Along the Gravel Road Podcast
Welcome to the Along the Gravel Road Podcast where we’re changing the conversation around mental health. As a You Aren’t Alone Project non-profit initiative, the goal of the podcast is to provide a safe platform for people to share their stories and give others a sense of hope and connection.
With guests ranging from individuals who are open and willing to share their own mental health journeys to mental health professionals to share expertise and advice.
Trigger warning: Some topics discussed in these episodes may be difficult for listeners to hear. If you are feeling triggered by a topic, we encourage you to listen when you are in a better space, or with someone you trust.
Unless otherwise stated, topics discussed are based on personal experiences, not professional advice, and should not be considered an alternative to seeking support from a mental health professional when needed. Additional resources will be provided in the show notes of each episode.
Along the Gravel Road Podcast
Mike Weary on Art for Healing and Social Change
Join us for a transformative episode of the Along the Gravel Road Podcast as we welcome Mike Weary, a self-taught artist from New Orleans, who now serves as the artist-in-residence and artist liaison for the Arts Council of Baton Rouge. Mike's journey from sketching at his mom's Home Depot job to becoming a community activist through art is nothing short of inspiring. Hear about his unique upside-down painting technique and his unwavering commitment to using art for therapy, financial stability, and social change.
In a deeply moving conversation, Mike opens up about the personal and collective trauma experienced in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. We'll explore the psychological impact of displacement, particularly on children and adolescents, and the vital need for mental health support. Drawing parallels to the COVID-19 pandemic, Mike emphasizes the role of art in processing emotional turmoil and building community resilience. His insights into the systemic neglect faced by black communities during this time offer a powerful reminder of art's capacity to confront social injustices.
As we journey through themes of healing, mental well-being, and the significance of art in advocating for social issues, Mike highlights the "Arts for EveryBody" initiative in Baton Rouge on July 27th. This innovative program demonstrates the health benefits of the arts across diverse communities, showcasing a creative blend of art and health for community well-being. We wrap up with Mike's personal reflections on family, joy, and the profound impact of art in our lives. Don't miss this compelling episode that celebrates creativity as a powerful force for good.
About Mike Weary
Mike Weary is a lifelong, self-taught artist from New Orleans, LA. He is the current Artist in Residence and Artist Liaison for the Arts Council of Baton Rouge. Mike is an active community organizer, leading various projects throughout the greater Baton Rouge area. He is the executive producer of “The Corner”, an artist collective that gathers once a month. He is also the project lead for “Arts for Everybody”, a city wide project measuring the arts and positive health outcomes. Since 2023, Mike has served on the board of directors for the Louisiana Partnership for the Arts (LPA). His signature is that he paints his works completely upside down from start to finish. Mike is on the forefront of incorporating oil paintings with rusted iron and patina in a style dubbed Dorian Gothic. His work can be found in galleries, exhibitions, businesses, and homes nationwide, predominantly across the Gulf Coast of the United States.
IG @mikewearyart
Mikewearyart.com
Follow along at instagram.com/youarentaloneproject or learn more at youarentaloneproject.com.
Welcome to the Along the Gravel Road podcast, a you Aren't Alone project initiative. I'm your host, chelsea Barona. Today's guest is Mike Weary. Mike is a lifelong self-taught artist from New Orleans. He's the current artist-in-residence and artist liaison for the Arts Council of Baton Rouge. He's an active community organizer, leading various projects throughout the greater Baton Rouge area, serving as the executive producer of the Corner, an artist collective that gathers once a month, as well as the project lead for Arts for Everybody, a citywide project measuring the arts and positive health outcomes. Since 2023, Mike has served on the board of directors for the Louisiana Partnership for the Arts.
Speaker 1:His signature is that he paints his works completely upside down, from start to finish. Mike is on the forefront of incorporating oil paintings with rusted iron and patina in a style dubbed Dorian Gothichic. His work can be found in galleries, exhibitions, businesses and homes nationwide, predominantly across the gulf coast of the united states. Listeners can expect to hear a story how someone can work through trauma, using the arts as a means for therapy, financial security and activism. Hey, mike, thank you so much for being here. I'm laughing because we were talking off screen, we were having like small talk and we kind of actually got a little sidetracked and probably could have talked for a while without hitting record. So it's weird to say like hello, like I just saw you, but hi, thank you so much for officially being here.
Speaker 2:Hi, how are you doing? I'm very grateful for being here, for sure. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, of course I'm doing really good. We just like we're coming off of the live art event, so I'm still riding that quite high a little bit. So I'm just feeling good about things.
Speaker 2:That's good.
Speaker 1:I quite high a little bit, so I'm just feeling good about things. That's good. I'll probably be knocked off of that eventually.
Speaker 2:But I'm gonna take it, yeah, and then you'll see that post later on in the year you go. That was fire. I remember that that night you need to do that again, like like now well, I know everyone's like wait, so when's the next one?
Speaker 1:I'm like in a year right exactly um, but I'm really excited, like I said, to have you here. So enough about me. Um, tell us a little bit about yourself and what, um you know what, what you're going to share, and then we'll go from there well, my name is Mike Weary.
Speaker 2:I'm an artist. To put it broadly, I'm an oil painter. To put it broadly, I'm an oil painter. To put it specifically, I guess you can call me a community organizer. I just care a lot about people. I care a lot about the people of Louisiana. I care a lot about the people of New Orleans. I'm from New Orleans. I care deeply about the people in Baton Rouge. I live in Baton Rouge. That might be kind of sporadic, but you know, born and raised in New Orleans, I'm from New Orleans. I care deeply about the people in Baton Rouge. I live in Baton Rouge. I might be kind of sporadic, but you know, born and raised in New Orleans.
Speaker 1:It kind of sounded like poetry, to be honest. Oh really, yeah.
Speaker 2:I'm not a poet, I just I'm ADD and dyslexic, so words and phrases kind of go all over the place sometimes.
Speaker 1:For me it worked great, so maybe I am too.
Speaker 2:That's probably what it is pulling and, you know, stringing it together, I guess, but a little bit by myself. Like I said, I'm an artist. I've been doing art since I was six. My mom worked at a Home Depot and she got me this like pad and pencil to like keep busy, because I would just like run around the store not a good store for a six-year-old to just be running around. But you know, uh didn't really uh want to pay for like after school care and things, so she would just have me at uh in the break room. So she gave me a pencil and a drawing pad and I remember the first thing I ever like drew and like sat down and took my time to draw.
Speaker 2:It was a guy named Lee, uh, asian American, and I drew him his portrait sitting down, waiting. He was like eating a sandwich and I just kind of put it off to the side and then, like, later on, people, people were like this looks exactly like him. I was like, oh, that's weird, I'm just drawing what I see, and just kind of kept it moving from there. Wow, so it was always kind of a knack. I've had my mom as an artist. She went to NOCA in New Orleans for drawing, so I would always see her drawing things and illustrating and doodling and she has impeccable handwriting which I still can't touch.
Speaker 1:Well, everything you're describing, I'm like those are things I've always wanted to be able to do and just to have this like natural talent for.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think it was just one of those things where for me it just again seeing my mom do it all the time I had this curiosity for like anatomy. I don't know if it was just looking at the, the new diagrams and the books that we had growing up, I was like, oh, I'm gonna just draw this. I saw the Titanic when I was young too and I was like, oh, I'm already doing kind of what Leonardo DiCaprio's character is doing. I probably was supposed to watch it, but you know, I saw that scene for sure.
