Nathalie in 1978 in Sicily, Italy
Traveling has always been a part of my personal life and is the incubator for much of my artwork. Italian on my dad’s side, I spent my summers in Italy with his family when I was a kid. Starting in first grade I flew there by myself. My mother drove me to the airport and at check-in my very own stewardess took me under her wing. I wore a little plastic badge holder around my neck with my name and pertinent details just in case I got lost, though I never did! I was given ice cream and comic books, and I got to visit the pilot’s cockpit; and so the adventure began. I still have fond memories of this special time on the plane. To this day, the time en route is part of the experience for me.
One of my favorite travel stories happened in 2010 when the volcano Eyjafjallajökull erupted and for several days all air traffic was suspended; my husband and I, along with friends from Denmark and Sweden, got stuck in Warsaw, Poland. We couldn’t get out by rail—all trains were overbooked. Renting a car wasn’t an option since the prices were surging, and no rooms were available at the hotel where we had been staying. The city was jammed with people arriving for the Polish president’s funeral and with people who couldn’t leave. When a friend’s father, a taxi driver in the city, offered to drive us home, we soon realized that what struck us as a crazy notion would actually be a bargain—less expensive than the plane tickets, even if it would take quite a while. So we rode in a taxi cab from Warsaw back to Germany, an eleven-hour trip, while our friends continued another four to Denmark and several more to Sweden. It was the longest taxi ride any of us had ever taken. Five adults in a taxi, taking turns in the least comfortable seats, laughing a lot. Indeed, a “Happy Cab,” as the logo on the car indicated. Some of the jokes, memories and conversation made its way into art journals and other artwork. It was a travel experience I will never forget.
Nathalie in 1978 in Sicily, Italy
Besides seeing new and exciting sights, I love to travel because of the connections I make—with other people, with a different way of living, with a different culture. Teaching art workshops around the globe has offered me opportunities and insights I could not have imagined. I went with new friends to a temple in Malaysia, shared a Sabbath dinner with my host family in Israel, and picked hops with friends of friends in California who own a brewery. These memories are emotionally potent, and they provide colors, patterns and images that I incorporate into my artwork and into my stamp and stencil designs.
Traveling in the Happy Cab from Poland to Germany
Early on in my travel adventures, I started taking journals with me. I take notes about what I see and experience, the people I travel with, and people I meet during my journey. I sometimes even invite them to write a few lines or draw something on one of the pages. I scribble quick sketches and glue paper ephemera.
I store my journals in my studio, along with photos of my travels, and often pull them out to peruse when I am stuck in my creative process. They carry me back to other times and places, and spark ideas.
Travel journals from 1984, 2009 and 2014
Market in Jerusalem, Israel
Batu Caves, Gombak, Malaysia
The memories of a meal in a different country, the smell of a food market so unlike what I find at home, the snippet of a conversation in a language I don’t understand, the colors of the landscape glimpsed as I pass by in a car or train; these and more all find their way into my studio process. These memories are emotionally potent, providing color, pattern and image inspiration that I incorporate into my artwork, and into my stamp and stencil designs. Traveling has opened my mind and heart.