…well, almost nobody:
“Hey, do you know an artist?”
Nobody is looking for artists. That’s why artists (still!) have to make art AND look for their audience. It’s either a baffling dilemma or an amazing opportunity – and since my dad taught me “There’s no such thing as a dilemma, only choices.” it must be an amazing opportunity.
The funny thing is also paying the bills while making art, and when those jobs just aren’t calling back…for months…artists are faced with some high-stakes choices:
“Sell my soul to Starbucks where I can make more money than a schoolteacher, OR lean into my art, turn toward the challenge, dive deeper into the well of the unknown?”
All I can say today – from the vantage-point of being uncomfortably under-employed for several months now, and after putting in so, SO many applications with no offers – is: I am dancing the cosmic joke so I might as well fall down laughing.
Literally…!
…and when I’ve exhausted myself from laughter, I will reconsider the very wise words of Grandmother White Buffalo Woman, Tara Sheahan, who very kindly suggested:
“Honor your parents, the source of your medicine. Oniya is a place for transformation. Start a bison rewilding on the edge of the plains. Living in the trust that God’s got this. Making ourselves bigger. Playing too small? Apache rights of passage. Mitakye owe asen. Root days and shoot days. What needs tending? Bodies and delight.”
The message is clear: stop playing small, turn towards the source of my medicine, and own it. In a BIG way. Take up THAT much space. Become THAT big, be THAT real. And pay attention to “What needs tending?” Bodies need tending, as well as delight.
Bodies and Delight
Today’s delight is brought to you by Butoh researcher, teacher, and performer Adam Koan who just launched THE comprehensive global Butoh Artist Directory. This was compiled with so much care and deep embodied wisdom of the Butoh anti-tradition it’s sure to delight the “conservative/traditionalist” factions just as much as the “new age/rebels”!
I am bowing in reverence to Adam Koan and this work of pure devotion to the most profound art form on the planet, particularly for his developing a way to cross-reference artists with their teachers and connect them with lineage streams flowing from the founders Hijikata Tatsumi and Ohno Kazuo, through “first generation” performers such as Nakajima Natsu, Waguri Yukio, and Ohno Yoshito…and then to the global diaspora in which Butoh is evolving, innovating, and refusing definition and codification.
This Butoh Directory illustrates, however, that as much as Butoh resists codification, there is a common thread that weaves among us all, connecting us…it is that thread that I am seeking to articulate through the lense of Shamanic praxis in comparison to the Tibetan Buddhist tradition of Chod.
The answer to the unasked question
It also feels, to me, like a gentle and loving invitation from Adam Koan, besides an extremely generous offering, to ask and answer the question that nobody asks: do you know a Butoh artist? So in response, I put my name in the hat:
Original poster design by Arwen Ek (c) 2007
But I’m also not one to rest on my laurels (as the above poster design and show are from 2008!) so there is much, much more of leaning into, playing BIG, and getting THAT real with my own medicine to come.
The main photo was taken from a performance in the Crystal River at the roots of Mount Sopris outside of Carbondale, Colorado at the Red Earth Herbal Gathering 2024! (Click here to watch the full video on YouTube) This event is an annual pilgrimage for me, please join me in the nourishing mud, the cool, clear waters, and the flowing blood of sacred sisterhood at Red Earth, tickets and info —> https://www.mountainwestwomensherbal.com/
The above images are from Bliss Sacred Sound & Chant Festival 2024 (watch the video HERE, also an annual pilgrimage! join me for this sacred immersive weekend —> https://blisschantandsacredsound.com/); “Urtication/Stinging Nettle Bath“; “Is Your Life Kintsugi?“; and an image from the Goddess Gospels performance at Helios Art Gallery with the divine Lisamoyadeva —> https://www.instagram.com/lisamoyadeva/.
Speaking of the divine Lisamoyadeva, we were recently sipping tea and envisioning transformative performance art when I had the opportunity to hear her introduce herself:
“I am an artist.” she stated.
Fully, casually, honestly, confidently. Something about the way she OWNED it really floored me, and I thought to myself, “wow, one day I’ll say that, too.”
Isn’t that funny? (back to the cosmic joke)
I’m an artist, I AM an artist – but I’m not owning it. So, today is that day. Today is my day, and YOUR day – what are you being called to step into fully, to stop playing small and start playing BIG?
Say it with me: I am an artist. I own it. I play big. I play real.
See you soon, with all my Savage love