Speaker 2:And once I saw that and, you know, started comparing my drawings to, like some of my friends who drew a lot, I realized that I kind of had a knack for it, but I didn't really, to be honest. I started painting when I was 15. But I was very self-conscious about it. I guess yeah, I don't know I just like I would draw and paint stuff and then like put it off to the side or I would give it away or I would just like put it somewhere random and just kind of like walk away from it. You know I did a lot of athletics growing up so my parents didn't really push the art but I kind of just I don't know, I kind of just did it on my own.
Speaker 2:I didn't watch a lot of TV growing up so read a lot of books and drew in a lot of my off time. I always grew up wishing I could watch more TV and stuff. I had to kind of like wing it when I get to school and people be talking about like certain tv shows like yeah, I know that oh yeah, I watched that and I'm just like I didn't watch that at all.
Speaker 2:I know what it is. I'm learning through them. So yeah, my parents were very strict with um, just school in general and it was just like a's and b's or like no, not a lot of distractions and you know extracurricular.
Speaker 1:So when you did paint or draw what like, why? Why did you do it?
Speaker 2:Well, early on it was just because I could, like I said I bored them and had nothing else to do. And then, like, just with the experiences that I had growing up really young, I felt that it was the only avenue outside of football that I could really express myself. And with football, I mean, it's just like it was only so much I could do, because there are strict rules around it, there's coaches that are telling you what to do, and that's always where I kind of butt my head in sports was with coaches. Anybody that played football with me, I tell you I was the, I was, you know, good leader. I would say I was a captain and stuff. But, um, I had a lot of arguments with coaches, so authorities and teachers and things like that. You know, there was always that barrier that I would put up and I think it was just from my parents being very strict that I kind of reverted to that sometimes, you know.
Speaker 1:Well, maybe those were the areas where you could find you could have control.
Speaker 2:You know, you wanted the power because at home you had not a lot not a lot, and it's one of those things I talk about in we were talking about. I know, Sisha James, and when I saw her on the podcast she said something that resonated with me so well. It was like we grew up together, right. So I've been knowing her since like fifth grade and she was like growing up in New Orleans. You don't always understand the traumas that you're dealing with really, until you kind of leave the environment and I'm saying in New Orleans. But I guess that's kind of in general, right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, a lot of the times.
Speaker 2:Yeah, general right, yeah, a lot of the times, and, um, specifically just the I don't know, there was a lot of just kind of a I don't know what the best way to put it, but there was just kind of a. The relationship with death that we have in new orleans is peculiar, in a sense, to where it's very frequent, yeah, so it almost you become numb to it at a certain degree, and it's easy to get numb because your parents get kind of numb to it. Their parents were kind of numb to it, and it's not as if, you know, it was just like this war zone that people try to envision in their mind. Or, you know, certain folks will try to make you think you know it was just like this war zone that people try to envision in their mind. Or, you know, certain folks will try to make you think you know it was, it was fine, but it's just. There were things that happened that were just a little bit too normalized. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And it really wasn't until like Katrina that I kind of got out of that bubble and then, like, took a step back and look at the situation in a whole and why do you think that was?
Speaker 1:Was it because the rest of the world saw it too?
Speaker 2:It was, I can be honest, with Katrina in particular. That was very eye opening for me, mainly because you know, know, my parents taught me growing up. You know just about our history, specifically black Americans, and you know how we built the country and our inclusion into the country, or lack thereof, and when you're amongst you know people that, uh, share that story with you. You don't fully understand, I guess, your place in that, in that setup, but when katrina came and you see how the response was to that and you truly understand that there are the most powerful people in the world don't give a damn about you, essentially, and that's kind of the mindset that kind of set in at a young age. I was 17, I was my senior year, and so I was like, oh, you know, my parents were right, but it's like you have to find out through losing your home, finding having friends that you know lost family members, and you know things of that nature, and so it was kind of like that shoving the face of this is reality and how are you going to move forward, kind of. And I just remember looking at my exit, you know, when I was in Houston, we evacuated to Houston. Funny enough, I saw Cisha on the way we were talking about that, I was like she was one of the last people I saw. Oh, wow, it was so odd.
Speaker 2:When I saw her again recently she was like you remember, we ran into each other like evacuating, evacuating yeah, it was crazy. She had a Brother Martin sweatshirt on. I went to Brother Martin, she went to Aunt Carmel, but it was just seeing the exit where my house was like the water was up to the roofs and I was like, oh, you know, went from I'll be home in like a week to I'm probably not going back for a minute. And so you wrestle with all those emotions at a younger age, and those things that have become normalized start to kind of stand out a little bit more because you're in a different environment. You're in a different environment.
Speaker 2:You know I got to Houston and I mean a lot of people I guess don't fully talk about the effect that that had on the children Hurricane, katrina, the displacement aspect of it and you know you have, you know, a lot of kids around, a lot of kids from New Orleans around and Louisiana in general, just around, a lot of different folks in general, and it was a lot of conflict, a lot of fights. I know a couple of people that lost their lives just over random, just acts of violence and stuff like that. So again, this is just stuff you're compartmentalizing in and just going okay.
Speaker 2:And it seemed weirdly normal at a certain point and I just remember telling a lot of people that I knew in Houston. It was just like some of the guys I know that are out here. We see the world differently. We come from a different environment. This conflict can get bad really quickly and it did get bad a couple of times. So you know not to get too dark, but that's kind of the road. That's important.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the road that. To share. That's almost everyone who experienced that. It's interesting because I mean, just like you're saying, like what I see from Katrina, I mean it was glaringly obvious that you know that there was exactly like you said, that these people in power do not care about these black communities that have built this city. It was weird, that was obvious to me when I was in high school Right, that was obvious to me when.
Speaker 1:I was in high school. However, it was also what I was seeing on the news in Baton Rouge was oh, this city is underwater. All of these, you know, these people are getting out on their boats and they're going to rescue people, and what a great community. So it was these like battling, and then we get, you know, and then there's students that come here and I, as you were talking, I just realized I didn't. I've never actually heard any more than except I was in New Orleans during Katrina and I was displaced. That's kind of where the story stops yeah, it's.
Speaker 2:And so I would say this right after, uh, I guess, the levee in, I guess everyone started to realize this is going to be a huge thing, not really being able to go home, I think you just literally couldn't go in the city for like a couple of months it was, or something like that. One of the first things they did when we got to Houston in particular was they took a lot of the new Orleans kids and put us into like therapy sessions, which was and that was really my first therapy. It was like group therapy and it's. It was crazy for me because I was listening to some of the stories that they were telling. Like I had a friend of mine who lost his sister and I didn't even know. You know she drowned and I had no idea until we were talking.
Speaker 2:And so I'm listening to these stories. You know we got our own stories going on as far as my family and you know folks that we were looking for, but it's just these stories aren't being highlighted. It's like I'm looking at that, I'm listening to this, and then I'm looking at the news and the media at the time, essentially just kind of brushing it off, I think at one point pretty soon after. It was more focused on the looting and it's just like people are hungry and people need things. Yeah, I'm sure people took advantage of it, but it's like people are dying. What do you?
Speaker 1:expect it's chaos.
Speaker 2:Like what do you expect during chaos? And you know, it just kind of highlighted just how you kind of put folks in specific areas of a city, you deplete the resources and then you kind of wash your hands and then, once the chaos starts, naturally a lot of times it's oh, look at these folks, look at these, look at these wild animals doing these things, and it's like you know it's dehumanizing. And luckily for me, I didn't. I've always been like an angry person to an extent, and when I say anger I mean I play football.
Speaker 2:So I was taught, I guess, and coached to direct my aggression controlled aggression, and I think that was a benefit for me because moving forward, specifically like my art, I learned to take those things and channel it into or action you know, it sounds like action. Yeah, just either, or and just I don't know. I guess I've seen and done quite a few things since then just in life, um, that kind of uh informs the person that I am today to say the least.
