Buchanan, Nancy, 1946-

Nancy Buchanan is a Los Angeles-based artist best known for her work in installation, performance, and video art. She played a central role in the feminist art movement in Los Angeles in the 1970s.

Nancy Buchanan born Nancy Page Ridenour August 30, 1946, Boston, MA; father was physicist Louis Ridenour; moved to California when she was a child. She earned her B.A. and M.F.A. at the University of California, Irvine, where she studied with Larry Bell, Vija Celmins, David Hockney, and Robert Irwin; Since the 1970s, Buchanan has made videos and performances that combine the personal and the political; Buchanan was a producer of Close Radio along with Paul McCarthy and John Duncan; founding member of several art organizations, including F Space Gallery in Santa Ana, CA; Grandview Galleries at the Woman's Building in Los Angeles; Double X, a feminist art collective (with artists including Merion Estes and Nancy Youdelman); Close Radio; and Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE). Currently, she is a member of The LA ArtGirls and The Artists Formerly Known As Women; taught courses in drawing, performance, video art (production, history and installation) and various courses examining connections between art and politics at many institutions; Buchanan served as a close collaborator of Michael Zinzun;