Nancy Dunlop Cawdrey lives in a world of color and she likes to paint that way as well. Growing up quite literally around the world, Cawdrey found early inspiration in patterns and colors from places she has lived as a child and teenager, ranging from Syria to Germany. Studying studio art in Paris for two years as a college student, Nancy became attuned to Old Master techniques and found her voice through painting. After living abroad in England and Europe with her husband Steve, they found themselves returning to the United States and settling down in Montana.

Nancy discovered the medium of silk painting on her travels in Hawaii. The propensity for vibrancy in the dyes and the looseness of the technique, close to the techniques of watercolor, captured Nancy. While a fairly novel medium, combining the subject matter of the West and the ancient art of silk painting, she has created a portfolio and style of painting that is wholly unique to her studio.

Nancy paints with vibrant French dyes on crepe de chine silk fabric adapting her experience in water media to express her renowned contemporary style. Cawdrey’s signature western motif paintings, vibrant florals, and commanding wildlife masterworks can be found in collections around the world. Her home studio is in Northwestern Montana right next to Glacier National Park.

In 2020, Nancy was honored to launch a one-woman traveling museum exhibit titled “Forever Glacier” which focuses on the mammals native to Glacier National Park. The collection contains twenty-five large-format original silk paintings depicting the Park’s mammals, habitats, and landscapes. Forever Glacier has exhibited at the C.M. Russell Museum, The Booth Western Art Museum, The Hockaday Museum of Art, and continues to travel to new venues around Montana and nationwide.

Nancy is a founding member of the Russell Skull Society of Artists and participates in The Russell Auction at the C.M. Russell Museum. Her work is also in the “Night of Artists” invitational at the Briscoe Western Art Museum, The Coors Western Art Show in Denver, and the Western Visions fundraiser at the National Museum of Wildlife Art. She has shown at the National Cowboy Museum, the National Cowgirl Museum, the Gilcrease Museum, and various other venues across the country.

Honors include being the Featured Artist at the Jackson Hole Fall Arts Festival and numerous years as “People’s Choice” at the Buffalo Bill Art Show & Sale in Cody, Wyoming. In 2010, her art was selected to be an Official Glacier Park Centennial Art piece and Nancy became an Official Centennial Artist. Her silk paintings are in many permanent collections of museums, corporate offices, and international buyers.

Nancy also teaches silk painting classes. For decades, she has led a workshop at Triple Creek Ranch in Darby, MT, a five-star resort and member of the prestigious Relais & Châteaux.

Nancy is represented by Cawdrey Gallery in Whitefish, Montana; Sorrel Sky Gallery in Santa Fe; West Lives On Contemporary Gallery in Jackson Hole, Wyoming; and Big Horn Galleries in Cody.