From a young age Nancy (1930-2015) showed great talent and creativity in visual arts. Her early illustrations and stories have won her awards and she was accepted at the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague. During this period she signed her work with her paternal surname: “Scheffer”. Eager to refine her painting techniques, she enrolled in the ‘Académie André Lhote' in Paris in 1951. Nancy moved to Mexico in 1952 were she was inspired by the local folklore and music.

Nancy's experiences of growing up during the second world war enboldened her to hold on to her dreams as an independent woman tangled in the conformism of 1950s Mexico. She decided to change her artist’s name to “Nancy van Overveldt”, her maternal surname, by which she signed her work from then on.

During the 25 years that she lived in Mexico, Nancy immersed herself in the artistic movement of that time: muralists such as, Rufino Tamayo, Diego Rivera and great sculptors like Angela Gurria, with whom she developed a great friendship and with Mathias Goeritz, with whom she worked together.

She succeeds in positioning herself in the artistic world of Mexico, exhibiting her work in renown art houses as Palacio de Bellas Artes, Galería Antonio Souza, Galería Chapultepec. For more than 40 years she was part of the artistic group of the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana.

In the early seventies Nancy returns to Wassenaar, were her inner journey and the Dutch seasons heralded a period of transformation which is reflected in her work. After moving to Lelystad her work becomes more mathematical. Expanding from a central perspective a refined layering appears in her painting technique, which is reminiscent of fractals.

Nancy's work depicts the fine line between the aesthetic and current social-societal themes: identity, the role of women, diversity, living within two worlds and nature.

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Her work is characterized by rhythmic lines and dynamism which serves as a source of constant rejuvenation.