Conversations with Nate Sweitzer

Today we’d like to introduce you to Nate Sweitzer. 

Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I was born and raised in Chicago by two former Detroit-area creatives, my mom an interior designer, and my dad an illustrator and graphic designer. They brought me up in a creative environment that stoked my passion for art and design, as I spent much of my childhood drawing alongside my dad in our basement-turned-home studio. I began taking the prospect of a creative career seriously as I started looking at colleges, and I ended up bringing things full circle when I arrived at the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, the same school my dad had studied thirty years prior. I immediately felt at home in a city with such a vibrant and supportive local art scene, which inspired me to set up shop here after graduation. I’m currently working as a freelance illustrator, artist, and teacher in Detroit, and am hoping to continue to strengthen our city’s connection to art and creativity through my work in the studio and the classroom. 

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I don’t think any career in the arts makes for a particularly smooth road, but I’m incredibly fortunate to have a family that’s supportive of my ambition to work in this field. It gave me the courage and ability to fully commit to doing what I love for a living, which I’ve found is an absolute privilege. That being said, it’s a constant hustle to find enough work to make a living wage as an artist, especially at the outset of my career. It can be an isolating lifestyle that involves a lot of rejection and not much in the way of sleep. I have to remind myself that taking the time and care to build your craft to a professional standard is only a fraction of the battle. It takes a lot of patience, resolve, and promotion to establish yourself, and the margins are often slim until you’ve made it. That’s part of why I’m so grateful to be a part of a creative community that looks out for each other and shares resources and opportunities when they can. It’s so important to be able to have honest conversations with people who are going through the same challenges that you are and to spend time with people who feel make you feel seen and valued even when the jobs aren’t always coming in.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
My work is focused on the interplay between the observable and the abstract. I aim to tell stories that deepen our connection with humanity by illuminating the nuance and tension of our emotions through visual texture and shape language. I find the power that seemingly abstract collections of marks can have over our emotions endlessly fascinating, and that fascination pushes me to keep uncovering new solutions as an artist. I’ve done work locally designing can art for Starcut Ciders, poster work for the Pistons, a local voting promotion for Full Set Society, as well as a recent mural for CCS and one for Park-Rite Detroit which should be going up within the year. Outside of Michigan, my work has been featured in the L.A. Times, 3×3 Magazine, and They Changed the Game, a recently published book about creativity in sports. That being said, my proudest moments often come from working with my students. Seeing that I’m able to play a role in getting them excited about art helps me remember why I chose to follow this path in the first place. 

What matters most to you? Why?
What matters most to me is keeping the practice of creating alive in our culture. I think we’re in an era where the default is to be a consumer of media, and there’s so much to consume that it’s easy to feel like your voice is unimportant or unable to make an impact. I think the simple act of actually sitting down and creating something reminds us that this world isn’t just for us to passively observe, it’s something we’re compelled to interact with and change for the better. 

Contact Info:

• Website: natesweitzer.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/natesweitzer/

Image Credits
Westborn Market