Creatives In Nature: Kevin Ehman
Our series Creatives In Nature picks up in 2021 by connecting with Vancouver Island-based service designer Kevin Ehman; where he shares how being in nature inspires his work and life, and some of his favorite gear.
What do you do for work and where are you living?
I’m a service designer at a design and technology consultancy, working for governments on strategic design projects spanning from policy to delivery. My work allows me to create positive impacts on society by making the systems through which the public experiences government more human friendly. I’m also currently a graduate student studying systems practice for the climate crisis, which definitely counts as a second job!
I live as an uninvited guest on unceded Lekwungen and W̱SÁNEĆ territory, commonly known as Victoria, British Columbia.
What are your favorite ways to get into nature regularly?
I have a strong drive to be in wild spaces, a large part of why I moved back to Vancouver Island some years ago. From weekday ‘microadventures’ (e.g., an after-work bike ride to go swim in a lake) to full-on weekend warrioring, movement in nature is the defining practice in my life, spanning four core modalities: running, climbing, cycling, and surfing. Running is the dominant pursuit and I’m usually out 4-5 days a week, on trails as much as possible. I’ve never been one to listen to music or podcasts while running, preferring full immersion in the rhythm, the semi-conscious processing accentuated by the ambient acoustics of the forest or the city. It may be cliche, but running is a spiritual practice - the simplicity, the immediacy, the reflectiveness, and the connectivity to place.
We’re lucky to have relatively easy access to large swaths of backcountry here on the Island (albeit many wearing the scar of industrial resource extraction), and with the pandemic I’ve doubled down on exploring as much of it as I can, really still only scratching the surface. This past year I continued to synthesize ultrarunning and climbing, taking it to the mountains with inspiration from athletes like Adam Campbell and Eric Carter. It’s been years in the making to feel solid when moving fast and making critical decisions on technical alpine terrain, and safety is always the primary objective. With limited free time it’s very satisfying to complete objectives in one push, instead of the multi-day efforts most parties usually require.
Do you have any mindfulness practices that you regularly use?
I’m a longtime yoga student (first Bikram, now Yin), but have moved mostly to a home practice the past few years. I’m on the mat most nights, part recovery work, part mindfulness exercise. It’s an ingrained part of who I am and something I plan on carrying with me the rest of my life.
I also write every morning, ideally as the first thing I do (along with coffee). There’s two separate streams: training logs reflecting on and detailing the workouts/objectives, and then a personal journal with no defined format. This can be essaying, list making, goal setting, free association, bad poetry, whatever fits the moment. I love the clarity that can emerge from the writing practice - and also it’s a great way to avoid the accidental endless scroll to start the day. And perhaps 2021 is the year I finally adopt a meditation practice; I think I may finally be ready.
Did you have any favorite outdoor adventures or trips in the last year?
It’s hard to choose! But I’ll have to go with my first grade V climb, on a route called Thunderbird in the Haihte Range here on Vancouver Island. It was remote, challenging, and beautiful. It also resulted in the best sunset I witnessed all year. My partner Blair was super solid and great company, staying positive even when we had a bit of an epic on the descent the next day. Another highlight was a single push effort up the Elkhorn, the 2nd highest mountain on the Island. My partner for that was Clay Webb, my ace for years now in outdoors endurance objectives. Clay has been such a huge influence on my growth as an athlete that I’d need a separate interview to properly document it.
What are a couple of your favorite pieces of gear or tools and why? (Bike, shoes, watch, pack, jacket, etc anything)
I’m a full fledged gear nerd with an optimization obsession. Here’s a few key pieces from my mountain running kit this past summer:
Black Diamond Distance Carbon Z poles: I'm a true believer in poles and carbon is worth every penny. The weight savings and compliance do wonders for the shoulders after a long day out.
Arc’teryx Norvan SL Hoody: a true Gore-Tex shell coming in at 125 grams, accept no substitutes. Provides reassurance in the emergency kit.
La Sportiva Kaptiva shoes: I love La Sportiva and have cycled through about 5 different models on the trails and in the mountains, but the Kaptivas are my favourite yet. Lightweight, sock-like fit, and super capable on technical terrain.
How is your experience in nature reflected in your creative work?
This is a great question - the natural world has taught me how we live within systems, within systems - think Russian stacking dolls. Everything has a role, and there is irreducible complexity to the breadth and necessity of causal relationships. The idea that everything is nested within (and connected to) systems is highly relevant to my design work in the public sector - an often opaque environment with compounding challenges and amorphous rules and boundaries. That feeling of smallness that wilderness provides, while at the same time conveying an intense interconnectivity and interdependence - that is a perspective I try to carry to my professional practice; to work with the natural dynamics of people and structures, not against them.
After a run/ride or trip where you’re away from devices – how do you find your perspective has shifted when you sit back at your computer?
I wish I could say that I come back with a renewed outlook on the role of technology in my life and clarity on the discipline required to keep devices and media in their place. But truth be told, I still flip through the gram aimlessly and doomscroll news sites, probably like most other people. I’m of that first generation to grow up immersed in technology as a given in daily life, so it is what it is now. I work on the computer, I communicate with my smartphone, it all feels inescapable and preordained. So perhaps time in nature is a counterpoint rather than a reset. It’s balance and a reminder of what really matters. While I can’t escape the trappings of modernity, I can find a repose in nature, especially when giving a physical effort.
What trips or places are on your list to explore in the next year?
With the pandemic likely continuing to define at least the first half of the year, I’m planning on keeping it domestic again in 2021. I’m hoping to visit the Bugaboos for my first time and do a couple classic climbs, and also have some mountain running objectives here on Vancouver Island. My partner and I are planning on a trip to the Rockies for a couple weeks during high summer for some cragging and running. This is the beauty of the Canadian west; you don’t have to travel far to find inspiration and adventure.
What tool or piece of gear is on your wishlist right now?
Not exactly new gear but I’m going to send my cams away to get re-slung, which is exciting. And it’s probably time to upgrade my watch to something with more battery life. Carrying the recharge pack on objectives longer than 12 hours is not ideal - if someone from Garmin is out there reading please holler!
Is there any way that you’d like to combine your creative process with nature in the future?
I want my creative process to be both informed by and directed towards nature; that is, using strategic design as a futuring practice, accelerating transitions to truly sustainable ways of being in the world. As everyone knows, our current ways of living on this planet cannot continue. I’m committed to spending the rest of my career pursuing intersections of environmental and social justice, through and by design. We need to stop thinking about nature as someplace separate from where we live; we are inextricably linked through ecosystems far wiser than our reactive and short sighted human reasoning. I hope to help surface and center some of that intelligence through my work moving forward.
Kevin is service designer at a design and technology consultancy, working for governments on strategic design projects based in Victoria, British Columbia. These photographs are from his adventures in climbing, running, bike trips and camping, as part of our new series of interviews with Creatives In Nature.
Tags: Creatives In Nature, Movement