In Memoriam: Eric Nelson
Eric Nelson, professor emeritus of studio art, died on June 20 at his home in Middlebury, Vermont. Nelson, 79, was Middlebury College’s first professor of sculpture and taught many generations of students over his thirty-two-year career before retiring in 2010.
Nelson was born on October 7, 1945, in Aurora, Illinois, where he grew up exploring the woods and fields of Illinois farm country. According to his family, he was fascinated by nature—animals, birds, trees, plants, flowers, insects, everything wild. His interest in art began at a young age, as he experimented with different media: pencil, pastel, watercolor, and paint. Nature and scenes of the farmland he loved were nearly always the subjects of his early work.
His love of art led him to earn a BA in sculpture from the University of Illinois at Chicago Circle in 1972, after which he went on to earn his MA and MFA in sculpture from the University of Iowa, where he also studied drawing and three-dimensional design.
In 1978, Nelson arrived at Middlebury, where he taught sculpture at all levels as well as beginning and intermediate drawing and color theory. In 1994, he was appointed the Christian A. Johnson Professor of Art. In addition to his teaching, he had a prolific career as an artist, exhibiting his work in solo and group shows across the United States and in France.
“Eric loved teaching and his creative work, and was a remarkably friendly individual,” said Jim Ralph, professor of history. “He had seen a lot in his life, and when there were tough times on the campus, in the country, and in the world, he knew how to remind us of the great benefits that came our way by living and working in Middlebury and Vermont.”
Nelson’s generosity as an educator extended beyond the studio arts, according to Karl Lindholm, emeritus dean of advising and assistant professor of American studies.
“He always visited my class on the Vietnam War and gave, in his own quiet and direct manner, an account of his military experience, which exemplified to me the fateful dilemmas and ambivalence of college students at the height of the war,” said Lindholm. “I was grateful indeed for Eric’s willingness to share his story with students.”
Nelson’s sculptural work is held in numerous private and public collections, including the Middlebury College public art collection. His mild steel installation Commotion: Converse and Grasp is located on the lawn just north of the Mahaney Arts Center.
Outside his life as an artist and educator, Nelson was a tennis player and an ardent fly fisherman, spending many hours on his favorite Vermont rivers as well as several major rivers in the American West. He and his wife and daughter traveled extensively throughout the United States and Europe. He especially loved time spent with his grandsons, Alden and Andrew—playing games, reading books, teaching them to fish, building things together, and being silly.
He is survived by his wife of 53 years, Dottie Nelson of Middlebury; daughter and son-in-law, Leah and Christopher Green, and grandsons Alden and Andrew, of Centerville, Massachusetts; brother and sister-in-law, Jeff and Gina Nelson, and niece, Sarah Beth, of St. Paul, Minnesota; nephews Dan, Phil, and Kent Bateman and their families, of Illinois; and cousins Tracy and Rick Brown and George and John Sensor.
A celebration of Eric Nelson’s life will be held on Saturday, August 2, 2025, at 1 p.m. at the Champlain Valley Unitarian Universalist Society, 2 Duane Court, Middlebury, Vermont. A campus reception will follow from 3 to 5 p.m.; specific location to be determined.