We recently connected with Eric Dubnicka and have shared our conversation below.
Eric, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
Growing up in small-town Northern Wisconsin in the late 1900s, there was no sense a person could have any type of creative career, so as one does, they head for the mountains. After a few serendipitous steps I landed in a role leading crews of scientists around the Tongass National Forest of SE Alaska collecting data for various studies for a number of years. Knowing it wasn’t a career, a good friend who recognized I was artistically inclined began pushing me to take art classes. One thing lead to another, and though I had doubts, I applied to a wonderful fine art school in St Paul, MN, the College of Visual Arts. Although they expected me in fall, I took an opportunity to be a ranger at Pack Creek bear viewing area on Admiralty Island, a remote access protected area for observing Alaskan brown bears up close and personal. It was a dream opportunity to be amongst the bears, the smell of saltwater, as mountains cut through the thick temperate rain forest fog, but my mind was distracted by art and creative pursuits. I had unwittingly been waiting for a sign, and sometimes wonder if it was the bears telling me, all I knew was that it was time to commit fully to an artistic life.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?
I love the creative process of making and creating new and unusual visual artworks, particularly paintings and sculptures. The work centers around human nature, often sitting at the intersection of divinity and human brokenness. Over my twenty five years of making, my process is steeped in curiosity, repetition and experimentation. My process is focused on mark-making and the evolution of a line and the ghosted past of old marks intertwined with solid form unveiling ethereal beings that are often part angel and part human, and always with a hint of humor. Working primarily off the figure allows me to run a wide narrative swath filled with whimsical, humorous beings all the way to more abstracted ethereal moments. I have a strong reverence for art history, an appetite for experimentation, and observation skills that allow me to note potential artwork with ease. I often joke while working, that I’m creating problems and solving them and in that there’s more than a life time’s worth of artwork.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Resilience. It’s funny, I never considered applying the word to my story, but it is apt. After years of health challenges and specialists spit-balling ideas surrounding a decade and a half of undiagnosed illness, in 2021 I was officially diagnosed with a major infection of Bartonella, Babesia and Borrellia, as well as Relapsing Tick Fever. I had been losing the ability to use my hands, had a major face rash, and was experiencing any number of quirky mental and physical issues. My doctor, upon seeing the results, remarked he couldn’t believe I was upright. To me though, the only thing that seemed to matter was building or renovating a space where I could work, and making art. That diagnosis began five years of intermittent heavy antibiotics. Throughout those years, whenever I had a better day, I was in the studio or working on one. I’m not sure if that drive is actually healthy or not, but it has kept me focused. Creating and building and making with my hands is the most important thing I do outside of the care and love I have for my family, and whether its resilience or stupidity, I’m still here, still following this lifelong path.
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?
I love this question. And the simple answer is yes and no. Of course I want to be seen and validated for my talents. What human doesn’t? But with time and illness one’s perspective changes and teasing out what truly is of value percolates up. Early on my ego ran the show, and exhibiting as much as possible topped the list. Selling work, of course. With time and perspective you realize the value of self care, who or what is actually important, a sense that we’re here for more than just accolades. I accidentally had the wisdom early on in all of this to know that my “career” is my passion, and therefore my life and hopefully a marathon and not a sprint. I’m aware that dreams and goals come and go, but that internal drive to create is most fundamental to me, and nurturing that fire and doing what I love is what really pushes me. If or when something comes that meshes with my old goals, it’ll be a fun surprise, but at the end of the day walking down an autumnal Minnesota wooded path to view the previous day’s work in the studio is all the reward I need.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://ericdubnicka.com
- Instagram: ericdubnicka_artist
