By Annette Cinelli

While growing up in Fitchburg, Scott Niemi always had an interest in art. He was able to draw Fred Flintstone from memory when he was just 8 years old. But while his family appreciated art, they didn’t really consider it a serious career option. So when Scott graduated from Fitchburg High School, he went on to get his Associate’s Degree in business administration at Mount Wachusett Community College. It wasn’t until later that he pursued a career in the arts when, he recalls, “Art chose me, I didn’t choose art.”

A move to Florida rekindled Scott’s interest in the art field when his grandmother gave him a set of his deceased step grandfather’s paints. He started with the acrylics and immediately wondered, “Why didn’t I do this sooner?!”

He entered his first show and was awarded an honorable mention; that “…added fuel to the fire.” While pursuing his love of art, Scott held various jobs but soon began to think seriously about going back to school and actually majoring in art. He eventually ended up at Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida where he got his M.F.A. in Visual Art.

Scott focuses mostly on painting, although recently he has also been working on sculpture. When asked to describe his art, he says that “…it’s contemporary art…it has both representational elements and abstract elements, but it’s also narrative.” He hopes that his work draws the viewer into a dialogue and likes to see what they get out of it for themselves, without him dictating what it should be.

One of the highpoints for Scott of being an artist is that he gets to “…make something from nothing.” He also enjoys the feel of moving the paint around; it brings back that creative feeling from childhood of “playing with mud pies.” It’s not all easy though. One of the hardest things for Scott is “trying to decide when a painting is actually done. You think you’ve got it, then the next morning it can look horrendous.” Scott overcomes this by stopping when he is content, then if it bothers him the next day, he puts it away and moves on to something else. He comes back to it later with a fresh eye to see if it’s truly done.

Many different things inspire Scott: a musical score, a play, other people’s work, something in nature, a mood, or even just reacting to the way a certain color looks on the canvas. One of his major influences is British born artist John Walker. He saw a show in Lake Worth Florida of John Walker’s paintings, which are enormous. This was the first time Scott had ever seen that much “physical energy on a large scale canvas.” Scott also enjoys Willem de Kooning’s works.

As he is pursuing his own career in art, Scott is also teaching art at Franklin Pierce University and right here in Worcester as an adjunct professor at Becker College. This is his third year at Becker and he has taught a wide variety of courses: multiple drawing levels, life drawing, design, and storyboarding for animation.

Although Scott gets very little of his own work done during the school year, teaching benefits his work when he starts it up again once the semester ends. Just as he influences his students, they influence him. Come summer when he is able to focus on his work he finds that he has lots of new ideas.

For students and other people interested in pursuing the arts Scott offers the following advice, “take some classes if you haven’t already. One thing I would stress though is don’t let one class be the determinant of whether you have any talent or not.” He encourages students to take multiple classes and reminds us, “the more you do something, the better you get.”

Another important element for up and coming artists is showing your work. Scott has had dozens of shows in both group and one person exhibitions. Although it can be challenging and even downright disappointing at times, it’s still something every artist needs to pursue. The idea of entering your work into a show may seem intimidating, but it’s a necessity “you can’t win the lottery if you don’t play!” It will be impossible to go anywhere with your art unless you try.

One of the most exciting shows Scott’s work has been in is a jury chosen show in Florida called Annual Exhibition of Contemporary American Paintings at The Society of the Four Arts in Palm Beach, Florida. This is a very competitive national show that Scott entered for many years with no luck. Finally in 1998 and again in 2002 his work was chosen. He was rejected the years between ’98 and ‘02, but didn’t let the rejection get to him. He advises “if you can’t handle the rejection, don’t be in the arts!”

If you are interested in seeing more of Scott’s work he has a piece in the Fitchburg Museum through Sept.10th. In Oct., be sure to check out his exhibit at Franklin Pierce University.

Pics from top to bottom:

With “Self-Portrait”, 78 x 48”, oil/canvas, 2006.

“Tree Of Life” sculpture is 12 feet high by 3 feet wide. It’s made of pine wood (cut to taste) and then painted with red & black enamel paint. Completed this summer, 2007.