, Sky Charter, 2004, Sandblasted glass, cast and fabricated bronze, Courtesy of Chap and Eve Alvord

Nancy Mee, Callipygian Venus, 1992, Fused, slumped and photo-sandblasted glass, fabricated and forged steel, Courtesy of the artist

Nancy Mee, Callipygian Venus, 1992, Fused, slumped and photo-sandblasted glass, fabricated and forged steel, Courtesy of the artist