TITLE: Artist, host of Drink & Draw evenings at the Contemporary Arts Center “and other weird events”
HOMETOWN: She wasn’t born here but claims Cincinnati as home.
WHY WE LOVE HER: She’s a talented local artist who gets the community involved with and inspired to create art.
Artist Lindsay Nehls seems to have fallen hard for Cincinnati.
“We moved around a lot when I was younger,” she says. “But after I moved here for UC in 2006, I fell in love and couldn’t leave.”
And after nearly a decade living in the Queen City, she has settled right in.
Although she studied metalworking and photography at UC’s College of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning, since graduating in 2010, Nehls has returned to the drawing and painting practices she first honed as a kid. These days, her 2-D work leans toward illustrative portraits and colorful watercolors. And the crowds at her wildly popular monthly Drink & Draw event at the Contemporary Arts Center just keep getting bigger.
She has cultivated a reputation for designing posters, album cover art and T-shirts for local independent musicians like SHADOWRAPTR, Grow Horns and ADM. And she has continued pragmatic advocacy for artists by helping run the former Rock Paper Scissors arts and crafts supply store in Over-the-Rhine, which also featured the work and music of many local artists. Rock Paper Scissors shut its doors at the end of last year, but the space itself — at 1301 Main St. — is currently being rebranded as a donation-based art supply nonprofit for unwanted, gently used or unused materials called INDIGO: a creative reuse center, which is run by friend and co-arts conspirator, Alisha Budkie.
Perhaps her success has much to do with the passion that Nehls draws upon when creating her artwork.
“Passion,” she says, “implies you’re willing to work hard, sacrifice and suffer for someone or something. In this sense of the word, I’m the most passionate about painting and working for the moments when you can really connect or communicate with someone through visual art.”
What aspects do you love about your job?
I have too many jobs and love too many things about them. To pick something super specific, I love creating events like our Drink & Draw series at the Contemporary Arts Center, which are inviting to all kinds of people — not just those that think of themselves as artists. Drink & Draw encourages people to talk to strangers, to be weird and to get in touch with their inner child/artist. Last month I looked around the crowded room and there were people of all ages sharing conversation and colored pencils with each other — and some of them were even lying on the ground, drawing on their stomachs like kids. That was pretty magical.
What do you love about Cincinnati?
The energy and momentum, the people, the architecture, the food, the museums, the public art; the fact that you can live here for 10 years and still find a new person, place or thing to love every day. Oh, and the parks! We are so lucky to have so many huge parks like Eden Park and Mount Airy. Humble Burnet Woods will always be one of my favorite places in the world.
Name someone that you love: role model, best friend, inspiration, etc., and tell us why.
Maybe it’s too cheeseball of an answer, but my partner Ben Nava is all of those things. He’s a farmer, and so especially during planting and harvest time, he works about a billion times harder than anyone I know, which is such an inspiration. But he also reminds me when I need a break and always says, “I’m so proud of you!” if I take an evening off to be lazy and relax. And he grows a mean broccoli. And he will always be there to help a friend move a couch, even if he’s exhausted. … That’s the mark of a true friend.
What’s the best lesson life has taught you about love?
Try to do the mundane, daily things with love as much as possible. Just like you can tell when food is cooked with love, a space will feel more inviting and comfortable when a floor is swept with love, when the chairs or plates or work stations have been set out with love. What could be a boring, even annoying email can brighten someone’s day if you put a little extra love into it.
Learn more about Rock Paper Scissors’ transition to INDIGO at facebook.com/rpscincinnati and more about the DRINK & DRAW series at contemporaryartscenter.org.
This article appears in Feb 10-17, 2016.
