Nathaniel Chaves
ABOUT ME
From Simsbury, CT and recent graduate from Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA. I am a passionate artist whose chosen missions and mediums hope to inspire others to achieve a more environmentally conscious mindset and practice. Producing work inspired and derivative of different environments and ecosystems has helped to reach a broader audience as I address the environmental issues at hand. I hope to further strengthen my craftsmanship as an artist while simultaneously developing the awareness of the perception of those observing my artwork.
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My World View:
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My World view
Throughout my childhood and young adulthood, my time as a Boy Scout within Troop 174 offered the opportunity for exploration and further appreciation for the outdoors, as I would develop an inner voice. Embarking upon journeys by land, air, and sea, my respect for both local and distant environments constantly grew. Proudly rising through the ranks, and ultimately achieving Eagle Scout, a point of arrival into adulthood and a step into the unknown. With each rank came the task and or feat of developing internal motives, penultimately being that of my community project, in which I produced two Tyrex benches for the Gifts of Love Farm & Education Center located in my hometown of Simsbury, CT. During scouts, my fondest memories sprout from teaching those in the ranks below me, along with the campfire dinners or early sunrises that we'd see together.
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Eagle Scout Project, 2019
Great Catch, Florida Keys fishing trip, 2016
With the scout oath, motto, and law becoming engrained through the nearly daily reciting of them, they continue to remain at the core of my beliefs and moral compass. Moments and mottos such as these are important for my community within Boy Scouts was incredibly influential as I further developed those practices within the other aspects and communities of my life.
Camp Workcoeman Outing, 2017
One such is that of the community on Fishers Island, a small coastal island in the Long Island Sound, which I was raised on and grew fond of its natural beauty as a child. Initially tending and manicuring the well-kept lawns as a landscaper, on breaks and time off, I would frequent the coastline to pick up the marine debris that lay strewn about the seaweed and eelgrass. The debris' innate artistic qualities were an influential force rooted in the presence of a dear family friend and artist Alex Wolf throughout my childhood. Producing color wheels and other artwork from bottle caps, straws, and plastic toy soldiers amongst other debris, these pieces would remain my guiding light and inspiration as I developed a language as an artist.
Marine debris trash collection, Fishers Island, NY, 2020
Fostering a relationship with the Fishers Island Conservancy, the process of collecting, storing, and producing artwork out of the debris was further explored, I soon found the mylar balloon an enticing canvas. The mylar balloon would serve as a means of displaying our actions and decisions done so out of emotion for others, and its impact on the environment inevitably becomes entangled within. My exhibition on Fishers Island during the summer of 2022 helped to highlight these issues while drawing attention to how the individual can make a difference. The ability and possibility of changing one's notion and our decision-making process through artwork have been a driving force, as I continue to question our use of plastic and other single-use goods.
Part of the balloon collection process, 2021
Concurrent with the use of plastics and single-use goods, was the island's poorly habited roots in fast fashion and unbefitting discarding of textile goods. Upon realizing such I initiated a recycling program at the transfer station in which all textile goods would be collected, organized, and recycled properly.
In turn, my deeply rooted love and
appreciation of the environment has helped
to influence, inspire and produce artwork
that allows viewer to ask themselves how
they can make a difference not only for
themselves but for the better of humanity.
