Artist Talk: Nora’s Dad, Mr. Dan Vasconcellos

This being the Nora Vasconcelos Guest Editor issue of Monster Children, naturally, we had to interview her dad.

We do this with every guest editor issue. Not really, but we did it this time because Nora has a cool dad. His name is Daniel Vasconcelos and he is an artist. Not one of those artists that daub away in a studio and wait for someone with money to discover their genius—Dan is a hugely successful commercial artist who has provided humorous illustrations for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Harvard Business Review, and Golf World to name but five (five that happen to big boys). Recently, after decades of belting out funny, topical illustrations in record time, Dan decided to shift gears and began teaching art at a local charter school. And that’s where we find him now, in the staff room, eating a biscuit and sipping some tea between classes. Not really. He was at home on a public holiday.

Hey, Dan!

Good morning! Wow. You are one timely son of a gun. 

Yeah, I don’t mess around, man. If I say I’m gonna call at 9 AM, I call at 9 AM. 

What time is it in Australia? 

It’s exactly 11 PM. Is that birds I can hear in the background?

Yeah, I just stepped outside. I’m in the backyard. 

It sounds like a beautiful morning in Massachusetts.

Well, it’s in the high forties, but the sun is coming out. A lot of optimism in the air. There’s no school today because it’s Good Friday; there’s a light breeze, the sun is coming up through the trees, and the birds are vocal.

I just lived through Good Friday and it was pretty good!

(Laughs) Tell me what to expect.

It’s just very, very good. Okay, let’s get into it. What was Nora like as a kid?

Well, I’ll tell you the same thing I told Reda when he asked me that a couple of years ago: she was the same little bean then as she is today—only now she’s bigger. She was just this little whisp of creativity and humour. She comfortably separated from the crowd and did ‘Nora’. You know, one of my fondest memories of her… we have this funny video of her doing ballet class and it’s like a comedy skit. She’s just off on her own, spinning and ignoring all the instructions, wearing this little leotard and, you know, all the other kids are following the instructions and looking at her like, ‘What’s her problem?’ And I just laugh because to me she definitely does not have a problem. 

That’s great.

Yeah, she’s still very much the little wonder she was as a child. I mean, I used to call her ‘Nora the Explorer’ because when she was little, she loved exploring the woods and meeting the neighbours and all that stuff. So, she was not unlike who she is today, just in a smaller package.

And you have son, too?

Yeah, Davis is Nora’s little brother. He’s 27 and he’s a parkour athlete. 

Oh, wow.

Yeah, he’s another one that chose to do the unusual, if you will. Surfing was Nora’s first path, but then it was skateboarding when she realized the wave is always there when it comes to skateboarding. Whereas surfing in New England as teenager, it’s a little more challenging trying to get to waves and missing school and stuff.

Right.

But Davis is a parkour athlete and he works at JuneShine. 

So, your daughter is a professional skateboarder and your son is a parkour dude, what about you? Are you a judo master or something? Where does it come from?

All I can think of is their mom, Joan, was and still is an incredible athlete. And we were both very active and on the go all the time. When the kids were young, we’d take them running or on bike rides; we’re just very active as a family, and I think that just exposed them to movement and, you know, life. They both did a lot of the traditional sports—Nora was a terrific soccer player—but she discovered her true passion in surfing and skating. 

I wonder if you had an influence on them in that you work alone, you’re a solitary creative ‘problem solver’, which is what skateboarding and, I’m guessing, parkour is all about: creative problem solving and self-expression.

I never thought of that, but yeah, you might be right!

Right?

Absolutely. Davis was a phenomenal track athlete, but everything was restrictive: you do the 100-meter dash, you stay in your lane, and that was it. When he does parkour, he competes at speed in these events, and he loves the movement, the physical freedom to decide where he’s going and how he’s moving, and, yeah, Nora’s the same way with both surfing and skating. So, yeah, I think you’re right. There’s a critical creative component to those activities.

Let’s talk about you, though. I’m guessing you excelled at art as a kid?

Yeah, yeah. I think because I got attention. It’s a funny thing to look back on; drawing got me attention and what I percieved as love and affection, and I had the incredible good fortune of being born into a family with five other wonderful siblings and two parents who were very supportive, even though being an artist in a blue collar environment is a dream, it’s not really a reality as far as, you know, ‘What are you gonna do for a living?’ and those kinds of questions. But they were always very supportive. And art for me, very early on, became something that people responded to, and that made me feel good, and I had a knack for it and I enjoyed it.

You were also lucky in that you had an uncle who worked as an artist. Uncle Charlie, I believe

Oh my gosh! I was just about to mention Uncle Charlie! Charlie was a commercial artist for corporations in the Boston area, and he enabled me to envision a livelihood as an artist, because Uncle Charlie was doing it in the same blue-collar world. So, it didn’t seem like this far away dream of being an artist, you know? Kids often get discouraged by adults when it comes to a career in the arts, so I had the good fortune of getting support in that way.

That’s really cool.

