Nathan Cole is an artist, photographer, and writer working out of Toronto, Canada with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Western University, London, Ontario. Cole attended the Mauser EcoHouse artist residency in Costa Rica after winning the Nanci Christopher photography grant and participated in the Farm Studio residency in Andore, Rajasthan, India. He has exhibited his work at the Super Wonder Gallery, Queen West Art Crawl, and Beaux Arts Brampton, as well as Eduardo Lira Gallery in Miami where he was a semi-finalist for ARTBOX.Projects and The Treasury in Pontiac, Michigan where he won 3rd place in the Handcrafted Category. Cole’s scratchboard work has also been featured in Murze Magazine. 

Cole’s inspiration came at a young age when he saw so many interesting and beautiful things around him and felt the urge to be a part of the creation of something beautiful. While his early work was a focus of both animals and comic book characters, his work has always been entered around observation. Cole states that as a naturally quiet person, he spends a lot of time taking in the details around him. “As an observer, I would take in all the information around me and try to process it in a way I could understand. I had so many thoughts and feelings about the world and I didn’t really know how to express it. From the time I was a child, I was already concerned about the rainforest, endangered species, and the state of the world, and I wanted to do something about it. Creating art became my avenue of expression, a way to let out all those things boiling inside me.”

 When speaking of the inspiration behind his current work, Cole stated this, “That concern I had about the world, it has only grown, but it has changed and evolved. My focus right now is on wildlife and exploring how we perceive animals, and how those perceptions, myths, and the assigned value we place on types of animals can affect their very livelihood. I want to be an advocate for integrating nature into our societies, building wildlife corridors through our landscapes as hunting and migratory routes for species, and rewilding areas to increase biodiversity and ward off invasive species. I am hoping with my art I can impact our relationship with wildlife, to draw on our empathy to see ourselves in these animals, but also value them for their uniqueness and difference from ourselves. I am trying to show the viewer the beauty I see out there in the world.

So to push towards this goal, I am working on refining my observation skills, using all of my senses trying to sort through the details. I used to be primarily interested in mammals as subjects, but I just got into birding last year and I had to retrain my brain to watch the trees, looking for movement, unusual silhouettes, and flashes of colour. It is also a complete test of your hearing to focus on the sounds all around you and use that to find the one you are looking for in the foliage. It is incredible that, despite where you live, you can go outside your home and if you really listen and really pay attention, the nature surrounding you will reveal itself.

 My art is a constant exploration, a learning process where I am influenced by science, culture, and advocacy. It is also a process of healing. The rigours of our work focused society take a toll on each of us, so the act of portraying and being in nature has helped me overcome my own physical and mental health challenges. It is an attempt to retrain my mindset, to unlearn many of the things I thought I knew and then relearn how to perceive the world.”

Cole’s primary medium is scratchboard, which is a black panel that, when scratched, reveals a white layer underneath. He uses a metal quill to scrape away the black surface with each line increasing the level of white shown. Since Cole primarily creates wildlife portraits, he has started to use his photography to source reference material as much as possible. He was trained as an oil painter but picked up scratchboard seven years ago and it “really fit my approach to art, my appreciation of the details of things.” 

Cole’s main source of supplies are Ampersand scratchboard and Ampersand tools as he loves their tools and has not needed to search out anything alternative. For his photography, Cole also has two Nikon cameras “…which serve two different functions, as I have learned switching lenses out in nature is a quick way to get your cameras dirty and ruin your shots.”

I asked Cole to step on the other side of inspiration and explain what he did to move on from a creative block, and he revealed this, “I am an explorer at heart, so getting outside for epic 3-5 hour nature walks is a near-guaranteed way to spark my inspiration. It isn’t uncommon for me to spot a bird or other animal that I have never seen before, which gives me a rush of excitement. Since August of 2019, I have been tracking every species of animal, including butterflies and dragonflies, that I have encountered and photographing them whenever possible. This included two rural artist residencies in Costa Rica and Rajasthan, India, where I wandered the rainforest and desert respectively documenting the animals I was able to find. I am constantly seeking out new residencies or opportunities to do the same in other parts of the world, as it is inspiring in so many ways.”

Lastly, Cole was asked what advice he had for his fellow artists that school or a book had not taught him, he had this to say, “My advice is mainly practical, as I find there is plenty of inspirational advice around for people, but finding out how to actually work as an artist is a lot more difficult.

Allot a decent amount of time each week to apply to things, spend the time on administrative stuff or figure out some way to get it done. Look for grants that apply to what you are doing, and mentorship and workshop opportunities to help you along your path. Don’t be shy about getting your work out there, there is no penalty to not getting accepted other than your pride. Rejection hurts, of course, but finding people that appreciate your work is worth it. While you are filling out all these application forms, save your work in another document, and use that work to build out different versions of your biography and artist statement. There is no sense re-writing the same stuff every time, especially if you can have the best version of yourself pre-written. Create bios and statements of varying word counts and save excess thoughts on your practice in the same document, and use these thoughts and writings to hasten your application process. Also, all these applications will help you figure out what your work is actually about, what it really means to you, which will only make you better at explaining it to others.

Finally, I recommend accepting commissions if it is appropriate for your work. It may not be your preferred method of creating, but you have a chance to make a little extra money while really impacting people who appreciate your art and spread awareness of your abilities. You can always say no down the road if you don’t want to do it anymore.”

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