Nancy Gardner received a BFA in Ceramics from Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia 1980 and MFA from Southern Illinois University Carbondale in 1984. After that Nancy taught for 3 years in Dayton Ohio. When Nancy and her future husband decided to get married, she moved to Chicago where they started Nancy Gardner Ceramics, a line of highly decorative, somewhat functional ceramics. They raised 2 boys, rehabbed some buildings and sent a lot of pots out into the world. They lived happily ever after and remain there to this very day.