When you see Nick Hartman’s work under the alias Chapel of Ghouls, the message is clear: Life is hard. Live it to the fullest.
While always fascinated by art, especially music and film, he didn’t necessarily see himself as an artist. But a series of tragic deaths and visits to the hospital throughout his youth later bubbled up in the form of panic attacks, and also as an interest in the dark side of life—goth culture, horror movies, metal music and beyond.
While studying film and dealing with increasingly common panic attacks, he one night grabbed a notebook and just started drawing. “That was this kind of moment, a feeling of release, where, when I looked down at the paper, I didn’t see a random sketch. I saw my anxiety being displayed on a page.”
Fast-forward a decade or so and Hartman has now firmly established Chapel of Ghouls as not only an outlet but a community, while also working as the film curator at Wealthy Theatre.
So, what has this project done for you?
Art has always been within me, but I just never said, “Hey, this is going to be a career.” And then it kind of fell into place. I feel like sometimes, you don’t have a choice with things like this, like I’m meant to be an artist. And all the trauma I went through and all the pain I experienced, the only way that I could deal with it was through art and, of course, going to therapy and all that stuff was how I medicated. But some of the best artists suffer, have trauma, have addiction, have issues. Anyone that’s completely happy, normal, healthy, you don’t really see them making art.
Most importantly, it made me feel like I was normal. What’s the old saying? Misery loves company. Being a human isn’t easy. Life is such a beautiful thing. It’s such a gift. I am so grateful to be here. Every morning, I wake up and I look at the sun shining, I look at my hands and look at my eyes in the mirror, and I’m like, “How is this even happening?” It’s such a beautiful thing, but on the other side, there’s so much pain that’s involved, just the daily struggles of life and hearing of things that happen in the news. And so, I’ve had people approach me on the street, I’ve had people comment, I’ve had people send me private messages being like, “Thank you so much for always sharing your art, being positive.”
One message said, “You’ve helped me from stop taking my own life.” And that right there, it’s like, it is not my goal by any means to make money. My goal is, one, to help heal my inner demons, my inner struggles. Two, to help other people. If I can help pull someone out of the darkness that they’re in and see the beauty of life, then that’s payment to me, to give another person another day.
Where did the name Chapel of Ghouls come from?
If you know anything about me, I’m a huge metalhead. There’s a band called Morbid Angel, and they have a song, Chapel Of Ghouls. And I liked the ring to it, but for me, it was looking in this deeper meaning of what that is, because I realized I was drawing these monsters, so I started calling them ghouls, and reflecting deeper into it. I felt like for me to understand and overcome my anxiety, I had to put my anxiety on a pedestal, like in a church, in a way, to worship them, to understand them, to overcome them, to befriend them.
What’s a recent project you’re proud of?
I’m gonna be honest with you, one of my proudest moments as an artist, three or four years ago, me and my wife my traveled to Italy. And we went to the Vatican, and I snuck in a Chapel of Ghouls sticker and I put it in the bathroom. That’s probably my proudest moment, spreading the gospel.
But I’m also proud of the Cemetery Art Cruise that I’ve done, and I’m planning to do one or two more this summer. It’s encouraging people, anyone, to come up, even if you’re not an artist, if you just want to be together with people, but come to the graveyard. Bring a canvas, bring a book, bring a sketchbook, whatever you want to bring, and just be reminded of the fragility of life and the beauty of it, and just paint together, draw together, talk together, get to know strangers. And I’ve had a lot of people walk away out of that, they felt they accomplished something.
Find my work: I draw on clothes for my wife's store, Rock Paper Scissors Consignment Boutique, I'm a featured artist at both Broad Leaf Brewing locations, and I'm on Instagram @chapel0fghouls.
