Sunshine Rising

By Millie Hanson
Visual Arts Editor

Unbelievable energy and incredible focus make Colby (Sunshine) Nelson one of the most prolific artists in the F-M area. His off-the-wall graphics can be seen on newly made, multi-colored screenprints and his future ideas include making t-shirt graphics, doing more prints (45 in four months, by last estimation), and producing a coloring book. And he always makes at least one sketch per day. Tired yet? He also has a day job as a geographical technician, making 3D enhanced city models.

Nelson and his work were recently sighted inside Ecce during the street fair, and he just did a poster sale during the Wretches and Jabberers movie at the Fargo Theatre on July 21, with 25% of the proceeds going to the movie’s charity. And be sure to notice the print of a frog on a bike the next time you’re in the F-M Community Bike Workshop over on NP Avenue.

This whirlwind of an artist’s beginnings started innocently enough: by getting a Smurf toy as a gift from a relative. Soon he was drawing copies of cereal box characters.

“(Growing up) I [was] always mad, sure, I was always creating something.” His mom channeled his frustration into art. The sad fact is that art, along with music and physical education, always seem to be the first things cut by public schools when there is a budget crisis. How many of us only got up and bothered to go to school because of one of those three subjects?

High school had him channeling his darker emotions into drawing charmingly odd cartoon characters. Northwest Tech College educated him in the areas of graphic design and computer illustration.

Eric Bobby offered his EMBII Challenge Grant to Nelson this spring. Nelson let Bobby know in advance what he’d like to learn and Bobby did the research to get him the grant. (Star Wallowing Bull was a previously awarded artist.) From March through May at NDSU, Nelson learned Intaglio (a printmaking process where an image is cut into a zinc or copper plate) and refined his screenprinting technique. True to his work ethic, he produced 20 prints during the grant.
Bobby said, “I award three EMBII Challenge Grants a year to local artists and community leaders. Grants range from $1000 to $2000. I work closely with the awardee to determine obtainable yet challenging goals to be met in a given time frame.”

Bobby’s main goal is to remove obstacles that hinder talented artists in making their art, whether it’s studio space, specialized training, supply expense, or simply motivating them. In his words, “A lot of the time this becomes a ‘put up or shut up’ moment for the awardee. If successful, the artist exits the grant period with a new set of tools or sustainable systems to meet their future goals…For instance, Colby Nelson’s challenge was to create no less then three limited series large format prints using three different printing techniques, two of which he had never had experience with.”

“To help meet these goals, I enlisted the help of Art Materials, print master Eric Johnson, and the NDSU print center. Colby had three months to create these prints and succeeded marvelously with plans to continue leasing the NDSU studio space. He’s on fire! Keep in mind, these grants are not a selfless act; I’m creating win win situations. As the grant funder, I pick my favorite piece from the work produced to be added to my personal collection.”

It’s hard to comprehend to a novice screenprinter, but Nelson typically prints an entire edition in a day, usually 25 eight color prints in four hours. The print making studio at NDSU’s Renaissance Hall is a godsend to the art students because it is so well equipped. For Nelson, the studio “lit the fire, for sure.”

Nelson counts Gary Baseman (Teacher’s Pet cartoon, Cranium boardgame) and Jon Burgerman’s cubistically strange way of rendering animals, as well as Bill Alger and Tara McPherson, among the artists who inspire him. These illustrators all draw characters who have a strange and anywhere from slightly to obviously creepy vibe.

For example, napping in these artists’ presences after a tea party might not be the smartest idea. One of them might “borrow” an eye from another guest, just out of curiosity, to add to their own three. Or remove a few of the host’s teeth - to improve overall attractiveness to the other illustrated monsters, please understand.

All of Nelson’s characters and backgrounds have a cartoon-ish quality that is only slightly more innocent than that of his idols, even though his subject matter may be gas masks or skulls. Love, serenity, and peace are actually the messages he wants to communicate.

His work is so accessible because he uses bright, pastel colors and the easily understood language of cartoons. Things that might go unspoken because of reality’s unforgiving harshness are made more palatable.

Nelson is working with other artists on a children’s coloring book about a boy and his talking masks that teach him wisdom. This collaborative project has Nelson and others making artwork with 25 pages done so far. When he’s satisfied with the number, he’ll write the minimalist story. “Kid’s books don’t need a lot of copy.”

To learn more about the EMBII Challenge Grant, visit http://qr.net/embii.

For a video showing Nelson at work with the grant screenprinting project, visit YouTube for “EMBII Challenge Grant.”

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IF YOU GO:
WHAT: Colby Sunshine, cartoon-style illustrator and screenprinter.
WHEN: Now, online and around town.
WHERE: Online: http://colbysunshine.tumblr.com/, with 17 prints and a coffee cup for sale online at http://colbysunshine.bigcartel.com/
Around Town: Ecce - 216 N Broadway in Fargo and F-M Community Bike Workshop - 209 NP Avenue in Fargo.