Speaker 1:How can it not? Yeah, yeah, so I, yeah, I guess I I don't. We certainly didn't expect to. You know, talk about katrina and that experience I didn't expect to talk about it. Yeah, Um so, and you said you, you had these therapy sessions, that was your first experience with therapy and I mean I I'll let you share a little bit more about like, what that was like, but it's it hard for that to really be like, oh, this was for me.
Speaker 2:Me, when you're seeing that the world is kind of telling you we really don't care yeah, there's a, there's a weird, there's a weird guilt that sets in with that for some reason, um of just like knowing, for I guess, for me personally, knowing that a lot of people lost probably a lot more than I did, and I did survivor's goodness, like I don't know how to really I have.
Speaker 2:I feel guilty sometimes about not living in New Orleans yeah that's like a odd feeling because it's not like I didn't have opportunities to go back, it's not like I wasn't offered, uh, places to stay, but it's just like you can talk to anybody from New Orleans that knew New Orleans prior to Katrina, as opposed to what it is today, and it's just different for some reason. There's a good documentary on HBO called Katrina Babies and it kind of speaks to this in particular, just a lot of the children from that time period, how they were kind of just kind of cast to the side, and it's just. He specifically speaks about how the sense of community kind of felt a shock during, I mean, we went from.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was washed away washed away.
Speaker 2:We went from having all of our holidays and all of our you know gatherings, cookouts, being like five minutes away from each other. You know which is what. The things that you know built me up as a person to ride to Katrina. Now I have family in Atlanta, I think. Some went to Arkansas, texas, some came back to Louisiana, mississippi.
Speaker 2:Half my family went to uh I think we had folks go all the way up to, like michigan and stuff like that. So it was just like, and still like to this day, like still live in texas, still live in, uh, different parts of the country, and even the fact that I live in baton rouge versus new orleans it's still that gap of, I mean it's an hour, but you know, to Louisiana folks that's different.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a good hike, you know yeah, especially you know here, yeah, and it's different, y'all also all experience like that was a trauma that you shared in this specific tied to a specific place.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm. Yeah, so I thought about what you were just saying. That shared, or there's another word for it that large-scale trauma experience of like, like a large group of people. I was thinking about that again right when the pandemic started.
Speaker 2:And I was like this reminds me of how like Katrina was, where, when you have this many people, millions of people, experiencing death at the exact same time, what does that do to communities? What does that do to groups of people? I saw what it did to us and I am somewhat fearful of a lot of the children that went through that pandemic stage during school and you know, god forbid, whoever lost family members during that time. Just how are they dealing with everything? Hopefully they're being taken care of properly and seeking some type of uh, mental counseling and things of that nature I know.
Speaker 1:I hope so too, and that's one of those things I think about. We really don't know, we won't know, I mean, I think even for you. You still don't really know what impact that had on you and and all the other kids that were in New Orleans and at that time, and I think it. What scares me a little bit is that there seems to be more of this collective trauma happening globally than it has before, and a lot of that is that we're now more aware of everything and exposed and connected, which can be a good and a bad thing because it's so interesting, so it impacts communities and can kind of tear them apart and shift and change it.
Speaker 1:We can also create communities from this shared trauma, collective trauma. So there's a lot that can happen from it and but there's still these individual people just trying to move through it who might not survive it, which is scary.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it is. That's why art is important. Yes, okay.
Speaker 1:And this feels like a pretty big segue into the work that you're doing now, which, even if there are some of these things you're doing directly in Baton Rouge, there's no way it's not impacting New Orleans and Louisiana and the country and keep you know, keep going from there. So your impact is still very much felt.
Speaker 2:Right right.
Speaker 1:Even in these stories that you're telling, right Even in these stories that you're telling Right, yeah, it's.
Speaker 2:The work I'm doing today is really been kind of a just natural, like you said, segue into community organizing, and a lot of my art stems from my story and stories of folks that I personally know, and I try to make them as human as possible and I try to, I guess, teach, maybe, I guess, mentor other artists and younger artists to strive to do the same. Um, the idea of making the art making process being your, uh like, de facto spiritual practice your, your, your meditation, your your mental like, yes, you should learn some of the skills that go towards that, but at the end of the day, it should be about your connection to what's in front of you and what does it mean beyond just that? So, if you're creating a painting, how does it affect not just you but also the audience that that takes it in, or not? Or do you not, like I said, I used to paint and draw for?
Speaker 2:a while and just kind of put it off to the side. It was just for me just to kind of get some of those nightmares, I guess, out of my mind and just put it out and just kind of flesh it out, I guess.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely yeah. I mean, I think it's so interesting this connection that art has to our emotional selves and our being, and we have a lot of conversations with artists through the non-profit and from the very beginning, it was just very became very clear that there's so many layers to this or being an artist or being a creative and the first one being that, yes, it is. It can be this incredible tool, this incredible pathway, this incredible place to get your emotions out, to share something that is like within you that you want you know others to see, or that you just want to see for yourself. The other piece of it was like there were so many artists who were I was having conversations with and, and myself included, feeling like it was this darkness that drove this creativity in me. And what if I didn't have that, if I finally let that go? Would I still be able to create? Like was it feeding into what I was able to put out?
Speaker 2:I mean I always say we live in Louisiana, there's always some darkness.
Speaker 1:You can find around here Absolutely what I had to learn, though, was that I didn't need to seek out darkness in order for my story to matter. Right, you know that healing was just as important.
Speaker 2:Correct, because the healing process is the ING is the important part of that word. Right, like it's continuing, yeah, like you can somewhat say you're healed, but you're never truly healed. It's, it's just like anything else. You just have to like a scar will always be there yeah, you know, even if it's, you can't see it. You know that you ran into that dresser when you were five.
Speaker 1:You and even you know your ankle pain from that time you broke it. Right, yeah, there's nothing physical wrong with you, but it's still but it's still there.
Speaker 2:So it's something that you should, or I implore people to acknowledge as just a part of who you are. It's not who you are, yeah, so you know like I grew up having like nightmares all the time and I just thought I always just my art had to be nightmarish and macabre, which I still hold on to that part of it. But there was just like no, like real, uh. There's no real like uh. And this is me critiquing myself as a younger artist there was.
Speaker 2:It was like macabre for macabre sake. There was no story behind anything, there was no purpose, there was no connection outside of again just kind of getting it out of my head, which again was therapy for me especially now looking back to say oh well, the process of actually just putting that from there to paper was probably pretty powerful.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, it was, it was powerful and it definitely helped in the long run, um for sure of you know, just like anything, practice makes somewhat perfect, right right so being able to do those things over and over, and it again, I guess, made me more pointed if I do use some of those macabre or darker themes in my artwork, or I should say more informed, a more informed way of using it and not just look at this shocking thing that I'm painting. It's more so. I want to draw you in and become shocked Once you understand what you're looking at.
Speaker 1:it's kind of where I address Well, you're, you're considering that whole experience, both for yourself and for those that may experience it with you, which you know that does take time. In utilizing art as this tool to learn and to grow. I think for me it was when I was. I suffer from depression, and so in those moments where I did not know if I would even, you know, open my eyes the next morning, I thought that that was the only time that I could, that what I was putting on paper mattered Right, and instead that was just digging me deeper into this hole that I was already feeling very alone in.
Speaker 2:So you weren't writing outside of when you would get to those states. Yeah, yeah, I've. Yeah, you have to. I guess I'm not saying you, but I think artists should be doing it all the time so that when you get, I think some of the best art does come from those states. But if you wade into those states, you know it can be debilitating. When you're done, I'm sure, after you got it all out, it's just like, like and you feel better, but then it's like if you don't, you know, flex that muscle a little bit in between those times just like therapy in general.