Yeah, and although that work was isolating to a degree, it afforded me so much time with Davis and Nora. I had a home studio, so I could have lunch with them, breakfast with them, I could take them out of the swing or kick the soccer ball with them, or watch them in skateboarding in the barn for a while, y’know? I was able to be there, and that’s one thing I’ll never regret. 

That’s so cool. It’s like getting your cake and eating it.

Absolutely. Sometimes I meet Nora’s friends who are just starting families, and they say, ‘What advice do you have?’ Like I’ve got some secret. And I tell them, ‘I don’t know, I’m lucky. I don’t know what else to tell ya!’

Very cool. Can we talk about your work as a freelance illustrator for a minute?

Sure.

How did it work? 

Well, you know, you’d build a list of clients—

The New York Times etc.

Right, and they would call or the fax machine would buzz—

When they needed an illustration to go with a story?

Right. And mostly I was a hired gun in that way. I’d rarely initiate things and propose ideas. I’d propose ideas when the job was offered, of course, but I didn’t do anything speculatively, everything was commissioned, y’know? So, it was fun because you never knew what you were gonna get, but most of my work caricature, humour, narrative pen and ink watercolour style that wasn’t for everybody, but back in the day there were a lot of venues that were hiring people to create images, and I had the good fortune of being one of the people who was able to do it for a long time.

How long?

Thirty-five years. 

Wow. You’re out of the game now, but how do you feel about the whole AI thing, like, the image-making AI?

Well, I’ve got friends who are still in the field, and there’s a lot of handwringing, like, ‘Oh my god.’ We thought the fax machine was gonna be stressful in that clients wanted sketches turned around on the spot! We had no idea what was coming (laughs).

I don’t really think AI can replace that authentic human feel. I write for a living and everyone is like, ‘It’s coming to take your job!’ But I don’t believe AI will replace me that easy. I mean, I wouldn’t want to read a novel written by an unfeeling robot or go to an art exhibition of work created by AI. That’s gross.

Yes. I don’t disagree with you. And that’s something we’ve hung our hats on since the rise of home computers: you could tell when something was computer-generated and when it wasn’t. But that line just gets blurrier and blurrier. But to your point, yes, I think creative human minds will always trump machines, but at the end of the day, the problem you run into is the market for it. Many of us want things pretty cheap, but we also want to be paid well for what we do, and there’s a paradox there, I think (laughs). 

You must’ve done some late nights as freelancer, with deadlines and everything. 

Oh, yeah. I remember buckling Nora and Davis in their car seats because I’d finished a job and we’d be off to Logan Airport to get it delivered via FedEx before scanning became part of my job. But yeah, I’d be up all night sometimes.

Pre-internet adventures.

Yeah, exactly.

And these days you’re teacher?

Yeah, so I’m teaching at a charter school here on the South Shore. I’m about six years into that and it’s… It’s exhausting (laughs). But the kids are wonderful. And when you see them try or they excite themselves because they’ve created something special, I get the same feeling I enjoy as a dad. So, it can be a challenging environment, but it’s also a rewarding one. 

As an artist, are you ever envious of the kids being completely unselfconscious and able to create and imagine things freely—as we all once did?

Yes.

Do you know what I mean?

Yes, yes. And my teaching philosophy strongly encourages maintaining just that. They’ll come to me and ask me if something is good, and I’ll say, ‘Let’s look at what you’re doing and talk about it.’ Ultimately, I want them to make their creative choices intrinsically. My fear is that if say, ‘Blue is beautiful,’ that child is going to use blue a lot more than they would otherwise. 

Right, right.

I try to support their creativity. But I’m also very inspired by the kids; I’m inspired to expand, like, when I look at my freelance work, I think, ‘Okay, I got off the creative train at this station and became a freelancer, and I use these tools and I work in this way… And now I’m exploring other things. I’ve always loved three-dimensional stuff, and I’m painting more… It’s almost like getting back on that creative train and seeing where it takes me next. For me, a lot of what has driven my creativity has been the influence of other people, so when I see a child creating or a friend painting, that’s inspiring. 

It must be nice to see kids disappearing into the activity of making art, going into that wonderful flow state—especially these days when most of the time they’re staring at their phones. 

Absolutely, when they get lost in something, life becomes something else, y’know?

Yeah.

And always I tell them at the start of the year, ‘There is nobody like you, and art affords you the opportunity to be you in a way nobody else can be!’

That’s very true and very cool. Okay, last question: When are you going to design a board graphic for Nora?

I’m in the midst of it!

No way!

Yeah. Jason (Celaya) at Welcome has been profoundly generous, supportive, and patient with me, and I’m working on something now. And it’s something that is such a privilege… I feel like I’ve almost lost my professional chops. I feel somewhat paralysed; I’ve produced all these ideas but I’m very critical of them…

Stakes is high!

I’m like, ‘Oh my god, Dan, this is just a deck. Get over it.’

Yeah, but it’s not any old deck—it’s your daughter’s!

Yeah, and I love her and her brother more than life itself! 

That’s way too much pressure, dude.

I know. Anyway, we’ve got something in the works. 

Can’t wait to see it. Okay, thanks for your time, Dan!

No problem. Nice to meet you!