63 min listen
Tub Talks featuring Elena Stonaker: Multidisciplinary Artist
Tub Talks featuring Elena Stonaker: Multidisciplinary Artist
ratings:
Length:
63 minutes
Released:
May 16, 2023
Format:
Podcast episode
Description
This week we soak in the tub with Elena Stonaker, a long-time collaborator and multi-disciplinary artist whose artwork you may recognize from many of our Secular Sabbath environments, such as our giant green snake and larger-than-life mushrooms. Elena is a full-time ethereal artist, living in her whimsical inner landscape. A lot of her art is born out of her bedroom. In this episode, Elena and I reminisce on the earliest moments of our personal friendship through exploring an unconventional way of socializing that has come to define us both, and a live drawing class that would be imbued into the framework of Secular Sabbath.Elena was inspired to host a live drawing class in her home after taking a figure drawing class in art school and painting on (her friend) Sarah Buckley’s body. Hosting a loosely-led class in the landscape of her soft sculptures was a way for Elena to hold space for others to be creative, while simultaneously and perhaps unintentionally, creating an unprecedented way for others to relax and hang out in Los Angeles.Art and creativity ooze throughout Elena’s life, whether it is in the business or personal realm. Elena shares about the benefits and learning opportunities that exist in being a self-employed full-time artist. An example she describes is a commission from a friend - the opportunity to create a cat couch soft sculpture. She has learned from these experiences how to navigate expressing her own creative impetus, while collaborating with someone else’s vision and what they want as an end product. She compares commissions to giving birth to a child. And the metaphor sticks in our minds.Coming from the lineage of creative resourceful parents, Elena was encouraged to explore an artistic life. Elena remembers a distinct adolescent moment when her surprise birthday party became a core memory, where her ethereal homelife clashed with her traditional assimilated school life. This led her into a melting pot of life in the inner and outer world coming together. Through working with beads in her art, Elena creates a meditative process which she describes as sowing prayers which originates from Southern American indigenous cultures. Beads became a staple in her art because she sees them as something small; when in a collective multitude, beads create something magnificent. Elena strives to portray a childlike space to experience feelings. From her “Big Mama” to our Secular Sabbath snake and green mushrooms, Elena creates a place for community to be held. Listen now to take a glance into Elena’s ethereal inner landscape! To join Secular Sabbath membership, you can find us at secular-sabbath.com/membership. Joining grants you access to our Inner Circle community of sensory-exploring like-minded people, where you can gather with us locally in LA for monthly meet-up experiences, and pop-up events around the globe, and partake in our exclusive ambient online community. Ready to dive into the dialogue deeper? Join us on our Discord channel.See what we get up to at @secularsabbath.
Released:
May 16, 2023
Format:
Podcast episode
Titles in the series (29)
Tub Talks featuring Deborah Medow: What was it like to spend a lifetime at Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California? Genevieve sits down with her mother, Deborah Medow, to learn about her life at Esalen and wisdom beyond for the last 73 years. In this space, they discuss everything from bodywork and gestalt therapy, to Esalen culture and experimentation of the 1960s - 1970s and how creativity has played into the wellness landscape there through the modern-day. Deborah demonstrates how raising her daughters at Esalen informed how Genevieve created the Secular Sabbath concept of today. by Tub Talks by Secular Sabbath