Speaker 2:Right Like you don't want to wait until something traumatic happens before you seek help you know, happens before you seek help.
Speaker 2:You know, which I think was one of the best things that I did when I first, uh, uh, sought some help myself. Uh, I'll never forget my dad was, I was at, I was at my parents' house and I had just woken up. This was, uh, I was in college at the time and I had just woken up. I was in college at the time and I had no, this was right after college, I'm sorry, Just woken up and I'm coming downstairs and I just had like a very vivid lucid nightmare Are you familiar with, like lucid dreaming and active dreaming?
Speaker 2:I have a lot of those, and you know there's sometimes where I have like three or four like nightmares a week, and so I'm coming downstairs and my dad's, you know, looking at me because I'm like disoriented. He's like you good, I'm like, yeah, I'm good. I just, you know, had a bad nightmare. He's like nightmare. He's like you having nightmares.
Speaker 2:I was like yeah, I have nightmares like three or four times a week. You know, like everybody else, he's like, he goes. I've had like two nightmares in my life. Like really he's like yeah, that's not, that's not typical. I was like huh. And then you know, if you know my dad, he was just like whatever.
Speaker 2:And kind of just you know, and I was like OK, I was like that's not good, and then I started thinking about just other parts of me and how I I guess how I function, and I just remember telling myself, oh, I think I need to talk to somebody, because you know these nightmares are very frequent. They're very vivid. I don't get good sleep, I have anxiety.
Speaker 1:I was going to gonna say they're yeah, but they're starting, they're putting you, you're.
Speaker 2:You're basically always in a heightened state of anxiety yeah, it's, yeah, so I'm, I'm, yeah, I'm always anxious, and I mean in in speaking with someone and them diagnosing me with anxiety is just, I guess, was, I, was, I don't even know how to feel about it. I never knew how to feel about it. I was just like, yeah, that makes sense, that's about right. I don't know how to mitigate that outside of continuing to just talk to people and create my art and making sure I create spaces for other people and specifically, I focus on artists. I try to definitely look after black artists in particular. I just feel like black artists don't get the platform that they typically I don't want to say deserve, but it's just in general, they should be getting more a light shone on them, more Um, and so I always try to make space for that and always try to let them know that it's okay to to just create for the sake of creating. It doesn't have to be a monetary pursuit.
Speaker 1:That's another one Giving a lot of times, especially if it starts to, if this is your livelihood, giving someone permission that what you create can be just for you.
Speaker 2:It's okay to gatekeep some of your work. I gatekeep a lot of stuff. I'm just like, oh, this was too personal, I'm going to just put this over here. I'm not going to sell that?
Speaker 2:There's a ton that I just push off to the side. They're all just sitting in my house. My wife's probably like you, got too much crap in here. But overall I do try to create from just a pure place of what story do I want to get across, what's my audience and how does it make me feel to create this? And so I usually write a lot you know prior to and just write out exactly how I want the painting to go. Since I lucid dream so much and have nightmares, I've learned to turn those nightmares into like painting sessions. It's very weird and, no, it doesn't really make a lot of sense to a lot of folks, but I'm usually doing some type of art and it's just usually to try to divert from.
Speaker 1:That is a tool, you know. A lot of times, or at least from what I've heard, I've had a few instances of those pretty intense nightmares and so from what I've heard from mental health professionals and things, there's a tool that lucid dreaming is sort of the tool to try and take back control that makes sense, yeah, and so you're using art to do that, because that is what you know, that is how you you gain control.
Speaker 2:That makes sense? Yeah, because I'm usually like there's something like psychotic going over I don't use that word, but there's something horrifying going on and I'm just like, oh, I'm having a nightmare. Let me work on this thing and not focus on what's over here and it's you know, and I know it's one of those things where I'm not sleeping probably as good as I should, but it's still better than how I used to do. It just like wake up in the middle of the night or have my wife nudging me because I'm like screaming and stuff, Because there's a limit to it.
Speaker 1:We don't necessarily understand dreams as well as we could I know, right that there's only so much you know that you can do. But it's probably, I would imagine, like the more that you start to do this work and become more self-aware and start to, you know, grow in that aspect and keep healing, the more that you have that control in those areas, and I can't say it will ever go away. You know, I don't know.
Speaker 2:Who knows, I'm used to it now.
Speaker 1:And that's a difference. You know that's a difference, and but I do want to go back to saying, like number one, your dad looked at you and said something's not right. And number two, he actually was the one to tell you that's not normal.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know you, that's not normal. Yeah, you know what, if no one ever did I know right that's I would have never called anybody like that's, and that's why I always think about it, because it's just like so random. And if my life had been I mean, I've been having those nightmares probably since I was like 10, probably early, if I can really remember, but it was just always what it was and I just thought it was just normal, right.
Speaker 1:We just have this all the time, until someone tells us.
Speaker 2:Until someone was just like, hey, that's not good, yeah, and then that's all it takes sometimes. Yeah.
Speaker 2:To at least acknowledge that someone is not behaving in a typical fashion, and just acknowledging it is, I think, extremely important, and that's what those conversations are usually about. I've had sit-downs with groups of artists and they'll just start spilling their soul and I'm just like it's okay if you need to go seek help or call somebody. There's nothing wrong with that, there's nothing weak about it. You might feel vulnerable, but feeling vulnerable can be good, sometimes Emotionally vulnerable.
Speaker 2:It just means that you're ready to connect with someone on that level of I feel hurt or traumatized in some way and I need to figure out how to make myself get on this healing path, and some people just need a nudge in that direction. You know, education and understanding why they feel the way they feel. Like what you just said about the nightmares, Like I wouldn't know. Nobody ever told me that I say this all the time. Nobody ever mentioned that to me. You know that part of it. So you know, having conversations and I try to be as authentic as possible, just so that.
Speaker 1:Like giving people. Sometimes just sharing your own, like being a little bit vulnerable, gives other people permission to do the same. And you know, something that's been really important in the work that we're doing is creating those safe spaces for people to have those conversations, and that's. That's something where it's like if anything tries to interrupt that, I'm very protective over these spaces, because if we don't create them, they do not exist.
Speaker 2:Nope, they don't exist. And they should exist. Of course they should. You think it would make the most sense to have spaces that are just regulated for folks to speak to each other I mean we're supposed to be big on mental health that's what everyone says these days, but we need to understand that you, you really, there's really not a lot of progress that you can make if you're not really taking care of your brain. I tell my son're not really taking care of your brain. I tell my son all the time.
Speaker 2:Take care of your brain.
Speaker 1:I don't mean stop running into walls and stuff like he does sometimes, which I mean he probably does Do that also.
Speaker 2:But just take care of your mind, which means talk with me Like sit down with yourself and do nothing for like five minutes, like meditation, isn't't you know sitting there and saying all these mantras? Or it's sitting with that nothing and blanking out and, when thoughts come in, getting rid of your thoughts, like sitting with nothing for a certain amount of time, and that helps you, number one, understand what thoughts are coming in and then take them, unpack them and then again just leave them alone and sit with nothing and just breathe and just be with yourself in a quiet space, and that, to me, is one of the more beneficial aspects of meditation.
Speaker 2:To me, that's how painting I guess uh comes about. For me also, it's like I get to a certain spot where I'm just not really thinking about anything, like I paint upside down, so I'm not really focusing on we'll talk about that in a minute, so you know to. That is, I'm not really thinking about it at a certain point, like I have it mapped out and then it's just like all right, I'm kind of just no, I'm trying not to think about it too much is it instinct?
Speaker 1:is it you? Is it a whole?
Speaker 2:nother I think it's instinct how?
Speaker 1:how do you do that?
