If you’re aspiring to a way of life that’s outside the beaten path, you need to encounter other travelers on that road. People you can look at and think: well, if they can do it, maybe I can too. About five years ago — before I made the leap into the great abyss of full-time artistry and creative work — I met a one of those pilgrims. His name is Nick Wroblewski. For Nick, a life of creativity seemed like second nature. We’re both from South Minneapolis — a culturally eclectic art scene, one of the more diverse cities in the country — and Nick, for a stretch of his childhood, lived in something close to an artist commune. He was exposed at a young age to a way of life built around art, community, and storytelling. In a lot of ways, his family was ahead of their time — the crunchy, organic lifestyle habits a lot of us have only recently come around to, his family was already living. One thing that stood out to me from our conversation is that Nick never felt discouraged in his call to the arts. He was just called to be an artist, and that was that. For a young person to come into adulthood and be encouraged toward something as seemingly “useless” as dedicating your life to chiseling wood, is rare. I was honored to finally sit down with Nick and record one of our conversations, and even more honored to share it with the world. We covered his upbringing, we got into the technical side of his craft, and how to build a slower lifestyle in a world that’s more and more saturated with technology. If you’re aspiring toward the arts, or toward creativity, or just toward a way of life that’s richer and more meaningful — Nick’s example and his witness is going to be inspiring and edifying for you. In this conversation, Nick and I talk about: Growing up in a traveling puppet theater.Floating down the Mississippi at age 12Why he chose one of the slowest, most technical form of art there is — woodblock printmaking — after being trained in abstract, conceptual workWhy rules and limitations make the work better, not worse (”if there are no rules, then what’s the point?”)His shift from an anti-church upbringing into orthodox ChristianityWhy he thinks the real challenge for modern artists is making things slow and human on purpose If you want to learn more about Nick and the work he’s doing, head over to his website, NickWroblewski.com, to see some of his work, and follow him on Instagram, where his son helps him capture viral videos of him in the workshop. Enjoy. MORE ABOUT NICK Nick Wroblewski was born into a lively community of artists in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His innate drive to make art was fostered through early experiences in puppetry, painting and performance, including an iconic circus tour with In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theater that traveled down the Mississippi River in an old houseboat in the golden years before the internet. Inspired by idealists, Nick's commitment to art has never wavered. Through art classes as a child, arts high school as a teen, and a degree in fine arts from Bennington College in Vermont, Nick explored the full scope of creative mediums before finding his place in printmaking, where he combines his love of sculpture, painting and composition into a single artistic process. While his focus is on large, multicolor reduction prints, he still tinkers with the intricacies of pop-up mechanics and paper mache sculptures. He currently lives with his wife and two children in Boise, Idaho. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecontemplativedad.substack.com/subscribe
