Nancy Azara ’74, a sculptor best known for her carved wood sculptures and mixed media collages, has died.

She was also a co-founder of the New York Feminist Art Institute, a school for women artists that emerged from the feminist consciousness raising that began in the early 1970s.

Azara was born in Brooklyn and began her training at Finch College, where she studied costume design. She spent several years working in theater as a costume designer.

In the mid-1960s, she attended the Art Students League of New York. She studied painting with expressionist painter Edwin Dickinson and sculptor John Hovannes. She fulfilled her dream of receiving a bachelor’s degree when she got a B.S. in community and human services from Empire State University in 1974, becoming one of the university’s earliest graduates.

In 1979, Azara co-founded the New York Feminist Art Institute with Miriam Schapiro, Carol Stronghilos, Irene Peslikis, Lucille Lessane, and Selena Whitefeather.  The institute’s advisory board included the sculptor Louise Nevelson, multimedia artist Faith Ringgold, and author Kate Millett, as well as feminist and activist Gloria Steinem and feminist art historian Linda Nochlin.

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