Sometimes I use the tag #showyourwork. It came from the mind of the writer and artist Austin Kleon. He popularized the idea in his 2014 book, Show Your Work. With that book Kleon suggests: “ … ways to think about your work as a never-ending process, how to build an Read more…
We’re taught to go, go, go and that hard work in the office means being busy. Down time to create space to feel into great ideas is looked at as laziness, non-work. By focusing on the whip-crack of the punch-clock and the pressure of social norms, we forget to breathe. Read more…
Sophie Cowman is easy-going and honest. She has a fantastic sense of humor and earthy sensibility. Every chat enlightens the mind and lightens the heart. I first got to know her with a Humanitou conversation that I published late last year. Since then, I occasionally pop in to say hello. Read more…
As I huffed my way up a muddy mountain trail, out for what I will generously call a run, I tried a new approach to motivation. Rather than let my mind dig in with the “It’s OK to walk” talk … Rather than try to drive myself with ideas of Read more…
I’ve talked twice recently with longstanding professional artists about legacy. Floyd Tunson and Mark Wong both shook off the idea of their work in that longest view. They work for themselves, their visions, and let the rest play out as it will. In recent months, I’ve transitioned from the workaday Read more…
Sunlight and a few dogs quietly stretch in Mark Wong’s home studio while he works at his potter’s wheel. His work fills shelves and other spaces throughout the studio, even though he makes an effort not to cling to anything for too long. “There seems to be a lot of Read more…
Creative people create. It comes out sooner or later. It’s who we are. We are made, and we make. I was reminded of that universally human piece of myself when I recently found stashes of haiku, poetry and watercolors I’d created nearly 10 years ago. They were boxed and forgotten. Read more…
Words come. Wherever I am. Sometimes I let them in, we sit down together, I listen. I wish I could capture them all. It is amazing, though, how creative work adds up by just letting in these moments. The poet Carl Sandburg is well-known for his 21-word poem, “Fog.” The Read more…
Why Exhibit Art? Three portraits I’ve made during Humanitou conversations with fantastic people in our community, Manitou Springs, CO, are on exhibit through the end of July in the First Amendment Gallery of the Manitou Art Center. (Thank you to Layla Redding, Floyd Tunson and Peter Maksimow.) This work is Read more…
Off the Mat: Writing Yoga Many are familiar with yoga as a physical practice, or asana. The power of yoga, however, is in how we walk with it when we’re off the mat. Actually, many of the practices occur wholly away from a yoga mat. I use writing as a Read more…
Life is a practice, action ever in progress. Whatever loops we live, the habits we reinforce, are our practices incomplete and always in motion. Good or bad. There are many forms of practicing our best selves, and they are not mutually exclusive. Sing with what rings to you. Speaking to Read more…
Introducing Echoes of Oms Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra I.1 atha yoganusasanam “Now this is yoga as I have observed it in the natural world.” There are nine short poems in the Echoes of Oms chapbook. These, and the monochromatic photographs that accompany them, come from experience in the natural Read more…
Travis Mauzy describes himself as a simple guy. He laughs and smiles readily. He’s easy to have a conversation with, even as a client looking for relief. The no-frills approach at his Manitou Chiropractic is an extension of his personal demeanor. When Travis, 36, sat down with Humanitou, we talked Read more…
Any given creative work is what it’s meant to be in its time. Its value, meaning and purpose will shift over time. Let that be about learning and growth, rather than self-limitation. Let it all be about service, to self and others, rather than ego. The energy of creativity — Read more…
The Yoga of Morning Pages Buckle up. The bus is about to jump the curb. Morning pages, as popularized by Julia Cameron in “The Artist’s Way,” are for brain letting, getting out what holds us back — doubts, goals, joys, fears — at the beginning of our day. They are Read more…
Life is in transition in Christine Reber’s household. A recent high school graduation for one of her three teenagers. A house move that, as those tend to go, will take some time to unfold. And a personal and professional life path that continues to evolve. “Everything that I’m involved in Read more…
UPDATED (5.8.20) Humanitou transitioned from text-based interviews to podcast in March 2020. It also expanded beyond the Pikes Peak region in Colorado, where it was born to include diverse voices and stories from around the world. [Through Humanitou] Adam invites guests to share their perspectives and experiences of humanness and Read more…
Stepping into Floyd Tunson’s work-live loft, the magnitude is overwhelming. Thirteen-foot ceilings cap long walls filled with Floyd’s art. Light washes in from large windows. Dried paint speckles the wood floor. It’s fantastic. It’s tongue-tying. While I try to center my focus for the conversation at hand, I notice the Read more…
Many weeks ago, my two young sons asked to be part of Humanitou. They often have seen me working on Humanitou conversations at our table, transcribing, editing, preparing photos, publishing. They wanted me to interview them. So I did. In this experiment, I got to test my abilities as an Read more…
When I walk into the light, airy color of Fare Bella Studio & Gallery, owner-artist Patrice Filler is thinking ahead to the next day, when she will lead a wabi-sabi watercolor painting class. I’ve long been interested in wabi-sabi, the Japanese aesthetic that views imperfection as a higher form of Read more…