Nov. 2nd 2020
"Purpose in action!"
In a random post this morning I read about the Japanese concept of ikigai.
To those in the West who are more familiar with the concept of ikigai, it’s often associated with a Venn diagram with four overlapping qualities: what you love, what you are good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for.
Make three lists: your values, things you like to do, and things you are good at. The cross section of the three lists is your ikigai.
But, knowing your ikigai alone is not enough. Simply put, you need an outlet.
Ikigai is “purpose in action."
I really appreciate all of the folks connected with this residency. It is an honor and asset befitting a long productive life in the visual arts. Reflection and process. Ideas and artworks. I love this place! Covid or not!
I happened upon this idea of purposeful-action when I first drew with a pencil at about age of three. The sparkles that went off in my brain and what could flow from the point of a pencil told me my purpose in life, my role, my chance to do for a greater good. I learned about the complicated lives and lucrative careers of visual artists like DaVinci, Disney, Kirby, Dali and Rockwell, to which I felt a kinship. I stayed the course of purposeful action.
As life routinely stepped in with complaints, abuses, distractions, insults and damaging demands from my social, family, personal and professional lives........I still was focused. When beaten down and impoverished, insulted or violated, I bent, but did not break. I paused, but did not stop. When became self-destructive, I followed with being aggressively self-healing. I was resilient, surging in my return to all things Rhythmistic.
I knew then.....during my early youth, as I have proven now....in my vintage years, that Rhythmism Lives.
Now in this digital age it seems all that matters are hits on social media. "Likes" as they are called. Plus anyone with rudimentary computer skills can anoint themselves as a "Creative Entrepreneur".
I wonder how much food costs when buying it with those precious 10,000 "Likes".
I was once interviewed by a struggling Black student in Art Therapy at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. All he wanted to know about was how did I cope with systemic racism when I attended that school. He had no interest in visiting my studio to see and learn about my 12 year practice as a clinical/community based Art Therapist. He bluntly stated he was not interested.
At that time I had two very dedicated studio interns who were learning about the use of certain art materials to achieve a therapeutic impact. Neither of the two were Art Therapy students. His loss, their gain.
The Black Arts Guild in 1973
In the mainstream and underground Art World there seems to be rare interest in this youthful successful efforts to organize and direct for eight years a dynamic productive self-sustaining arts guild that effectively facilitated the transition of youthful, gifted visual artists into creative professionals. I secured a major grant to showcase this guild in exhibition, retrospective panel discussions and publication but needed a non-profit partner to administer the funds plus hosting the event.
After a full year of reaching out on a local, regional, national and international level the grant offer lapsed because I found absolutely no takers. Not even among Arts organizations where the guild members had worked or those who claim in be so about the creative value of Black Art. That guild was together for eight full years. Decades before folks thought "Black Lives Mattered"!
With purpose / action I have had my moments, awards and rewards.
This is where the nexus of creativity, culture and commerce reveal the undercurrent of doing what I love, am good at, in a way that the world needs, along with getting paid for it. This is purpose. Purpose is my Ra. The source and value of all things Rhythmistic. The process is real action! Not simply healing.
Life itself is a continual act of healing.
When I connect to my genetic future-primitif flow, it yields a healing component. I know all of this is of great value, and beyond the dense filters from the domains of the social, professional, career, personal or family. Where are they when Rhythmism is alive? Where will they be when the worlds of creativity wraps itself around Rhythmism?
Not only did the bench meet the deadline but Onli's was the first one to be completed for this project even though he was the last one among 27 selected artists to secure a contract. Time meets purposeful action. That was in May 1995.
Ok. show me! Not the money....but the purposeful action over a lifetime. For me that will be a showcase of virtues and character that I may never see. But I shall see me doing much more Rhythmistic visual art from experimental to affirmed. Because "Rhythmism Lives!!
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