Art atHome

Nathan Walker walkerstudioworks.com

Art comes in many shapes and sizes. Throughout their careers, artists explore countless mediums to find the one that aligns best with their abilities. Nathan Walker is an exemplary embodiment of this exploratory trait. He has successfully worked in animation, illustration, 3D modeling, metal art, and more. He fuses his love for art with the commercial world, producing models, illustrations, sculptures, and more for clients such as McGraw Hill Education, Dora the Explorer, CapitalOne, Gillette, Discovery Channel, and even local schools, including Governor’s Academy and the Pingree School. Growing up in the seacoast town of Stratham, New Hampshire, Nathan Walker spent much of his childhood honing his artistic skills and exploring the world of creation that lay ahead. After graduating from Exeter High School in New Hampshire, Nathan would spend the next eight years of his life in colleges and universities across the United States. After spending the first three years of his education focusing on environmental conservation at the University of New Hampshire, he would move to California for the next two years. It was here where he would be educated thoroughly in the realm of animation, graphic design, illustration, and drawing. He finished his education at the Montserrat College of Arts in Beverly, Massachusetts, where he received a bachelor’s degree in illustration and art education. Nathan Walker’s professional career is full of notable accomplishments, and in truth, it would be hard to fit them all in a single article. He began as a design and illustration intern at Hasbro, where he would spend a few months creating illustrations and animation for games and marketing videos and developing packaging designs and layouts. He would spend the next nine years instructing future artists and would even return to Montserrat College of Art, where he would teach illustration for three years. In 2008, Nathan Walker began to experiment with a new art form: metal sculpture creation. Within five years, he created 10 different sculptures from reclaimed metal, many depicted bugs and ocean life. The sculptures have been displayed throughout New England, in galleries, city squares, and gardens. He is known throughout New Hampshire’s seacoast for his seven-foot ant, which he constructed from car parts and other junk metals. The giant ant resided in downtown Portsmouth’s Market Square, where it remained for several months. During his 20-year professional career as an art teacher and artist, Walker has worked as a freelance designer, modeler, and illustrator. He has worked closely with an esteemed list of professional clients such as: McGraw Hill Education, Dora the Explorer, CapitalOne, Gillette, Discovery Channel, Union of Concerned Scientists, Highlights for Children, as well as multiple schools throughout New Hampshire and Massachusetts. It is rare to find an artist with such a repertoire of achievements and artistic prowess as Nathan Walker. It is atHome New England’s privilege to share the following question and answer session with its readers.

Over your 20-year career as an artist, how have you balanced your diverse and extensive repertoire of professional commitments?

As a freelancer, I had to do a lot of things because I have to go where the work is. That gave me the opportunity to do a lot of different things, from sculptures to children’s books to portraits to murals. It was all based on whatever the job was, and as a freelancer, you tend to say yes to everything. That kept me very interested and engaged in doing lots of things because that

was just where my path led. It can be a little scary, but it’s also a lot of fun to do a variety of things.

At what age did you first gain an interest in art?

My interest in art began very early. I would draw pictures of my toys and make comic books about them when I was probably around 10 or 11 years old. I also remember making some pottery when I was even younger. My parents always made sure my sister and I had play dough, markers, coloring books, and anything else that would keep us out of trouble! But it was really them giving us the tools to be creative and expressive at a very formative age.

Who or what is your greatest inspiration as an artist?

There’s a ton. I started out as an illustrator doing children’s books and magazine work, so Norman Rockwell was one of my favorite traditional illustrators. I used to love DaVinci sketches. One of my earliest inspirations was actually comic books, so illustrators like Todd McFarlane and Jim Lee. Those are my favorite artists and were a big inspiration for me to push myself and do more drawing in the artwork.

Similar to many of our Art atHome subjects, you have dedicated a large portion of your career to the education of young artists following in your own footsteps. What influenced your decision to do so?

I remember as a kid being very young and having visiting artists come to our school. We had the illustrator and writer from Clifford the Big Red Dog come to our school, and I was just so excited to meet an actual artist and watch them create something out of thin air in front of everyone. I think it’s important for any sort of professional, especially an artist, to give back and help people who want to go down that path. I did a lot of school visits, and whenever I would finish, I would always talk to the teachers, and they would say: This particular student struggles, but they really connect with you because art is a great way to express yourself. It was a great feeling knowing that I helped students that didn’t have a traditional pathway to express themselves. It’s fun to go into schools, talk to kids, and see their creativity because when you are young, there are no limits; whatever you want to do, you do.

How has your New England upbringing influenced your career as an artist?

I think most people from New England would know the old Yankee ingenuity, the idea that if you don’t have something on hand, you make do and try to figure out a way to do things. As an artist, I do that day to day with trying to figure out new art software, trying to figure out how to do perspective if you are doing a drawing. For me, when I was doing sculpture work, it was trying to find bits and pieces that would fit my vision. When I did the sculpture of the ant, I needed to find something that was going to look like the head. So if you get creative, you can’t go to an ant sculpture store, so I went to a motorcycle shop and found an old engine gas tank. It’s that sort of New England attitude of we can do it, we’ll figure it out, we’ll find a way. (Photos courtesy Nathan Walker)