Nancy Willis

Nancy Willis is a vital member of the Napa Valley artist community. As a painter/printmaker she draws from her lived experiences to explore moments of connection to the landscape and to others. String lights in trees, dinner table scenes and local terrain become motifs in her paintings and prints that evoke a strong sense of place.

As a thirty-five-year resident of the Napa Valley, Willis’ work embodies the unique beauty of the California wine region as well as its’ ties to stellar food and wine. The artist has an extensive record of painting at iconic Napa wineries, as well as teaching at the Napa Valley Colleges and the Culinary Institute of America.

Shortly after receiving her M.F.A. from San Francisco Art Institute, she launched art and travel experiences, leading painters to France. The offerings now include trips to Sundance, Utah, and Hudson Valley.

Willis has received several grants for projects about the California wildfires and her ongoing series Conflict Zone. In 2025, she was awarded the Helen Frankenthaler Residency at the Center for Contemporary Printmaking in Norwalk, Ct.

Recent exhibitions include the StArtUp Art Fair San Francisco, the 2025 Human Rights exhibition at College of Sequoias and True North at the di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art.