A portrait of the artist: Nick Fry
With creativity and positivity, Nick Fry brightens up the downtown library
One dark and sleepless night about a dozen years ago, Nick Fry started creating.
His canvas came from the cardboard of moving boxes. His color was supplied by old cans of house paint. And then, he says, “I just couldn’t stop.”
Nick is one of the many creatives calling Downtown Elkhart home. And two collections of his most recent works can be admired on the second floor of Elkhart Public Library’s Second Street location.
With “6 Orbits in a Bee-loud Glade” (2024) brightening the library’s stairwells, Nick channels EPL’s blue and orange palette to visualize a celestial eclipse. “A reminder,” he writes, “to immerse yourself in the details of the beauty that surrounds you. … Stop. Breathe deep into your soul. Shake life into your marrow. Smell the roses and all that.”
More recently, he installed “The Best of Times in Six Acts” (2024). This mix of watercolor, acrylic and collage pays tribute to local architecture that has brought life to Elkhart’s corners through the past two centuries. These works come with a nod to the library’s true purpose: read, research, remember, react.
“Minimal snooping in the historical records on the shelves and digital databases of this library creates a tableau of historical connections to the present,” Nick writes about with work. “The waters around us have grown, start swimming or sink like a stone, read up and see our city with a new eye, and maybe make a little history yourself.”
Get to know local artist Nick Fry, who also writes and plays guitar and piano. Ask him how he’s doing and he’ll always respond, through a smile that warms your soul, “My joy is unshakable.” And when you view his works at the library, South Bend’s Rocki Button boutique, or regional art shows, just know he thinks your kind reviews are, in a word:
“Undeserved,” he says. “But it would be really cool and flattering if that happened. The whole intention in painting is to share it with people. I made this. I hope you think it’s pretty.”
Q – Art. What does that singular word mean to you?
Nick – “Art is the creation of a handmade work to be perceived, and the perceptual experience post creation. Art is a concept that’s felt in a you-know-it-when-you-see-it spirit. In fact, it might be more spirit than object. I believe most of the ‘work’ art does happens after a viewer’s interaction with it. … Art has no victim, but it does have justice. As soon as art is weaponized to victimize it loses its spirit. That’s not to say that art is love. Sometimes it’s venom and vitriol, mud and weeping, or torn and anxious like a tied-up dog. It’s a charm, it’s a blade.”
Q – So, what space does your art take within that definition?
Nick – “My art is mostly playtime. I’m not trying to say much other than it’s nice to engage in unrealistic hopeful fantasies on occasion. It’s an excuse to daydream. I invite daydreams like that into my own life as often as I can, that’s my inspiration more than anything else.”
Q – As you begin to create, do you follow a process or is it more like let’s see where this goes?
Nick – “When I start a piece sometimes there is a concept in mind, particularly if it’s a commission, but often I walk into my studio with no set plan. I’ll rummage through drawers of photographic material and books I’ve collected to search for images that look fun or have the possibility of matching up with other images to create something new.
“After sitting with some images, I start to form the concept for what the image might be transformed into and what other images may accompany it, like DNA strands for springy arm extensions. I am partial to landscapes and skylines with flowers behind them. Something about the fantasy of a horizon of roses really appeals to me.
“Aside from the play of curating images from my collection of ephemera I attempt to create visually interesting layers of texture, images, and linework without muddying up the individual components that make up the piece. I love the idea of playing with physical space with a mostly two-dimensional artwork. I try to create an experience where the artwork changes when viewed at different distances. The mazelike style of linework I employ is used to imply lively movement of the piece meant to keep the eye moving and hopefully allowing the viewer to find something new over time.”
Q – Art thrives when there’s community, but it feels like some or most of that community now only exists online. How supportive is the local network for artists?
Nick – “Social media has become a necessary tool to advertise one’s artwork effectively. As much as I fight the sick narcissism of brand recognition and how meaningful likes and view counts are, these are the metrics that define how successful artists can be in the digital age … or, at least, defines how large their audience is, which directly translates to marketability and sales.
“I am fully aware that creating art is an undeniable ego cry to the masses, like a child at a birthday party that isn’t their own who won’t stop screaming, begging to be the center of attention. ‘Look at me, look at me,’ we say. I just can’t bring myself to make daily Instagram reels with the hottest audio memes from this week. Or from this hour, if you’re trying to keep up at all.
“Art fairs and festivals, art-centric events, and the multifaceted venues that act as hives for creative minds. The Rocki Button and LangLab are the lifeblood of local art scenes. The fairs and festivals, obviously enough, are great places to make sales and connections. They keep the lights on in a lot of artist’s studios. It used to be very common for artists to get together in a space to create, collaborate, and generally party together. This kind of interaction is rarer these days. … It would be great to see more artist-run venues and events in the city. Maybe I’ll increase my caffeine intake and give it a shot myself.”
Q – Who inspires you?
Nick – “Salvador Dali. Keith Haring. Remedios Varo. Francis Bacon. Kevin Bacon!”