BIOGRAPHY
Nancy Popp is a Los Angeles-born and - based artist, educator and organizer. Her work draws upon the rich traditions of durational, corporeal performance and direct political intervention to explore relations between the body as a site, the context of site that envelops that body, and the constant fluctuations that connect the two. Her practice engages both architectural and public space to wrestle with political and social boundaries of geography and identity through risky, playful, endurance-based and site-specific interventions and installations. She also works with photography, video, drawing, and community networking and organizing.
Popp's projects have been supported and exhibited at MOCA Los Angeles, the Getty Center, the 2011 Istanbul Biennial, the Atlanta Contemporary Arts Center, the 2014 Dallas Biennial, Rowan University, SUNY University, CSU Los Angeles, in addition to galleries and public spaces in Belgrade, Düsseldorf, Tijuana, and London. Recent residencies and fellowships include the 2011 California Community Foundation Visual Arts Fellowship and the Lucas Artist Fellowship from Montalvo Arts Center. She holds degrees from Art Center College of Design and San Francisco Art Institute and is represented by Klowden Mann Gallery, Los Angeles. She also writes for various magazines and websites on art, education and politics.
YOGA
Popp's yoga practice began in 1994, beginning with an initial interest in meditation and yoga philosophy; she was initiated into the Raja Yoga tradition of Kriya Yoga practice through Self- Realization Fellowship in 1995. Her asana studies include Bikram, Phoenix Rising, Sivananda, Dharma Yoga, Yin Yoga and traditional Raja Yoga, with experience in Ashtanga, Iyengar, Anusara, and Vinyasa practices. She has studied and worked with Ayurvedic systems of diagnosis, healing and treatment in combination with asana practice since 2002.
Popp's classes balance a purifying athletic practice with devotion and reverence of bhakti practice, including precise alignment of traditional Hatha Yoga along with Vedic mantra and chanting. Her teaching experience encompasses a wide range of ages and abilities, from older students with physical or mobility limitations to high-school athletes. She has an intimate understanding of healing from traumatic injury, emphasizing energy work in conjunction with kinesthetic awareness.