By Mark Ambrogi
Nancy Kruse worked as a medical technician for 25 years.
“I became latex allergic and I thought that was a good time to change professions,” she said.
So for the last 15 years, the Carmel resident has pursued her true love, oil painting, as her job.
A piece of Kruse’s work is getting prominent display during the holiday season. She has an oil painting, called Define Good, depicting two boys visiting Santa Claus, in the front wind of Hoosier Salon, 22 N. Range Line Road in Carmel. Kruse said it’s the first time she has done a Christmas-themed painting.
“I like realism and figurative paintings,” Kruse said.
Kruse’s studio is at 1020 3rd Ave. SW, above Carmel Auto Contours, owned by Kruse’s husband and his brother.
“It’s an interesting mix, my studio above an auto body shop, but it works out for me,” she said. “I have studio visits by appointment. I’m just busy painting and entering exhibitions.”
Kruse, a 1973 Lawrence Central High School graduate, got her master’s in art from the University of Indianapolis in 2013. She started at Purdue in 1973-74 and studied foundation design. She then transferred to Ivy Tech to get an associate’s degree in medical technology. She attended Herron School of Art in Indianapolis from 1986 to 1988, taking more art foundation courses.
Kruse has won several awards for her work, including the grand prize at the 69th annual Wabash Valley Exhibition in 2013.
Kruse was selected for the Hoosier Salon juried exhibits in 2011 and 2012. She won best Contemporary Painting from Hoosier Salon in 2012.
Kruse is especially proud of winning a spot on the magazine cover of Living Artists, 13th edition, in 2003.
“My painting was featured on the front of their magazine and that was across the country (at bookstores),” Kruse said. “That was a national competition.”
Kruse was featured in “Art in King Sized Beds: A Collector’s Journal” by Michael Corbin in 2006.
For more, visit nlkruse.com.
