Today Alyce and I take our grandson Nathan out to lunch. honoring the recent receiving of his Master of Art degree from the prodigious Art Institute of Boston.Currently head of the art department at Minnehaha Academy in Minneapolis, Nathan (pictured here beside a display of some of the work he did for his degree), is an amazing young man, deep into not only his gift of representation but to all the intellectual, historical, and cultural influences surrounding, without which any paint on canvas would be sterile, not to mention lifeless.
Mild-mannered as he is, one has to search Nathan out in places like his blog (http://natestromberg.blogspot.com) to explore the range of his art to date. There is a wonderful 16-minute video there in which he offers his own interpretation of the process that has brought him to this point, including his reflections on other artists whose work has shaped his own understanding and craft.
I reproduce that video below, and warmly recommend the blogsite mentioned above from which it is taken with permission. There, in many blogs over time, you can see a wider range of his artwork and read extensive notes on why and how he has arrived at creating it.
We're standing in awe as we look on and listen. For the one we loved from his earliest childhood and saw as gifted in the visual arts is now, having matured and disciplined those gifts, re-introducing us to the era in which we ourselves grew up and married and had children. Surely it is God's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes.
Nathan Stromberg Artist Talk from rooted wings on Vimeo.
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