Nancy Byrtus is a mixed media painter who lives and works on the traditional xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) lands in Vancouver, Canada. Her background includes the conservation of historic buildings (MA Heritage Conservation) and employment at museums and galleries in Canada and the US. In 2020, she completed her studies in painting at the Emily Carr University of Art + Design and fulfilled two terms on the Acquisitions and Public Art Committees at the Burnaby Art Gallery in 2025.
As an emerging artist, Nancy is drawn to changes in the environment, whether they bring courses of new spring growth, patterns of light, movement of water, or the diversity of plant life that grows after a fire.
To record images in an environmentally-sensitive way, Nancy is experimenting with reclaimed materials as well as plant and mineral-based pigments. Most recently she incorporated hand-ground charcoal from wildfires in the Similkameen Valley and Jasper into a number of her works. Material research has been a constant in her work both with historic buildings and as an artist.
Nancy can be found working in her studio at Alliance Française in Vancouver. Her works are held in private collections across Canada.
Exhibitions, Publications, Workshops & Residencies
Similkameen Artist Residency, BC
Workshops: 'Painting with Coffee and Tea' Alliance Française Vancouver and Fish Creek Residency Calgary
BC Children's Hospital Art Auction
Alliance Française Vancouver group exhibition, BC
Pemberton Arts Fest, BC
Toronto Outdoor Art Fair, ON
Harmony Arts Festival juried group show, West Vancouver BC
Victoria Arts Council group exhibition, BC
Squamish Artwalk BC
Women United Art Magazine issue IV Intl
collective chemistry Exhibition, Visual Space Gallery, Vancouver BC
Project Art Studio, Group Shows, Toronto, ON
- 12x12 (December)
- 2nd Annual
- Group Art & Silent Auction
- Pop-Up Art Sale



