Lance Tucker didn’t think he would be exhibiting anything this year. With his health suffering, he had put his art on hold — until a conversation with gallery director Nzingha Ming reignited his drive.

That exchange led to Capture In Vision, a mixed-media display that will debut at the Bermuda Society of Arts at the end of the month. Known for his use of sand and layered textures, in this exhibit the artist explores themes of nature, women and Bermudian landscapes.

“I didn't think that I would actually get to do another show, or if I wanted to do another show, due to health issues and different things,” said Mr Tucker, who last exhibited at the BSoA in 2021.

“But being around Nzingha, being inspired by her — she's one of the reasons why I'm a member of Bermuda Society of Arts, because of her personality and how she carries herself.”

In January he got to work, encouraged also by what others artists were posting on social media.

“This time around, it wasn't [so much] about the painting, it was more about the mixed-media stuff that I’m using — the sand, the glass,” he said.

“It was more a sense of, how can I make it look like material? Look like cloth? Just a feel of what others might see. Capture In Vision is the name of the show, but I also want to be able to capture other people's thoughts when they're looking at my art.”

According to Mr Tucker, creating art is less about the final image and more about the movement, textures and transformation that happens along the way.

“It is like a mirror to my soul, a story in my worth — that I am worthy to be a mixed-media artist — because it is more about the different textures that transform on the canvas that blows my mind when the creation has formed,” his artist statement reads.

Fourteen pieces will be on display. The works vary in size. A picture of Jobson’s Cove, measuring 36in x 48in, is his largest.

“I was getting tired after the tenth one and was going to leave it at that. But it seemed like every time I laid my head down, I got a different inspiration to do something different,” he said.

“They’re all based on beauty. So it's more [about] what you see when you see it. How does it make you feel? I just wanted what I felt was beautiful, in my eyes, captured like a picture.”

Mr Tucker’s first show in 2021 came about because he had “all these paintings” and didn't know what to do with them.

“I thought about [showing them at BSoA] but didn't know how to go about it. And [in] talking with Nzingha, and her explaining what Bermuda Society of Arts is and what it's about, I said, ‘Let me try this’.”

The show was well received. Another show two years later, was exactly what he needed.

“I was battling with health issues, going backwards and forwards to Brigham and Women's Hospital. But the art was keeping me together.”

Completely self-taught, he credits his mother’s early encouragement with sparking his interest.

“My mom used to set up these games where you’d run from one end of the front room to the other and see if you could quickly sketch comic books,” he said.

At Robert Crawford, the former vocational school for boys, he took art classes but it wasn’t until the pandemic that he began working with mixed media.

“I was enjoying social media and looking at all sorts of foolishness on there and then I just started seeing people using a [glue] gun and sticking stuff together and calling it mixed-media art,” he said.

For the most part he dismissed it until he came across a woman painting a mural of the Great Wall of China, working with “some type of watercolour” and cement.

“I just kept following her. And then by following her, I got to see the people that were following her that were also artists.”

One artist’s 3D depictions of women on canvas got him thinking about new possibilities in his own work

“I think I got more intrigued because I think that it was closer to me sketching something; to me applying cutouts out of the newspaper to make pictures on canvas when I was younger. It was sort of similar to that. That inspired me to at least try it.”

His discovery came just before the pandemic hit. By the time Bermuda went into lockdown, Mr Tucker was already exploring how to incorporate natural elements into his art.

Today, he posts samples of his work on social media where he has a small following of mainly Bermudians.

“I've had people send messages to me through other ways to tell me that they love my art. They can't understand why mixed media isn’t so big here — because I've talked about how it's sometimes hard to sell the kind of art that I do. But those that have bought art from me from my shows make me want to continue,” Mr Tucker said.

“I think God is leading my spirit to not give up on this — but just not to do as much as before. That's why this [year’s exhibit] is smaller than the last one.”

• Capture In Vision opens on August 29, at the Bermuda Society of Arts and runs through September 17. For more information, visitwww.bsoa.bm or follow Lance Tucker on Instagram@kinglance493