Speaker 2:I don't know so I'm most likely dyslexic. I I've not been diagnosed for it. Yeah. The way I see stuff. I don't know. I'm trying to explain it the best way I can, but it feels better when it's not right side up. And then also, I think, when you hesitate with drawing I think hesitation in general with art, but specifically with drawing.
Speaker 2:I think hesitation in general with art, but specifically with drawing, painting I feel like you can always tell when someone's not sure about what they're creating and those strokes get kind of like what I call muddling, where it's just like, oh, I need to fix this, oh, I need to keep fixing this, and you stay in one spot and you're overdoing it. You know people try to understand why some art that looks so simple, looks so good. It's because that artist was very sure about what they. Did. You ever follow that guy? He's a big instagram artist, uh, named mr doodle you gotta look him up.
Speaker 2:He's this guy. He just draws doodles and it's just like a lot of basic lines and basic shapes of different characters and words and things like that. But his thing is he uses a lot of markers. And it's just very direct, very short, and it comes out to these huge almost looks like the walls in here where it's just these big mosaics of all these different patterns, and he'll show you the whole process. And it's not. He's not sitting there focusing on one thing for like 10 minutes.
Speaker 2:It's just like he'll cover a whole wall in like a couple minutes and it's just a lot of direct strokes in it, but it makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 1:That was the first time I've ever heard someone accurately describe why pieces of art, some of the simplest pieces of art, can be so powerful.
Speaker 2:Like abstract art. I cannot do that. I really respect abstract arts, because not only do you have to be extremely confident in where you're going, you have to be extremely confident that where you're stopping is like OK, that's it.
Speaker 1:I have trouble. That's where I have trouble. The stopping, yeah, I have trouble because there's no clear. There's no clear. Stop, you know, it's in your mind.
Speaker 2:It's only in your mind. And then you you're wrestling with the audience's perception of what is good art, but there is no real definition of that. Art is more about the artist than it actually is the art that the audience is consuming. So if that artist is extremely unsure about their art making process, it's going to show in the art, which means they're probably not that very sure about themselves and it's hard to communicate with someone who's unclear about the way they the point that they're trying to make. You know, if we're sitting there having a conversation and I'm stuck on one sentence trying to get you to understand exactly what I'm talking about, and I've explained the same thing, trying to get you to understand exactly what I'm talking about, and I've explained the same thing 17 times, you know then it kind of gets muddled and we're, you know, lost in translation.
Speaker 2:But if I just tell you a sentence and I just say that jacket is rust, and just move on from there, then that's and that is what it is, and we can, you know, create from there.
Speaker 1:I like that a lot. I don't want to, definitely don't want to end without talking specifically about the work that you're doing right now. Yes, yes, both. I don't. You're doing so many things, so I'm just going to let you, I'm just going to let you talk about them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I do way too much sometimes, but it's all, hopefully, for a good purpose. The main thing that I'm working on right now so I'm the artist liaison artist in residence at the Arts Council of Baton Rouge and right now we're working on an initiative called Arts for Everybody. It's a national program, it's 19 different cities participating and the overall goal of the project is to prove that the arts lead to healthier people and healthier communities, and the prompt that they want all the artists in these 19 cities to follow is no Place Like Home. So Baton Rouge, what we're doing is we split into 12 different sections of the city and it's going to be 12 different art interventions is what I'm going to call it.
Speaker 2:And we have poetry that's going to be at the Jones Creek Library. We have the opera that's going to be at St James Place. We have art exhibitions. We have the Baton Rouge schools, ebr school systems. They're putting on a big southern rendition of the Wizard of Oz. We have about 60 kids that's going to be in that, and this is all going to be taking place on July 27th all on one day. But the really cool thing about the project is so we know, as artists and also as healthcare professionals, we know what the arts does for us beneficial, right.
Speaker 2:But it's like how can? And a lot of the research that's been done has been like nationwide. So the idea that we came up with was how can we like localize it to just Baton Rouge and how can we like see on one day how doing the most amount of art in one day and having everybody participate as much as possible in the arts? How can that? What are the health outcomes from that right? So we've partnered with all the local hospitals Baton Rouge, general, ochsner, fran U, which is a nursing school, some of the Alzheimer's Association. We've partnered with pretty much anybody that deals with health EBR prison we're doing something with the prison also the female inmates, to make sure that something's going on there also, and we're partnering with them.
Speaker 2:And what we're going to be doing is so we have a production company coming in from New York called the Harlem Nine and they're putting on a 48 hour play that night. So they're going to find four directors, they're going to find four playwrights and 18 actors in Baton Rouge and they're going to put on a play from start to finish in two days. Scripts, all that's going to start day one, so day two at seven o'clock. This is a culminating event at the Manship Theater. It's going to be a big production from them. So what we're doing as far as the health aspect is, before you go to, let's say, the 48 Hours in Baton Rouge production, we're going to have health care professionals out front doing blood pressure readings and giving surveys to get general health readings of the folks that are participating in the art and also experiencing the art, creating the art, and then after each intervention we're going to do the same thing again to see the differences. We're doing it at all 14 different spots across the city.
Speaker 1:So it's going to be a. I can't wait to see those results, yeah me too To have that tangible, because a lot of times, when it comes to art, it's very qualitative instead of but that's going to be something like, and it's across the city and and it's a wide demographic too. You see the direct correlation.
Speaker 2:yes, Because we have St James Place, is the senior living, and there's a couple folks that have Alzheimer's. There's a couple folks that are just, you know, in their 80s or 90s that participate in the arts. They have a new art studio there and they're going to be experiencing the opera. So we're just going to see how the opera, opera Louisiana, is going to.
Speaker 2:When you say for everybody, truly no, it's literally for everybody, from the children, and I mean we want to get the unhoused population involved as much as possible. We want to get every single person in Baton Rouge to be creating art, just so we can have again that tangible data of how arts no matter, and we want to have the arts that are happening to be as wide range as possible. You know we have we have the homeless nation, the native, the native tribe doing basket weaving in Zachary. You know that that's one thing. I wish I could just stay at the whole day, but I'm gonna be all over the place, but yeah, yeah, I'm probably going to start there. First we have a sound bath by Kiana Linnell, which is like a spiritual meditation using the voice and she has like all these different chants that she uses. So that's going to like start the day off. So, yeah, it's going to be a full day full of our app.
Speaker 2:We wanted it to be, and it's again touching all 12 districts of the city, so we wanted it to be as wide-ranging as possible. That way, no matter where you are living, you can at least go to one event. Accessible.
Speaker 2:Hopefully more than one, but we want it to be as accessible as possible, and this is a community event, so there's no paywall in front of it. Wow, accessible as possible and this is a community event, so there's no paywall in front of it. Um, we did grant uh out, uh twelve thousand dollars to the artists, um, so the artists. Oh, that's awesome yeah, um, this is actually uh being funded by the mayor's office through her uh braille grant, which is the baton rouge advancement of health literacy, so it's a health grant yeah but we're using the arts artists, yeah that's, we had to get uh creative with how this because so it's like all right, this health grant, let's show them exactly how the arts are.
Speaker 2:In the future, we can use this data, hopefully, to bring more funding to the arts, bring more funding to our health sector, either or but or the way they work together exactly and it's like we know, and veterans, generals already working on this research locally.
Speaker 2:Ashner's already working on this friend. You has an entire nursing department specifically, uh, doing research on how the arts affect health. So it's already being done. Artists are already hungry to, like we were talking before we got on, like there's like this artistic awakening that Baton Rouge is kind of going through and I think you know Nuance has an artistic identity. It does. Lafayette has an artistic identity. Baton Rouge is, I think, still working on it. It's there, and the identity, artistically, of a community has to come from the community. It has to come from the people. You can't just one day, you know, just say oh, we're just, we're this type of town and just talk it into existence, like it has to come from the people and their experiences and the prompt being no place like home. It gives artists the opportunity to just talk about where they're from.
