No brushes required: Basketball isn't far from Erik Nelson's art

November 7, 2020  |  By Sidney Bewlay | Community News Service 

Erik Nelson at home in Duxbury where he makes art inspired by his surroundings. Photo by Gordon Miller.

Living and painting off the beaten path on the side of Camel’s Hump, Erik Nelson easily draws inspiration for his paintings from nature.

But it was only recently that this former UVM basketball star and art major who has followed several career paths started to share his art with the community in a serious way.

An exhibition of his work this summer at Axel’s Gallery in Waterbury gave the Duxbury artist an opportunity to put his work before the public, even if it was in a limited, socially distant 2020 pandemic manner. 

“Erik has been involved behind the scenes for many years on special projects. He has shown work that hung outdoors here but always as an anonymous artist,” said Axel’s Gallery owner Whitney Aldrich. 

Nelson’s art is a passion project for him, despite having previously stepped away from creating to focus on his family and both playing and coaching basketball. As Nelson has rejoined the art world, he now is creating pieces both for himself and for shows.

Nelson's paintings reflect the tools he uses instead of brushes to apply paint to canvas, creating unique textures. Photo by Gordon Miller.

A native of Pittsburgh, the 6-foot 6-inch Nelson graduated in 1998 from the University of Vermont with a degree in English and art and a standout record-setting forward/center for the Catamounts. He eagerly pursued a professional basketball career, leaving the U.S. for about a decade in the Netherlands playing in international leagues. He retired from professional basketball to Vermont in 2009 with his wife, Priscilla, and their two daughters after a final season playing for Vermont’s American Basketball Association team, the Frost Heaves. That year, Nelson was inducted into UVM’s Athletic Hall of Fame. 

Eventually he and his family moved to Waterbury and have since settled in a quiet spot near Camel’s Hump. Nelson, 44, has stayed active with the game he loves by coaching basketball and he spends summers and falls pressing cider at Owl’s Heard Orchard in Waterbury Center, where he has worked for the past six years.

Coaching definitely became more complicated this year with COVID and  Nelson says he has returned to focusing on creating art. 

His colorful, bold pieces commanded attention for several weeks at Axel’s, fitting in with what Aldrich describes as part of the gallery’s mission.   “Highlighting people in our community that we might know otherwise is a special treat. That was the case with Erik,” she said. 

Nelson said he believes that all paintings “communicate something beyond words” and in his case, those messages are created with unique tools, not paintbrushes. 

“I don’t enjoy traditional brushes because I want to remove myself from the process of painting as much as possible,” Nelson said. “Traditional brushes create too much control.”

A good example, Nelson said, is his latest “paintbrush” roller that he built: a basketball with a wire strung through it that sits on the end of a goalie lacrosse stick. The results are bold patterns made with sweeping strokes. 

A unique ongoing collaboration is what Nelson calls “mail art.” He describes it as a kind of community project for him and other artists. 

As of late, he is working with fellow artist Alex Itin who lives in Brooklyn, N.Y. They are currently mailing an old, Czech book back and forth, taking turns painting the pages. They plan to create a stop-motion film of the piece when they are done painting. Nelson says that this project is “way experimental and will take a while to complete.” 

Canvas edges signed and dated. Photo by Gordon Miller.

Nelson said his friendship with Itin grew and continues through the internet and phone calls. Having never met in person, the two had seen each other’s work online and built a friendship from their mutual interest in each other’s art. Nelson said this type of creative relationship has served him well in his work, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. “Artist friends just send each other work to trade ideas and inspiration,” Nelson said. 

On another artistic tack, Nelson’s work takes him into digital media with video remixing and production.

While individual projects take time and happen quietly, Aldrich noted that Nelson’s show drew a mix of people to Axel’s. Some were friends or people who knew Nelson outside of his art. Others were just passersby who spotted the paintings and were drawn in for a closer look. 

Aldrich noted that some of Nelson’s art was sold, too. She said she hopes Nelson will contribute to an upcoming exhibition timed with the holiday season. 

“I would imagine that he will contribute to the ‘small show’ we host [that] starts on Small Business Saturday and goes through the end of the year,” she said. Details on that can be found on Axel’s website under “Gallery.” 

Nelson also has had work at Art in the Village in Warren and has taken part in the Burlington South End Art Hop. 

Nelson says he plans to keep creating art for the time being, deciding as he goes what to make available to sell and which pieces he will hang onto for awhile. For example, a 6 x 6-foot painting of a Tootsie Pop that hangs in his studio will “never be for sale or will be traded,” he quipped. “I just want to live with it.”

Community News Service is a collaboration with the University of Vermont’s Reporting & Documentary Storytelling program.