Meet South Korea-based Artist Nicholas Pumper
Nicholas Pumper is a painter living in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, who will be moving to Mons, Belgium in December 2022. Visit his website: https://npumper.com
CATHOLIC ARTIST CONNECTION: Where are you from originally, and what brought you to South Korea?
NICHOLAS PUMPER: For military dependents, this is a complicated question! My parents were enlisted in the US Air Force, so to make a long story short, I spent most of childhood in England, and my young adult life in Minnesota. That said, home for me is the Minnesota countryside, where I grew to really fall in love with God's creation.
Currently, I am commissioned as an officer in the USAF, which currently has me living in South Korea for all of 2022 to fulfill my role as a Cyber Operations Officer. And then, come 2023, I'll be moving to Mons, Belgium for another military assignment working with NATO and our European allies.
How do understand your vocation as a Catholic artist?
I often label myself as a "Catholic painter," partly because growing up as a cradle Catholic, it was the arts that kept me from leaving the Church in my early adult years. An emotional equivalent would be like not acknowledging my parents. For some, community is one of their primary mediums of discernment, but for extreme introverts like me, the arts and academic theology has been the primary path of growing in faith.
"Evangelization" tends to have a very heavy "community" connotation to the word (which isn’t a bad thing), but for me, "evangelization" is trying to show God's Beauty through arts and theology. That way, I hope I can show other "extreme introverts,” or perhaps more accurately "geeks" like myself, who might be more artistically or academically inclined, that Catholicism truly is home.
Where have you found support in the Church for your vocation as an artist?
God blessed me with excessively supportive friends and patrons as I proceed with both a military career and an artistic career. I owe them everything.
How can the Church be more welcoming to artists?
Commission artists and buy their work! That’s all there really is to it.
How can the artistic world be more welcoming to artists of faith?
I've found a lot of fear in the artistic world for others approaching a conservative faith tradition, especially one as countercultural as Catholicism, and I don't think it is on the artistic world to welcome sacred artists. Rather, it is for us to be who we are, prioritize our faith first, and the world will come around to us. I've had incredible conversations with Orthodox, Mormons, agnostics, atheists, Protestants, and so on, simply because they are curious about why I do what I do.
Where in your city do you regularly find spiritual fulfillment?
The mass is always the same, no matter what country I'm living in!
Where in your city do you regularly find artistic fulfillment?
For me, my artistic career counterbalances the extreme intensity and pragmatism of my military career, so I generally work in isolation of artistic communities. What brings me to tears is when I can see how deeply a piece means to a patron or friend. That experience stays with you forever.
What is your daily spiritual practice?
Gregorian chant during paintings is a nice part of my week, otherwise trying to squeeze in a rosary between careers brings me the peace I need to keep my head on straight in the intensity of it all. I'm lucky enough to have some very theologically-minded and faith-devoted friends and family, which keeps me on the right path. Then I read a *ton*.
How do you financially support yourself as an artist?
God blessed me for the opportunity to live off of painting commissions entirely for a year before my active duty USAF commitment began in 2021, and that was entirely done through excessively generous and giving friends going out of their way to talk about my love for painting. I truly owe it all to them, so I try to give it my all in return.
On a logistical note, finding consistency is key. Some people might find their work and lifestyle works for larger commissions, while others find that selling small pieces on Etsy works for them. I'm constantly trying to find this consistency in my ever changing military lifestyle, and I will be again in post-military life in some years, so its a continual process that takes time to mature. So be consistent so these processes have time to mature!
What advice do you have for Catholic artists?
Read, look at art you enjoy, then reflect on what art you enjoy, and "why" it is that the person God made you has an affinity towards it. I really believe that reflection is key to being an artist, to an extreme degree. Reflection is free!