Speaker 1:It's very broad. For a reason it's like and it connects artists in a way that I think you know what I've seen here in baton rouge historically is a lot of siloed opportunities for artists, exactly, and my like getting into it, building this non-profit that's sort of built on this artistic expression and getting to work with all of these incredible artists, that became pretty clear that we can't do this without that connection of all of us, like of this artist network, working together, correct, having the support and the resources.
Speaker 2:Support and resources is the name of the game. So before I was an artist in residence at the Arts Council, I was just working for myself I do weddings, you know, painting on my own, and I didn't understand the resources that were in the city until I became a resident and I kind of sat in the building. I was just like, oh, there's a lot of resources here that I assume in time I realize that a lot of artists don't know about, and so just having those conversations with them over there, I was like, hey, I can go tell people about this, by the way, if y'all want to bring me on as like a staff, remember that, you know, but it's, it's one of those things where it's.
Speaker 2:I've always done it. Every time, anytime I know about any opportunity or resource, I try to tell as many people as possible, because I was that artist coming up where I would ask questions and other artists would be like, oh, I don't know, or they'll. They'll talk to me as if I'm stupid or something. You know. I know my son said that's a bad word, but they'll talk to me as if I'm unintelligent, right, you know, and I I think I have like a bit of an insecurity with intelligence sometimes where it's like, don't, don't do that.
Speaker 2:So my focused anger yeah when people when. I find out about something. I was like okay, cool, I'm telling everybody. I'm trying to put everybody on.
Speaker 1:That's what we're trying to do too. Exactly, and it's been seeing like artists connect with somebody else. You know, I think there were several artists that connected with you at the event saying you know, I'm so glad that I ran into this person. I had no idea these things were available. Exactly that just keeps happening and it's like and, of course, in the back of my head, it's like this shouldn't still be the case.
Speaker 1:However, it's always going to be. So how do we uplift these programs Then? How do we maybe challenge the structures that are currently in place that make these so hard to you know reach or you know know about in general? How do we challenge that? Because there's still layers there that aren't conducive to this community?
Speaker 2:I have my theories about challenging the powers that be with art.
Speaker 2:I think I art is one of the most powerful tools that you can use to make change. I don't think people fully understand how powerful it is. They passed something recently to where you basically can't protest in Louisiana. So what else are you to do as an artist but to put your frustrations with the folks that are stifling your, your resources and your opportunities? You know, put their feet to the fire with your, your art making, and I'm a painter, so mine probably won't come out, as you know, as uh loudly as uh someone else. You kind of have to be in the room to see my art.
Speaker 2:But some of these poets, some of these orators, these musicians that we have in Baton Rouge, yes, say what, say what's on your chest, yeah, and, and say it loudly, and you'll be surprised just how much of a change you can really make just by by voicing it, even if, if that means because I mean, if you just look at the history of protests, a lot of the, a lot of the expression that came out of those times were very powerful and very point, and that's really what kind of you know had made the through line into present day. Right, we think about like civil rights movements, like we think about. You know Nina Simone during that time, like singing the way she sang, like have you ever heard a song? Mississippi, goddamn.
Speaker 1:No, I don't think so.
Speaker 2:Listen to that, okay, and it'll. Yeah, she's basically just complaining about let me rephrase it not complaining. She's speaking to the powers that be about living in the south and it's extremely raw, it's extremely direct. Unfortunately still has.
Speaker 1:I was going to say probably still really relevant, it's very, even more relevant.
Speaker 2:It's relevant today, but it's just one of those songs where I can't explain. You just have to listen to it and I always urge people.
Speaker 2:We have Spotify, we have, you can just go pick out a decade and just listen, find out about different historical events that you're interested in that may speak to you in one way or that you can learn from, and go find out about the art during that time. If you're a dancer, find out who was dancing during that time and understand them, you know. If you're a painter, find out who was painting during that time, what were they painting about, and you'll see that through line.
Speaker 2:It's always art, even if it's just speaking like james baldwin, like that's art the way he spoke you know it was storytelling and and and free speech in a way that was very not free in the sense of all over the place. It was free in a sense of I must say what's on my mind and you know, I know people are going to listen. Eventually, I just have to keep speaking the truth you just got to keep doing it, yeah yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:I think it's extremely powerful and very important for artists to to say what they mean through the art, as it doesn't have to be so on the nose. I think there's a difference between on the nose and being direct, like I think my paintings are very direct. Sure, maybe not when you view them, because they're not on the nose as far as, like you won't. If I have a painting that's about lynching, specifically right, and when you see it, may that, may not jump out at you If I explain that to you as you're looking to it you will make sense Now.
Speaker 2:I understand, because the elements are there, I see, you know. So it's very direct, but it's not the literal depiction of it.
Speaker 2:Right, which again like I said earlier, it's you have to draw the audience in to be interested. Again, like I said earlier, it's you have to draw the audience in to be interested, and then the lesson in which you want to express to them is in the conversation that they have while they're standing. Because I only have, as a painter, I have like 17 seconds, is what I kind of count Right Of like people that actually sit there and get engaged. On average it's like 10 seconds where people go. Oh, okay.
Speaker 1:Or sometimes zero People just walk past on average.
Speaker 2:It's like 10 seconds where people go oh okay, or sometimes zero people, just yeah, it's like like walk past a piece of art. So it's like I got like 17 seconds to keep you there and wondering what you're looking at and then hopefully you can get it without me standing there, hopefully you can get it without having to look at anything else. But you know the piece is all there and so I have 17 seconds to get you engaged and come away like, oh okay, hopefully spark something man, I think I think you know what I'm hearing is there's a lot of power in art and that's incredible.
Speaker 1:I also got some anxiety when you were talking about that and I think it's because now I feel some kind of responsibility that having this ability to create now gives me like what will I do with that? Because it's like necessary at this point, based on where we are.
Speaker 2:I think that's what gets me the most anxious these days is understanding where we live and understanding you know. To be frank, you know, we have, specifically, politicians that dehumanize the, the people of the state, and I get anxious because I know how powerful art can be, but I also know how powerful just officials can be with just stifling that's the other thing I was gonna say I as soon as you said that I was like I want to like.
Speaker 1:That's the other thing I was going to say. As soon as you said that I was like I want to like. There's like the ah, it's such a, because that's dangerous.
Speaker 2:It can be dangerous, it can be, but I look it's one of those things where I explain it to my wife like this, because that's her first knee jerk is because I'll paint some stuff and I'll definitely say some stuff to certain folks, and she's like that can be dangerous talking like that, but that when you stop and you pause and you stop creating your art, that's how those folks win. They want you to stop. They don't want you to say anything. They want you to be fine with just how oppressive certain things are. They want you to be okay that we have like bottom in everything in Louisiana, as far as you know education and you know the prison system is just ridiculous. And they want you to be fine with that and just be like, okay, that's just the way it is. There's nothing we can do. Let's just go on about our day. It's like I'm going to go on about my day, but I'm going to be loud about it and I'm going to create about it and I'm not going to.
Speaker 1:The moment that we all just are okay with the way things are, then we're setting ourselves back absolutely.
Speaker 2:And I tell my wife all the time, as you know, as black folk we we're always, you know, getting the short end of the stick. So you have no, and we're always loud about it and we're always putting feet to the fire. So it makes no sense in stopping now and being quiet about it now. And the more that the black folk in this state and in this country are given more humanity and more rights, the better it is for everybody. Absolutely.
