For Teri McCans, creating art is an opportunity to transform her experiences into a visual language that is accessible, yet reflects the world’s complexity.  Her work is a testament of a true dedication to being witness to the world around her and an obligation she feels to inspire others with her experiences.

McCans’ earliest artistic practice was formed by growing up in a rural town of New Jersey. Her perceptions were rooted in the sights and sounds of nature and in absorbing all of the beauty and quiet that surrounded her on her family’s farm estate. Her earliest work focused on the themes of nature, silence, and isolation. Born into a lineage of tradesmen and engineers, McCans learned from an early age to embrace the process of hard work and the freedom of creation. 

Following the tragic events of 9/11, despite her dedication to art, McCans joined the military after graduating high school, feeling a desire to contribute to the safety and security of her country. During her military related travels and training, McCans never stopped creating and she used those experiences to motivate and inspire her art.

Interrupted by multiple deployments to Iraq, McCans persevered through her college experience and received her BFA in Fine Art from The College of New Jersey and graduated with honors. It was evident that the military experience left McCans not only determined and filled with compelling inspiration, but it enabled her with a work ethic, focus, and professionalism. McCans also used her to evolve her technique and to propel her work ethic. Immediately following graduation, McCans participated in some small group art exhibitions, showing alongside India Blake, the talented and creative daughter of Seward Johnson, heir to the renowned Johnson and Johnson corporation. Additionally, she seized an opportunity to show her work in a small New York City gallery and joined a co-op Fine Art gallery in Hunterdon, New Jersey.

In 2014, McCans’ life and interests took her art westward and landed her just outside of Denver, Colorado. McCans continues to draw significant inspiration from her two overseas combat tours in Iraq, previous service as a firefighter, and her current role in law enforcement. These experiences give her a unique perspective on the world and affect her work profoundly. Her work explores themes of conflict and the ideas of stability vs. fragility, strength vs. weakness, and male vs. female. Although her work is influenced from personal narrative, McCans has been praised for how her use of color, shape, and form is universal and recognizable.

McCans’ art career has been continually developing and expanding over the past decade. She has participated in multiple local and international exhibitions, spanning as far as Lisbon, Portugal. Her artwork has been displayed at both the Los Angeles Craft and Folk Art Museum and the Museum of Craft and Design in San Francisco, California.

McCans has sold her original works in galleries as well as to private collectors nationwide. She has published her art nationally and has donated her original work to charities and fundraisers. She is currently showing her work in the Rox Arts Gallery, is a member of the The American Watercolor Society, 40 West Arts, and is a featured artist of the United States Veterans’ Artists Alliance of Culver City, California.