Saskatchewan Artist

Birth of the Earth - 1996 - by Jeff Nachtigall

Jeff Nachtigall

Jeff Nachtigall was born in 1970 in Yorkton, Saskatchewan. He became interested in art at an early age. Nachtigall studied printmaking and sculpture at the University of Regina, earning his Bachelor of Arts in 1993. He went on to study printmaking at Illinois State University, but also became more interested in sculpture and painting, as well as Canadian history and culture. Nachtigall then returned to Regina and in 1996, moved to Calgary to work on his art full-time.

Nachtigall worked as a cleaner at Calgary's Mount Royal College to support himself, and his financial situation meant that it was difficult to afford art supplies. He began dumpster diving for materials, and used scrap boards and old wallpaper for many of his paintings at this time. Nachtigall now considers his experience in Calgary the “practicum” part of his art education.

In 1998, Nachtigall returned to Saskatchewan, first to Regina and then to Saskatoon, where in 2006 he began an artist-in-residence position at the Sherbrooke Community Centre, a long-term care facility. There, he was part of creating a program for residents and later helped to organize an exhibition of their works at the Mendel Art Gallery. In 2002, he served as artist-in-residence at the University of Regina, and he participated in a residency at the Banff Centre in 2003.

Nachtigall's works have been exhibited across Canada and in the United States. Of particular note was the 2000-2004 touring exhibition organized by the MacKenzie Art Gallery (Regina), “Excerpts from Conversations With Myself.” As part of the exhibition, Nachtigall traveled around rural Saskatchewan with his work.

Nachtigall's art incorporates themes including Canadian history (one set of paintings focuses on the Battle of the Plains of Abraham) and pop culture, and he continually tries to innovate in his art-making: “I find the obsessive decorative elements found in Folk Art and Outsider Art very appealing. Form is of fundamental importance, but not at the expense of content. I attempt to make paintings that lie somewhere between the immediacy of wallpaper and the complexity of Nature.”

In 2009 Nachtigall was short-listed for the Lieutenant Governor’s Award in Art’s and Learning.

Jeff Nachtigall lives and works in Saskatoon.