 Larry Nielson may be one of the only artists around who waits for his canvas to "speak to him" before he picking up a paintbrush. "The wood tells me what to do with it, it is like it has its own spirit," says Nielsen, an Ephraim artist who has become known for his paintings on old and weathered wood. "Every piece of wood is a challenge, a different experience. Sometimes, I see a piece of wood and there is an immediate connection, I know just what it wants me to do with it. Other times, I have to put a piece away for a while, then bring it back out later and I will see something special in it, a face or something, that needs to come out. It is very personal." A longtime artist and performer, Nielson started using wood as his preferred canvas about four years ago. "I've always painted, and one day, I just decided to try using wood and that was it. I'm become obsessed with it, I think about it day and night, what I can do. I have such a reverence for wood and what it means to us visually." Now, Nielson finds his canvasses anywhere and everywhere, in fields and in ditches, on old houses and barns. "Sometimes the wood is really weathered and old and even has rusty nails, and often, I just keep the nails in there and use them in my work. Every piece is different." Word has even gotten out around town. "People will call me and say that they have an old barn door or a shed and I can have the wood. It is great that people are helping out," he says.  Nielson mainly concentrates on painting portraits-of Native Americans, wildlife, rodeo scenes and Western themes such as rodeos and cowboys, using mostly acrylic paints. "I rarely use new wood, I find it too smooth and too boring." However, he has recently begun experimenting with a new wood from Bolivia that has an interesting texture and surface. He works mostly from a studio in the garage behind his family home on Main Street in Ephraim, calling it Wind and Wings Wood Works (www.windandwings.com). The Victorian home from which he is based has been in his family for more than 100 years. "It is on both the state and national historic register," Nielson says. "My grandfather is from Ephraim, I went to school here, this is my family, this is my home."
Neilson spent time in Los Angles working as an artist and back-up singer, and in Hawaii working for the Polynesian Cultural Center. During his time away, always made it a point to get back home regularly. "I've always loved Sanpete County, and I have found myself spending more and more time here. I've finally decided if I'm going to keep painting on wood, I need to come back here because I'm not going to find much wood in Los Angeles. So now, I'm in the process of moving back permanently. Sanpete County is just so peaceful, and my family history is here," he says adding that his mother, Virginia, is a well-known historian. Most recently, Nielson has shown his work in Park City, Kamas, St. George and at Thanksgiving Point in American Fork. He will also have a show in Orem Nov. 27 2001. And as always, the size, shape and theme of his art is dictated by the wood on which he is working. "I just finished a painting that is 58 inches long, it is of a herd of wild horses and the impressions in the wood make it look like they are running through the sage brush." |