Speaker 2:Because it's a human. It's a humanitarian crisis in general, specifically in Louisiana, but you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, what I will say is like I'm like, oh, there's like fear to say certain things, or like responsibility here, but I don't, I'm not, let's be honest. I can say certain things or like responsibility here, but I don't, I'm not. Let's be honest, I can say these things and probably nothing will happen to me, I'll be just fine. What I, what we need as, like, this community is community, because you're one voice. Yeah, you, you know, and obviously you have a very strong voice and you have this controlled aggression that you can use in incredibly impactful ways. Right, and you're willing to take the risk. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1:So how do we get more people to do that? We provide that safe, the safety net to where maybe we take away some of that risk?
Speaker 2:We give you know, we give voice to power, power to voice you give yeah voice to the people and have the people speak uh truth to power that's it thank you, that's what I could think about it, thank you yeah definitely I. I agree with that because I'm I'm not gonna act like everybody should be as loud as me.
Speaker 2:But it's if I'm, if I'm not loud, then other people can't hear what I'm saying. Yeah, other people won't understand some people again, like we said, some people don't understand the traumas that they're going through until they're removed from it, right. So it's like if I can tell you hey, you know, your life could be 10 times better if this wasn't going on in your city, in your state. Hey, you know, we want to do this art project on July 27 where we're trying to keep a sense of community in Baton Rouge, but don't forget that the city is going to be split in half with the new city of St George in like a year. So, like, be aware of what's going on in your vicinity. I mean, I went to college for, uh, for fashion merchandising, and yeah, I was a fashion major. But one of the reasons and I don't want to put blame cause I hate doing that, but one of the reasons that I didn't graduate was they cut my major when Bobby.
Speaker 2:Jindal was in office, so it was just like I had to make like these tough decisions of like like I was working like five jobs and it's just like that was just a lot of funding. Uh was cut from the education. A lot of fun was cut from the arts. So right.
Speaker 1:I mean, if you have, you know you having this platform to be able to inform others a lot of times, just like we were talking about, there's so many people who, yeah, they know something's wrong, like not right, but they can't put a finger to it right and when you can't, you kind of feel like you don't. You know you feel um, there's a word and it's not coming to me Alienated. Yeah, and like there's nothing you can actually do.
Speaker 2:You're right and it's I say it all the time. My parents used to say it. I said to folks I'll talk to is like we talk in politics. You know it's you may not care about politics, but politics cares about you and it's very true.
Speaker 2:Because it's you know, I'm not even going to sit here and claim as if I'm like this political guy, but it's like I live in a society where politics governs the way I move around. You know, I, you, you have to be aware of that and one of the best ways, I would say for me personally, one of the ways that I learned a lot about just my surroundings and being involved is from, like rap music like I would just listen to rappers talk about certain things, I'm like, oh yeah, that makes sense, that makes sense, oh yeah, that does make art.
Speaker 1:Look at that art. That's what I'm saying. So it's like those you.
Speaker 2:You don't have to always like people have some. I guess, maybe, that you have to major in something or pick up this text that explains these like. No, just listen to the folks around you. There's, there's people around you that know exactly the the inner workings of your, your, your immediate surroundings. I would say to any artists or just any individual in our community you have way more impact than you think you do specifically Like if you're in Baton Rouge, you have a lot of impact on Baton.
Speaker 1:Rouge, you really do. You may not think you do the difference between, even between here and New Orleans, I feel like the impact of an individual, yes, especially in Baton. Rouge yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it really can, because I mean it's I don't know, it's just I'm saying this and I'm not hesitant, but it's just. I keep thinking about what we were talking about. The education sometimes is so poor to where that's the easiest way to let people know exactly how they can be more involved. So the only thing you have after that is the art and just trying to communicate with as many people as possible, because you got to have people motivated to do so and people aren't going to be motivated unless they feel like it affects them, because you can tell them that it affects them. But they have to feel.
Speaker 1:You have to feel it, and that's the thing that art can do.
Speaker 2:That yeah, most of the other things we navigate through, can't yeah yeah, like my teachers would tell me stuff all the time, my parents told me stuff all the time. I didn't listen a lot of them to a lot of that stuff, you know, but it was listening to like lupe fiasco and it's okay. That paints a picture better for me than anything else. And then, and even if it was just him mentioning like Carnell West, you know. And then it's like oh, now I know who that is.
Speaker 1:Now.
Speaker 2:I can do more research, I can pick up a book if I wanted to, or whatever the case may be, you know, and the social media, like you know. Just I would would just say get involved. Get involved in any type of art organization and um, as an artist, I think, um, in baton rouge, you have a lot more impact than you think. You have a lot more impact than you think yeah especially with your, your poetry and your writing you.
Speaker 2:You got up on a Friday. I was proud. It's two things, two things. So I was very proud of that it's. I respect anyone that can get up in front of an audience and bear their soul. It is extremely hard to do. Another thing I just wanted to say this before I left I was talking with your dad all day on Friday and your dad is so cool. Your dad's name is Mike. So that was the first thing.
Speaker 2:So he was holding my ladder the whole time, Mike and Mike. He told me something that I don't know. It was simple, but I don't know why, and I guess it's the artist in me extracting meanings out of extracting something out of nothing, and he was like. He was like, yeah, you know I'm a, because I asked him. I thought he was an artist. Honestly, I was like oh, you're an artist.
Speaker 2:And he was like, oh no, I'm just, I'm helping all my daughters. And I said, oh, okay, okay. And he was like, yeah, I got two daughters and you know, I got a toolbox because I got all my tools and I came to help got two daughters you always got to have your toolbox and I said I have a daughter and I feel like there's something about that fit like literally, of just having to make sure that you're there to fix him, but just always having all the tools as a person to make sure that you're, specifically, his daughters are good. So I was just like huh and I. That has been just stuck in my head ever since I love that.
Speaker 1:I can't wait to share this with him oh yeah because it's not even that. He always has the toolkit and he's always around. It's also that just in case, on the off chance that he isn't won't be one day, he's also got us our own toolkit and that's and he keeps making sure we have them. He asks every time I haven't used uh, he got me one of those like air, um, air pump things like the ones the automatic ones for the tire like the good ones like you keep a battery charge and that thing airs up your tires for you.
Speaker 1:And I mentioned something one day and I was like, yeah, I'm gonna be by your house, can I use your air pump? And he was like you have one, have you never used it? It's so cool. So then he takes his out at when I'm at his house, he shows me how to use it. He's like this is at your house, you have it just in case, but always come here if you need it. I'm like, yeah, that's something that I maybe I kind of take for granted, honestly, but you saying that that's so special and it's I don't know.
Speaker 1:Thank you for sharing it's very nice.
Speaker 2:I'll talk to him again when we uh, when I got there and he's I didn't think you were gonna come tonight I was like, no, I'm here and I'm gonna I'm glad you did very nice very good. He made sure everything was. He made sure I didn't fall off that ladder that was he was.
Speaker 1:He was on top of that. I was like a 20 foot ladder.
Speaker 2:I, I'm not the I'm kind of scared of heights. So I was just like you got me Mike, he's like I got you Mike. I was like all right. It tipped like a little bit one time. I was like whoa, he was like, I got it.
Speaker 1:Well listen, the guy who first let us use the ladder said well, I fell off this thing a couple times.
Speaker 2:That is yeah, at gallery 14. Yeah, he told me the same thing.
Speaker 1:He told me the same thing and I was like I'll be careful. I had two people. You said that's in. Look another metaphor here. But that's exactly like we're. We can only climb to these heights and get this stuff done when somebody's holding the ladder.
Speaker 2:That's the poet in you. Right there, that's poetry. That's poetry right there. Life, life imitates art, and sometimes art imitates life. It's mainly art imitating life, for sure. Yes, indeed, I love that.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, I have no idea how long we've been talking.
Speaker 2:Me either.
