Ancient Life Symbols by Eric Nelson
Eric Nelson: Basic Background
Eric Nelsen was born in 1954 in Vashon, WA. He is the son of a well-known architect, Ibsen Nelsen who has designed buildings even here at Western. Eric Nelsen went on to study in Japan after first becoming interested in ceramics in high school. He has several instillations throughout Washington and explains how his different travels impact his artwork, specifically, the instillation here at WWU titled “Ancient Life Symbols.” In an interview he answers that he was inspired by this quote below,
“The historical trajectory of the art, man-made art objects from ancient civilization throughout history.”
Ancient Life Symbols: Visual Analysis
Eric Nelson’s artwork focusses on a variety of angular and symmetrical shapes within a larger square boarder. His ceramic, wood-fired kiln, ceramics all generally share one common layout. Most of them transition from angular to curved shapes. Another constant besides the larger square boarder is the very center’s circular shape. The pieces’ backgrounds are typically a grey or white cement color which draws the eye toward the colorful center focus point. The placement of the pieces displayed are low to the ground symbolizing their connection to the earth. The diagram below is a visual analysis of the works: 
Period of time when the work was made
Nelson created this piece in 1975. In worldwide news of July of ’75 the Apollo and Soyuz spacecrafts launched and linked up in space. This was the first-time spacecrafts from different nations linked together in space, and the final flight in the US’s Apollo program (Redmond). In the UK, Margaret Thatcher became the first elected woman to head the British Conservative Party (Fun Facts). In Africa, Egypt reopened the Suez Canal after eight years (“Fun Facts”).
Regarding major events in the US during this time, the war in Vietnam had been escalating, and was brought to a close in 1975. Millions protested and US university campuses were getting shut down due to student strikes (Ganzel). The Watergate scandal was still rippling across the United States after Nixon’s resignation in ’74 (Ganzel). In the Roe v. Wade case, the Supreme Court legalized abortion and ultimately affected the laws of 46 states (Ganzel). Unemployment was at 5.6% (“Fun Facts”). In Washington during this period, Microsoft was founded and brought many jobs and wealth to the greater Seattle area (“Fun Facts”). The Pilchuck Glass School was created by Dale Chihuly in 1971, and Spokane hosted the world’s fair in 1974 (“Milestones”). In Bellingham In 1970, WWU’s Huxley College of Environmental College was founded, and the university’s enrollment exceeded 10,000 students for the first time (“Brief History”). The suburbs of Bellingham were getting developed by the 70s. Many who lived in Fairhaven were worried improvements to the city would destroy what made it unique. Preservationists worked to protect historic locales in the Bellingham area, and succeeded in preserving much of the Fairhaven area (Lieb).
Our Reinterpretation
A transformation of Eric Nelson’s two-dimensional tiles into a three-dimensional cube.
We constructed a suspended cube with each face illustrating a different symbol used in his work. Since the Nelsen’s work is installed in the Environmental Science building, we chose to use as many recycled materials as possible. 
Contributors:
Elly Minagawa
Sybil Roberts
Ronja Vaitaitis
Works Cited
“Brief History of Western Washington University.” Library.wwu.edu, Western Washington University,
“Fun Facts From 1975.” News.microsoft.com, Microsoft Corp, 5 Sept. 2000,
Ganzel, Bill. “World Events – 1970 to Today.” World Events from 1970 to Today, Ganzel Group, 2009,
Lieb, Emily. “Bellingham — Thumbnail History.” HistoryLink.org, HistoryLink.org, 20 Aug. 2008
“Milestones for Washington State History — Part 4: 1951 to Present.” HistoryLink.org, HistoryLink.org, 6 Mar. 2003,
Redmond, Charles, et al. “Apollo-Soyuz.” History.nasa.gov, NASA, 22 Oct. 2004,
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