Nancy Rourke

Rourke grew up in San Diego, California. Her mother was from Michigan, and her father was an enrolled member of the federally recognized Mesa Grande Band of Mission Indians in the Kumeyaay Nation. She pursued formal art education through programs connected with the National Technical Institute for the Deaf and Rochester Institute of Technology, studying painting, computer graphics, and design. After a long career as a corporate graphic designer, she returned to full-time painting and community-focused art practice around 2009–2011, shifting her emphasis from graphic design to artwork explicitly rooted in Deaf culture and De'VIA principles. Two of her greatest inspirations were Jean Michel Basquiat and Jacob Lawrence, and their work in the civil rights movement. == Career ==

Rourke's career began with various graphic design jobs at companies such as Xerox, 20th Century Fox, and Microsoft. Some of her experience also pertains to assisting deaf inmates who did not have access to interpreters or video phones in prison, and creating programs to expand their artistic abilities. == Artistic style and themes ==

Rourke’s painting style is characterized by large, energetic fields of bold primary colors (red, blue, yellow), heavy impasto, and figurative-abstraction that communicate themes of resistance, affirmation, and liberation for Deaf people. Her work often depicts hands, mouths, eyes, and other motifs used within De'VIA to symbolically address oralism, audism, == Exhibitions ==

Rourke has exhibited widely in the United States and internationally, participating in solo and group shows at galleries, academic institutions, and cultural centers. Her work has been shown in venues associated with Deaf studies and contemporary art; she has been featured in exhibitions at RIT/NTID venues and has taken part in international De'VIA-related shows. == Publications ==

In 2014, she published Deaf Artist Series: Nancy Rourke. == Awards and recognition ==

In recognition of her artistic and community work, Rourke has received multiple honors. In 2019, she was awarded the Laurent Clerc Award by Gallaudet University's Alumni Association to recognize a deaf person for "his or her outstanding contributions to society." She was named a 2024 Disability Futures Fellow, part of a cohort supported by the Ford Foundation and Mellon Foundation and has been recognized by organizations that platform Deaf and disability-focused artists. Rourke is also listed among United States Artists supported artists and has received fellowships and awards acknowledging her role as an artist-advocate. == References ==