Published August 28, 2018 at 10:00 a.m.
After years of feeling pulled between two passions: making art and studying, teaching and practicing Stone Age technology, Nick Neddo asked himself two questions. "If I lived in the Stone Age, would I consider myself an artist? And I realized that the answer would be yes because that's just who I am. And the next question was, what would art look like if I did live in the Stone Age?"
That question has led him to an ongoing exploration of making art supplies — charcoal sticks, pens, brushes, crayons, inks, paints, and even inkwells and paint dishes — from natural materials and then, making art with them. The results can be seen in his 2015 how-to book, The Organic Artist: Make Your Own Paint, Paper, Pigments, Prints, and More from Nature. His drawings and paintings depict bamboo, willow, acorns, berries and other sources of the materials he uses.
Although high-quality commercial art supplies are readily available, they are expensive and some, such as brush-cleaning solvents and lead-sourced pigments, can be toxic, Neddo said. His creative process could start with a pen in his hand at his desk, he said. "Or it can start with my feet on the ground out in some beautiful place... Being on the landscape foraging feels natural to me, and it feels good." It offers Neddo, a sixth-generation Vermonter, the chance to develop a deeper knowledge of plants, a perspective on geology, connection to the landscape and a sense of place, he said. A recent outing brought him face-to-face with a young barred owl. He was following a stream in the forest near his East Montpelier home, looking for stones from which to make paint, when he heard fluttering in the branches. He and the owl studied each other for a few moments. That, he said, never happens in an art store.
For 18 years, Neddo, 39, has worked as an independent educator, teaching kids and adults wilderness survival and living skills, tracking, drawing and nature awareness in Vermont and elsewhere. He has visited several Vermont schools as an artist-in-residence. Since his book was published, demand for his art classes has increased. While making paint from rocks and ink from berries is fun, his overarching goal is to help his students reclaim their relationship with nature and become ecologically responsible. "That land steward, caretaker relationship is the bigger picture here," he said. "All creatures have a give-and-take relationship with the ecosystem. For humans, it's the same thing."
This article was originally published in Seven Days' monthly parenting magazine, Kids VT.
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