Speaker 1:But I've enjoyed it Not too long. How long have we got? I think?
Speaker 2:it's been an hour.
Speaker 1:It's been an hour. Okay, that feels like a good wrap-up point. Let's give a few more details, though about how to find out more about Arts for Everybody, where to get information, how to find you and your art.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you can follow me on Instagram. It's probably the best place to keep up with everything that I'm doing. That's at MikeWearyArt. On Instagram, you can also follow the Arts Council. If you're in Baton Rouge, you should be following the Arts Council.
Speaker 2:Again they have a ton of resources. They're a local nonprofit that they're basically just like an artistic hub. They kind of know everything that's going on, they have their hands in everything that's going on, and that's artscouncilbr on Instagram probably the best place. We share a lot of each other's posts, and then you can also go to artsforeverybodycom to get more information about the project, even if you're not in Baton Rouge. Again, this is a national project One Nation, one Project built off the research done by Dr Jill Sunk at Florida State University. That's just defining what arts participation is and how it affects health. So it's a big project. But outside of that, yeah, follow me on Instagram. I do a lot of painterly things. I do a lot of, uh, weddings. I paint at weddings, which is like my, my weekend thing. It's. It's the probably one of the most interesting things.
Speaker 1:That's gotta be an experience.
Speaker 2:I have no idea what I'm painting until I get there. Wow, talk to a painter and just it's like freestyling. You're a poet Imagine freestyling. Right, I've done some improv it's, improv it's like at a certain point, you kind of know, because it's a wedding right. And I've met them before. But you don't know what a bride looks like on her day. Nobody knows.
Speaker 2:You're not supposed to know right you don't know what the decoration is going to look like until you get there. So it's just like you just gotta not hesitate and just go for it so that that's interesting so if you're interested in seeing me paint these beautiful brides and also the grooms I never leave out the grooms, of course- um or the other bride, or the other, or the other bride or the other groom, uh, the the other bride or the other groom, the two folks joining for sure? Yeah, and it's.
Speaker 2:I don't know it's such a weird thing because I feel I tell myself all the time oh man, I'm so tired, I don't want to do any more weddings. And then I get to a wedding and I meet people and I'm just like this is the best. Yeah, because you just, it's always the like, my wedding was like the best day of my life, so you're at people's best days of their life over and over and over when people work weddings.
Speaker 1:I'm always like you're committing to like your weekends, kind of being for someone else's like big day, but that's pretty special.
Speaker 3:It is and it's nice, you know. Yeah, it's pretty special.
Speaker 2:I can't complain about it.
Speaker 1:But yeah, at Mike Weary, art is the best place to to find me, um, check me out. Yeah, we'll have, and we'll have all that in the um, in the show notes and everything, and on youtube we'll post this video for for folks to check out, um, okay, so to wrap us up, one thing no one ever says one thing. One thing that if somebody was like, oh, I can only listen to the last two minutes of this, what should they take away from this?
Speaker 2:You should take away, as a listener, that you are extremely important. You are extremely valuable, but also you're only as strong as the community around you, so your value is in large part contributing to that community and vice versa. So always know your worth and I will always tell people to know thyself is kind of my mantra. The more you know yourself, the more you can walk this life in confidence and without hesitation.
Speaker 1:Yeah, love, thank you so much, no problem.
Speaker 2:I hope that wasn't too gravelly. It wasn't too late night talk show host guy. I thought it was nice nice.
Speaker 1:I thought it was good. It was nice, a nice like I don't know period at the end of the moods. He did kind of.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was like listen to a lot of slow jams, a lot of slow jams growing up, 98.5 mellow moods my sister always says like why are you listening to all this music?
Speaker 1:that's gonna put you to sleep? I'm like it just feels good, it just makes me feel good just get real low mellow yeah but like when? So when? I match people's energies a lot of times. So when you start doing that, I'm like yeah and I do that with my son a lot.
Speaker 2:I was like hey, bud, hey, hey man, you're doing a lot right now I try to do that to my dog, but it doesn't work.
Speaker 1:I have a hype dog too.
Speaker 2:It's like hey, you're doing a lot, it's a lot of energy. You're making me tired. You're making me tired. You want to chill out a little bit? Okay, come here, give me a hug, let's sit down for a bit, get real low and real close. Yes, yeah, my son's something else, I didn't even talk about him, geez oh you, oh you didn't.
Speaker 1:I have a son and a daughter. Yeah, you talked a little about your daughter.
Speaker 2:You brought up a oh yeah, yeah, Me and Mike's connection and Ezra, my Ezra. Yeah. Special, very special, very intelligent.
Speaker 1:That's probably a whole other podcast. Right there is having kids and that, how that he's a four Very intelligent.
Speaker 2:That's probably a whole other podcast right, there is having kids and how that he's a four-year-old and he's reading.
Speaker 1:That seems early. I don't have kids, so it's hard for me to like it's fairly early.
Speaker 2:He's one of those.
Speaker 1:Is he an artist? Oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So cool little tidbit. A lot of the texture in my paintings he does. So I just let him kind of do whatever and I just come back on top and paint. Sometimes I like what he does and I kind of leave a lot of that to it. Sometimes I try to guide him in a certain direction. He's got his own brush. We go there, Since my daughter's been born.
Speaker 2:She's a little over over a year. We haven't been going as much um, but she's due to get her first brush and do some uh tag teaming with both of them painting. So yeah, he's a, he's a little artist. Yeah, he, he can draw. He's got a little little bit of talent but, he's one of those. Show him one time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he's got it wow it's it's like I think for me, seeing like my friends with their kids and everything, and when we do get to do programming with kids, it's like I'm just like reminded of how special like it is to be a kid and how we still can do that like there's so many.
Speaker 2:There's just a special reminder of like life can just be pure fun it can be pure fun, and I got back to that when I started painting like just full time. I really believe in just it's like as heavy as I can get. I really believe in just it's like as heavy as I can get. I really believe in focusing on just being fun and enjoying it, because things can be so bleak see my shirt it says macabre with BR.
Speaker 2:So it's like things can be bleak, but it's just like you've got to find the joy, and children are the best at just being ever so joyful. So you have to make sure that you keep those kids happy. Don't let them do what they want to do all the time, but let them have fun.
Speaker 1:Yeah, let them have fun and then like, make sure your inner child knows that it's okay for you to do the same I will.
Speaker 2:I'm gonna stop with this. I know I could talk all day um. Are you a x-men or a comic book fan at all?
Speaker 1:I do like the x-men. I didn't do comic books but I have.
Speaker 2:Since I the x, I started from the beginning, yeah oh really, the, the old series, oh no, okay, the movies, okay.
Speaker 1:So I was in like middle school or elementary school.
Speaker 2:Yeah, me and my and my son have been binging all the X-Men and we watched the old animated series. Oh, yeah, and we have the new animated series, which starts right after the old one. The old one ended in 1996 or 7 and this one starts off right there, but it's a brand new show.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's cool. It's the same animation.
Speaker 2:It's so good. It was like the first time, I think, me and my son like watched something and we were both like children. Yeah, I was like oh because I'm like this is your child you're the child here now too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, your child is like yes and I'm like geeking out and getting excited by all these characters I grew up with my son's doing the same thing, because he's he's growing up with it too, you know he's watching it and I just remember sitting there going like wow, we really are fully, like fully invested a four-year-old and a 36 year old and fully invested in the same characters we're not so different yeah, we're not so different at all that that's something I love that.
Speaker 1:For sure. I love that so much. Grab some water for sure. Alright, okay, we're gonna officially, let's wrap this thing up, but this was really great. Thank you so much. Sure, and we'll definitely be. I think we'll be doing some stuff together real soon, real soon, and thank you all for listening.
