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Scouting America’s new artist in residence isn’t all that new. Joshua Hunt, an Eagle Scout from Troop 1008 in Green Bay, Wisconsin, served in the same capacity at the 2017 National Scout Jamboree and the 2018 National Order of the Arrow Conference. On Scouting asked Hunt what led to this position and what motivates him to remain involved in the movement.
On Scouting: How has your approach to making art for Scouting changed from your early work with BSA through today?
Joshua Hunt: Luckily, while I was in college, an internship with Scouting led to my first cohesive body of professional work while helping me develop much of the technical foundation I still use today. Since that early period, though, my work has matured in a few important ways.
I’ve always approached art-making as a form of exploration—discovering new subjects and processes, unpacking them, and following them until I feel like I’ve learned what I can. For a long time, I thought I was searching for the subjects, forms and themes that would define me as an artist. Somewhere along the way, I realized that curiosity and exploration were probably at the core of my practice all along.
I still experiment heavily, but I’m more clear-sighted and self-assured about what holds my attention. I continually move between things that allow complete freedom and others governed by strictly defined systems, but both leave room for discovery. Lately, my rule is pretty simple: If something makes me smile, laugh or think more deeply, it’s probably worth pursuing.
In some ways, Scouting has always prepared me for whatever artistic exploration comes next. What’s exciting now is bringing those years of exploration back into my work with Scouting, with a much clearer sense of what interests me as an artist and why.
OS: What do you hope to accomplish during your time as artist in residence?
JH: First and foremost, I want to make the best work I can. For me, that means being both a champion for Scouting and a recorder of the movement in real time—capturing what Scouting looks and feels like today, from its people and traditions to its sense of adventure. At its best, the work can celebrate what makes Scouting worth being part of while giving Scouts across the country a chance to recognize something of their own experience within it.
Beyond creating artwork for Scouting and serving as an ambassador for the Art merit badge, I want to create more opportunities for Scouts to participate in art-making and the creative process themselves. I was fortunate to help facilitate a project in that spirit at this summer’s National Jamboree, where hundreds of Scouts helped complete a paint-by-numbers mural I designed. It was awesome to turn the paintbrush over to a younger generation and watch them run with it.
Finally, I’d like the residency to contribute to Scouting’s broader visual culture. Art and design are everywhere in the movement, from insignia and uniforms to publications and the things Scouts make themselves. There’s enormous opportunity for thoughtful art, craft and design to strengthen that identity. If the residency can encourage Scouts and volunteers to become more creative themselves and introduce new forms and ideas into the program, I’d consider that a real success.
OS: Were you always creative, and when did you realize that this is something you wanted to pursue as a career?
JH: Art was always part of my life. From my earliest memories through childhood, I was surrounded by art-making and by people who encouraged it. But despite that exposure and my passion for art as a young person, it actually took a push from my family before I considered pursuing it as a career.
I remember being a sophomore in college and still undecided about my major. When my family pressed me about it, I initially thought I might study history. My mom, who apparently knew me better than I knew myself, surprised me by suggesting that I pursue art instead. I knew I had talent and loved making art, but she seemed to recognize before I did that it could also become a fulfilling professional life. Shortly after, my dad encouraged me to consider art education, which seemed to offer a more practical career path.
Looking back, it’s funny that my work today involves all three. I spent the past several years helping develop major history galleries at the National Scouting Museum. As artist in residence, I now have the opportunity to add to Scouting’s visual record through my own work while encouraging young artists through things like the Art merit badge.
In a way, I never really had to choose.
OS: Who are some of your favorite artists?
JH: Oh, geez, this kind of question has always flummoxed me—not because I don’t have favorite artists, but because I have too many. As a young artist and teacher, I was a huge student of art history, immersing myself in an expansive range of eras, movements and individual artists, from the pageantry of late-medieval court painting to postwar American art. I’m drawn to very different kinds of work and can be equally impressed by technical mastery, interesting subject matter or a genuinely novel idea.
That said, there are a couple of artists and traditions I’m looking at particularly closely right now. One is the French painter Gustave Moreau. He took characters from mythology and rendered them in fantastical, symbolic and wonderfully unusual ways. Near the end of his life, he also made the remarkable decision to leave his home and the enormous body of work it contained to the French state, with the intention that it remain together as a record of his life’s work. That idea really resonates with me—the possibility of building a body of work that contributes to a larger story and can be preserved and shared for generations.
I’m also looking more closely at the roots of American illustration, particularly Howard Pyle and the artists associated with the Brandywine School. Beyond Pyle’s extraordinary work as an illustrator, I’m especially interested in his influence as a teacher and the tradition that grew around him. His students included N.C. Wyeth, whose adventure-themed images became emblematic of the Golden Age of American Illustration. Fittingly enough, his illustrations for the novel Treasure Island became some of his most celebrated work. That broader tradition eventually leads toward artists like Norman Rockwell and the visual language that became so closely associated with Scouting.
Lastly—and hopefully this doesn’t sound too grandiose—I think artists eventually need to learn to include themselves among the artists they admire. Studying great artists is essential, but admiration shouldn’t become intimidation. At some point, you have to respect your own ideas and work enough to see yourself as participating in that same larger tradition.
OS: What advice would you give to a parent or guardian who wants to provide a positive creative and artistic environment for kids?
JH: My advice to parents is to remember that art can be a force multiplier. The skills children develop through art-making don’t stay confined to art. They naturally intersect with math, science, English, history and so many other subjects.
Throughout my life, art has often been the springboard that led me into those other areas. If I became interested in a historical subject, a scientific idea or how something was designed or constructed, making something gave me a reason to investigate it more deeply. Art taught me to be curious beyond art.
So I think the most important thing is to encourage a child’s curiosity and innate sense of wonder through making. Give them opportunities to explore ideas, solve problems, experiment and discover things for themselves. Art is an incredible training ground for all of that, and those habits can follow them almost anywhere.
And perhaps most importantly, remember that artists create. We need young people who don’t simply observe the world around them but have the confidence and imagination to shape it.
OS: You probably can’t avoid comparisons and references to Norman Rockwell. How do you feel about that?
JH: It’s something I used to hear constantly, especially in the years before the artist in residence role became official. People would introduce me as “the next Norman Rockwell,” and that’s a big pair of shoes to fill. For a long time, honestly, it was intimidating. These days, I’ve made peace with it. I still admire and aim for the same kind of beautiful, expansive body of work Rockwell built over his career, but I’ve come to realize my own practice has its own flavor—one I’d like to think he would have appreciated. Now I see myself as part of a larger lineage of American illustrators, each with a distinct voice.
OS: When you aren’t creating art, what keeps you busy?
JH: I have a dog, Magnus, an Australian terrier and former show dog. He’s a sporty guy who loves trail hiking, so we’re out walking daily. I spend a lot of time with friends too. A few of us have been getting back into fitness lately, including a running club in downtown Greenville (South Carolina). Beyond that, I’m a pretty dedicated reader. I like going down rabbit holes into strange topics, the kind of thing that has nothing to do with painting or Scouting on the surface. It’s a good counterbalance to studio work, honestly. My art practice and my involvement with Scouting overlap in a lot of ways, but having interests that sit outside both of those helps keep things fresh and gives me something to bring back to the easel.
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