A guide to finer living inConnecticut & abroad.A guide to finer living inConnecticut & abroad.

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Vol 11 Issue 52015

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Squinting ThroughLife's Lens: Leif Nilssonby RONA MANNPhotos by Caryn B. Davis

"I play."

That was the immediate response voiced byartist, Leif Nilsson when asked, "What's yourstory? What do you do?"

And although the remark may seem a bit flip,there is an almost childlike honesty about it

that is thoroughly refreshing, indeed much likethe artist himself.

While those who love and appreciate great artregard Leif Nilsson as an enormous and uniquetalent, the man behind the canvas is a kind ofaw-shucks down to earth guy who's just ashappy playing his banjo in a rockabilly band as

he is recreating the beauty of the outdoors withoils and paint knife in hand.

Centuries ago the great French playwright,Moliere penned a famous comedy, "The Doctorin Spite of Himself." Simply change "doctor" to"artist," and you have Leif Nilsson, a man whoseems very much at peace with himself, not inany way the stereotyped portrait of a broodingartist with tortured soul and permanent scowl.This artist is first and foremost a man makinghis way through life; he's just found a wonderfulway to navigate the journey. Nilsson will readilytell you that art is merely what he does for a living,

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much like a bricklayer lays bricks or a salesmansells. While the colors, the images, and thecanvasses define him in part, they neitherenvelop nor overwhelm him.

But it is a passion, and onewhich has coursed throughLeif Nilsson's veins for mostof his life. As a little boygrowing up in Old Lyme,Nilsson's parents andgrandparents would cutopen paper bags, providinghim a "canvas" on which to

draw, delighting him. "Not long after that I gotan erector set with nuts and bolts and wasfascinated with how things worked." The metalconstruction set with its pulleys, gears, andwheels fascinated the young boy, awakening aninterest in form, detail, and figuring out whatgoes into what.

However the "ah-hah moment" of Nilsson'syouth came at age 10 when his parents tookhim to Bill Steeves' gallery and art store, a fixture

for many years on Lyme Street. Steeves notonly sold art supplies to the locals but was awatercolor artist in his own right. "It was thefirst time I had ever met an artist," Leif recalled.

"Someone who actually made a living thatway." It was from Steeves' store that Nilssongot his first watercolor set - not a toy, but aprofessional set with "colors in tubes and realbrushes." The young boy was hooked.

"My brothers always played baseball or soccer,and I was just fiddling around with something.It's not that I didn't like sports, but once I dovefor the ball and got it, I didn't really care whowon or lost after that," he said with a devilishupturn of his mouth, characteristic of the artist'swhimsical nature.

So he wasn't going to be the next Derek Jeteror Pele, but he was headed elsewhere downlife's path. Leif remembers with great fondnessa boy in his sixth grade class, Randy Bellucci,who chided him for having been out sick for afew days. "Where were you, man?" Belluccibellowed upon Leif's return. "We needed todraw a donkey, and nobody knew how. Youcoulda done it." It was at that point that Leifrealized "not everyone can draw, but I could."

His parents likewise recognized that their sonhad both a keen eye and an emerging talentthat needed to be pursued and enrolled him inHammanossett High School in Madison for his

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last two years of school. Within this alternativeschool, Leif happily found himself in a creativeatmosphere with open classrooms and lessrules. "It opened me up to more possibilities."

One of those possibilities was the open road,beckoning the freshly minted high schoolgraduate to hitchhike to California where headmits, "I was going to live in a tree. It was myhippie phase."

But as often happens, Nilsson took a turn onthe way to the west coast and wound up inSouth Dakota at the International SurvivalGathering, where against a background ofpeace and serenity in the Black Hills, he met anold Native American man who pointedly toldLeif, "You don't know where you come from.

Indians know our roots back hundreds of years.Go find your roots. Go to Europe, then come back."

Nilsson calls this chance meeting "a pivotalevent in my life" and heeded the old man'sadvice. Suddenly the tree in California did notmean as much as finding out where he camefrom, so he headed to Europe to trace hisSwedish roots. That was the first of many tripsLeif would make over the years; today he stilltravels, painting as he goes.

"That trip anchored me," Nilsson offers. "I cuttrees in the forest, did any kind of menial workto make money, and one day sitting on a stump,I looked out at a field and realized, 'I can be anartist. I am an artist.'"

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But it wasn't all drawing donkeys andtraveling. Nilsson enrolled at the LymeAcademy of Fine Arts immersing himself inevery phase of classical art while beingmentored by Deane Keller, a teacher withcontagious passion who had a profoundeffect on his life. While his work appearsquite complex created with painstakingdetail, Leif's technique and outlook areactually quite basic ("I mostly work withprimary colors, and I paint from life. When Istart painting, after the first three marks,it's essentially done"). This was noted wasin Galway when a small Irish boy stoodtransfixed, watching the little chunks of paintLeif was putting on his canvas, creating aheavily textured mosaic. "I like the way youpaint," the boy said. "You paint clumsy like Ido." The artist laughs at the memory, but the"clumsiness" has become more or less Nilsson'strademark, and he is well paid for his uniquecreations that cause the viewer to look deeplywithin them.

Nilsson occasionally teaches, and this summerwill lead a workshop for people of every levelwho want to draw. "The only thing I can teachis to squint. If you close one eye and squintthe other, you will see more than less. It flattensthings out. Try it...I still work that way."

He has been called an American Impressionist,and from his body of work that is probably amost accurate description; but Leif Nilssonseems to eschew labels and being pigeon-holed. At nearly age 53 he is still very muchthe young boy from Old Lyme, fascinated with

the world outside his front door. He lovesto paint outdoors, but does not love theterm "plen air." He loves to toil in hissprawling gardens, losing himself in theircreative beauty and then sharing it withothers by hosting weekly outdoor concerts.He loves "sitting in" with bands,strumming his banjo, getting lost in themusic. His interests are diverse, yet basic,just like the primary colors he favors in his

work. And although he has indeed realizedhis dream of making a living as an artist,one senses he has so much more to do as hecontinues along life's path with one eye closedand the other firmly squinted.

The gallery is open weekends Noon to 6PM, or by chanceor appointment. Please call first (860) 526-2077For more information, to see Leif's work, to register forthe summer workshop, or to find out about the Concertsin the Garden, visit: www.nilssonstudio.com

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