Meet Nicholas Decker | Sculptor, Landscape Designer & Photographer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Nicholas Decker and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Nicholas, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
Creativity feels more like a calling than a career. I suppose you can be creative in most any career, but I always felt a need to make things. Taking raw material and transforming it into something beautiful, meaningful, and intentional is a sacred act, and no other possible career path felt as tangible. At times, I studied or explored other paths – related to engineering, or policy, or technology – but that act of creation was always missing.

I feel lucky that I can earn a living designing and making things. More importantly, I think, is the practice of living a creative life based in curiosity, exploration, and deliberate action.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’m excited about my first solo show, slated for next year! This show will exhibit 7 years of work (after more than 10 years of practice) all around themes of translation. Language has always fascinated me – the way words transform within and across languages, and how concepts change during the translation process. There are so many parallels to the human experience – that tyranny of the other, the inability to fully translate your own thoughts and experiences to another, yet the broad shared human experience underlying that. Some of my pieces in this show will be directly about language, but all are attempts to convey experience across that void.

It has taken a great deal of discipline and constant effort to continue work on this project for all these years. It is difficult to remain focused on a set of concepts over so much time, but it is exciting how my understanding of the concepts and myself transformed during that time. The only way to keep that focus is to be open to those changes and transform with them.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I am a big proponent of the idea that the best way to visit Los Angeles is to eat through it. I could spend my friend’s whole week just eating through favorite restaurants in K Town, and still regret all the Szechuan and dim sum we missed out on in San Gabriel, and the ramen we didn’t eat in Sawtelle, and the Persian food we skipped in Westwood and Glendale.

But after all that eating, we’d be catching live music – shows at the Wiltern, something a little more underground at the Lodgeroom, or some jazz at Sam’s.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I have been lucky to receive guidance and direction from many communities of sculptors in my creative life. My first sculpture mentor was the artist Ryoichi Suzuki. His instruction began m technical understanding of stone carving, wood working, and metal casting. More importantly, he taught me discipline of creation – that something I make should be as well-made as possible.

Second was the community of sculptors I met in my graduate program. From them, I learned to think deeply about the meaning behind my work, not only the quality of my craft.

I benefited enormously from association with Paul Lindhard and all the sculptors at Art City in Ventura. Paul gave me my first workspace in California. Over nearly 40 years, Paul has and the group of artists around him have built a haven for stone sculpture in Ventura, and I was very lucky to be part of it for 5 years, until I furnished my own studio in Culver City. From the artists of Art City, I relearned the love and childish joy of creation.

I also must say thank you to the Culver City Arts Association and to Candice Taylor of Taylor Fine Art Gallery for currently supporting my work.

Website: npdstudios.com

Instagram: @npd.studios

Image Credits
My personal photo should be credited to Jongmi Kagabo All sculpture photos should be credited to me.