Meet Hamilton Artist Sylvia Nickerson

Sylvia Nickerson is a gifted artist who I had the pleasure to meet during one of the Art Crawls.

Sylvia has worked as a freelance illustrator since 2005. Prior to that, she worked as a book designer and project manager in the book publishing industry .She trained in visual arts at  Mount Allison University and Etobicoke School of the Arts.

She has an impressive cadre of clients including: The Globe and Mail, The National Post, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The Utne Reader, University of Toronto, and others.

She talents are far reaching and presently she is working on an illustrated book for children. Her studio is located at 126 James North and you can visit her on the web by clicking here. Alternatively, or in addition to, you can always visit her at her studio during the art crawls.

I had an opportunity to ask Sylvia a few questions.

1. From your website, it is obvious that you've had a great deal of success and have had your work featured in articles/editorials in The Globe and Mail , The Boston Globe and other prominent outlets. Why did you choose Hamilton as your base? What is it about the city that attracted you?

One great advantage of being a freelance illustrator is the ability to work from anywhere. I moved to Hamilton from Toronto in 2007 when my partner came here to work in health care. I arrived not knowing anyone and with only vague memories of visiting Hamilton as a child. Discovering the city at large was amazing. I was awed by the natural areas (Cootes Paradise, Dundas Valley), the vacant buildings and urban spaces lost in time (The Royal Connaught, Jackson Square, the back alleys of Lansdale or Beasley), the industrial vista driving across Burlington street, and the flaming stacks visible from the stands of Ivor Wynne. I felt like I had stepped into a movie set. Coming to James Street I discovered a space I could rent and make art in and was attracted to the idea that I could participate in the birth of a scene, as if Hamilton could be to Toronto what Brooklyn is to New York.

2. What are the challenges and advantages of running and Arts and Illustration business in Hamilton. How much of your business is from outside the city?

 It goes without saying that the cost of living is a lot cheaper in Hamilton than it is in cities like Toronto or New York. Here I can afford to choose the work I want to do and I have the time and space to think about more than just survival. Except for a poster or two I've designed for local groups, all my clients are media companies or businesses in Toronto or the US. One disadvantage of running my business in Hamilton is that I am farther away from organizations that provide professional support to illustrators (who can help you evolve your career in new directions) and I suppose not being able to socialize with Art Directors at parties means there are just some jobs I am never going to get.

3. What advice might you have to an artist who is looking to graduate from art as a passion/hobby to art as a business?

This is a tough question. In many ways I still see my business as my passion. Although it's more than a hobby I still feel like it's hard to devote enough time to the business to really achieve excellence. So I guess my advice would be this: don't bother thinking about a creative career unless you are willing to doggedly pursue this goal in the face of rejection, low pay and the social isolation that can come out of working on your own. However, the rewards of seeing your work in print are pretty sweet. The highs have worn off for me somewhat, but the day I had my first piece in The Globe and Mail I felt as if I were a minor celebrity. This was delusional but it was a high nevertheless.

4. What can Hamilton do to further support the arts community in the James North district?

I'm not much of a policy person, but I think it's hard to set up the conditions that favour an arts community. When I arrived here three years ago, I found the conditions were right to live and work here, but those factors are changing all the time. It's quite possible my colleagues in the arts community would disagree with me, but I'm not sure the municipal government should or even can play a role in developing the arts community. A great scene grows through the intensification of relationships between the artist-members of that scene. I'm not sure this dynamic can be fostered or created by a municipality or chamber of commerce or other bureaucracy.

5. In reference to Hamilton, you were quoted as saying " There's not a lot of competition, or people bearing down on you here" But the drawback is that it's easy to be here and not feel driven, whereas in Toronto it's easy to feel driven, but here there's a lot of space to just try things out and not be afraid of it." Can you give us an example of a piece of work you've done that was enabled by the liberating feeling you've described and attributed to being in Hamilton, in your quote?

Well I've drawn many Hamilton locations and literally used them as backdrops for illustrations about other places and other stories (Hamilton General Hospital, site of the former Tivoli arcade, club 77, James Street, Cannon Street, Cootes Paradise). However, what I meant in the above quote is that my life in this city inspires my work in a way I feel is creating something worthwhile and unique. If you think about a city like New York, the streetscapes and lifestyles of that city are so prominently portrayed in film, television and popular culture that reflecting your life in a novel way would be quite hard if you're an aspiring New York based illustrator. So many artists walk that beat and respond to that life in their art. You'd be competing with all of them and worrying about who the new hotshot illustrator is who is just graduated from Parson's. Here the art school hipsters are scarce, and the city has yet to play much of a role in the imagination of anyone who has not lived here. To me, that leaves a whole lot of creative space wide open. New stories, images, art, can easily be born here.

6. What has impressed you the most about Hamilton? In terms of improvement, where do you think the city needs to focus its efforts.

 At heart, I'm a relativist. The things about Hamilton that have made an impression on me are not necessarily things most people would consider impressive: the poverty, the lives of people who have to walk their kids down urban highways such as Main Street East, the regulars who I pass in 1st Stop Donuts and Deli on my way to the studio, the number of people making a go of living on a fixed income. Street kids. Young moms. Portugese buns, fish cakes, salt cod and custard tarts. The Somali women in my neighbourhood who wear the most beautiful multi-coloured skirts and headscarves. How welcome I was made to feel when I attended the first meeting of our neighbourhood association. James North. The legacy of Hamilton a.k.a. "the ambitious city" which can been see everywhere in the awesome brick and stone architecture. This is the Hamilton I see, living downtown. It's not the whole city, but it's a small, wonderful part of it. Although not everything about my life here or about this city is "good", I'm not sure I want to change it - I'm fully enjoying the experience of living here both in its challenges and its pleasures.

7. Is there anything else you would like Hamiltonians to know about your work, your business or yourself?

Hmm. Can't think of anything. Thanks for talking the time to interview me for The Hamiltonian. It was nice to sit down and reflect on my life since coming to live in this interesting place.

Thank-you Sylvia for your interest in Hamilton and thanks for sharing your talents with us. Comments welcome.