Making Lands

Jay Nelson is an artist, surfer and family man currently living and working in the Outer Sunset neighborhood of San Francisco, California. Nelson's work bounces between creating three-dimensional structures out of reclaimed wood to painting to drawing. In each area, there is a brilliant sense of function and imagination, two concepts Nelson has managed to balance beautifully. "Through designing and building physical spaces I can direct a person’s experience of an art work, an interaction with another person or a landscape. For example, through the placement of a window I can direct a person to a particular view that interests me." His structures include anything from customized vehicles, water-craft, treehouses and various dwellings, to spaces with the intention to exhibit his paintings and drawings. Nelson built the studio that he shares with his wife and occasional collaborator, Rachel Kaye, in the backyard of their home. Not far beyond their backyard are the consistent surf breaks of Ocean Beach. "I believe to make good art you can't separate your work from your life. All the things you care about must come through in your work and the work must be deeply personal. I am an ocean person so I let my daily relationship with the ocean into my art.”