Meet Ners Neonlumberjack

We recently connected with Ners Neonlumberjack and have shared our conversation below.

Ners, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?

Looking forward to what the day has to offer has not come easy. From a young age being outside in nature, from my backyard to the wooded areas and beyond, was my playground. As time went on my world became ever more filled with pavement. The rural/suburban divide grew closer and closer still until that is where I spent most of my time growing up. As I became a young adult my depression became more part of my life as well. In hindsight it makes perfect sense that as I again grew closer to nature, my depression was replaced with wonder. From the occasional family visits to natural areas of Indiana where I grew up, and my current life of travel and living inside National Parks, the more time I spend simply enjoying the natural world around me the greater my sense of awe and being overwhelmed with the vast beauty this world has to offer. Art and nature have always been the trajectory of my life, and how intertwined the two have become fills me with curiosity as each day passes. What comes next on this path is unknown to me as the map I’m following is only marked with the place I’m currently in. I’m alright with that. The places I’ve seen and experienced, the stories I’ve accumulated, the people I’ve had the pleasure of meeting, increasingly outweigh the sadness and depression that my mind can not seem to shake.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

The fruits of my labors present themselves as paintings and sculptures, most often combining the two in unison, and public service protecting our cultural heritage and landscapes.
I romp, I roam, I build, I fix, I create, I explore, I learn, I grow! Adventure is a daily present in my life. As an artist full time the world is what I make it. Drawing, painting, sketching, furniture design, jewelry, murals, hikes, kayaking, paddle boarding, road trips, camper life, watching the sunset, swimming in a lake, documentaries, thrillers, reading encyclopedias, doing workshops, bouldering, scrambling, conversations with strangers, photographing everything, and pretty much anything that doesn’t subject me to the expectations of subjugating myself trading my life away for a couple days off a week to be too tired to want to do anything I can do every other day of the week the rest of my life.
My life and the works that come from it are integral to one another. As an Historic Preservationist for the National Park Service my skills are of benefit to the public in various parks across the country. Ensuring these treasures are not lost for future generations to learn from and explore. My paintings and sculptures are inspired by the vastness of the American landscape and the flora and fauna which inhabit them. As each day passes I have a hand in constructing physical objects and ideas that are on view to the public, sometimes my name attached, often not.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

The ability to manipulate wood with a multitude of tools, the willingness to listen to those that know more than myself and to distinguish when to disregard this knowledge, in addition to eradicating the mindset that you have to stay in the area in which one grows up have created this path I am on today.
Young minds have a tremendous appetite for learning. Those older than us have perceived a great deal of education, life, and skillsets that are honed in time. It should never be taken for granted that these wisdoms and education are from a certain time, and lens. Being reactionary or obtuse serves very few, but it is a skill in itself to understand when what you’re being taught can be ignored or improved upon. Art is a more obvious example of this. The skilled use of paint and how to manipulate forms is one mere way to present the ideas of what handling that medium can say about the ideas surrounding it. And those ideas can vary significantly be changed from a new perspective, whether that be travel, or relocating.
More succinctly than I, Mark Twain famously stated: “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”

Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?

Mortality has been a constant theme in my artworks. The death of my dog, Boss, is a struggle. Nearing 16 years old and in superb health, an adventurer, traveller, and lover, just like his dog-dad. Already in strike pose, with no rattle, a western diamondback rattlesnake decided to ruin someone’s day, and chose ours. A near complete series of works readying for show, with use of imagery of dozens of rattlesnakes and gravestones, I have yet to reevaluate. As of now I am trying to focus on the wonderful years we had together, all of the good and funny times instead of that he was taken from this plane of existence. I miss you Boss boi.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.neonlumberjack.com
• Instagram: @neonlumberjack