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Stories & Musings....>
Interview with the artist...
August 24, 2008
Interviewer: Why just a first name?
Ah…do I think I’m Cher or Oprah or Prince…not! I’ve been
an ardent student of Hawaiian and Native American and East
Indian cultures and I learned how important the ‘word’ is.
Modern day we’ve let so many important things get lost in
the shuffle and language is one of them. In Hawai’i I was
there when chanters song wafted out making the wind come up
and the waves rise. It was so immediate and so apparent
that the words created the action. It wasn’t a magic trick
or some slight of hand…it was real. There is power in
words…the sound we send out from ourselves.
I’ve marched through lots of experiences with my biological
family, with my marriages and the attachment last names
have had with the lineage of each. Through everything
Spirit God has been center in my life and by letting loose
of my attachment to last names, I believe that I am focused
on just being me. It’s tough to be yourself and find out
what ‘me’ is supposed to do in the world. For me, I believe
in love and that love is the center of everything, so if I
can erase some of the obstacles in my way…by way of a last
name and it’s threads of ‘stuff’ that come with it…then I
can step into the world more naked…more ready to do all
that I was created to do…hopefully, adding things to the
world that will make it a better place than when I arrived
here.
Interviewer: How did art come to be one of your
modalitites?
Frankly, I am surprised that it has grown to be such an
important path in my expression in the world. Though I was
constantly drawing and creating expressions of what was
happening on my journey, I believed voices outside of me
that said I couldn’t ‘do’ art. I believed a lot of negative
voices over the years and my path has been to sweep away
the beliefs of others about me and find out what I believed
about myself. Because of the every present support of my
Godmother, I knew that my writing was one of my gifts. I
still was not very proactive about it and stayed in a
conservative role of trying to be responsible and fit into
a corporate, cubicle world in which I thought I should work
for someone else and get a paycheck helping them with their
dream. My dreams were always not as important because I had
such a low self image.
For years, I have been blessed to be around some of the
greatest teachers of our times. Some I’ve known personally
and they’ve literally kicked my butt to move forward and
others have come through the vast books that I’ve had
access to…all the great masters have been my teachers
because I can read…what a gift!!!
In the last few years, one of my Tutu’s (adopted
grandmothers) saw my miniature work and bugged me to paint
larger. She believed in me before I believed in myself. So,
on her belief, I ventured outside of myself and let my
spirit begin to explore my feelings and the joy that the
Hawaiian Islands brought to my soul.
My earlier work from high school days forward were bleak
and black and portrayed a forboding of the demons that
walked the halls of my soul. But life in Hawai’i taught me
to laugh out loud…to experience joy in the moment…to learn
that love is an ever changing, all encompassing ‘thing’
that fills the nooks and crannys of loneliness, emptiness
and hopelessness.
I am my own worst critic. A friend of mine recently allowed
me to experience my work through her eyes. "This artist has such joy and love of the everyday…the bright colors the viewpoint of
portholes of life showed a person who very apparently saw
the joy and love of life."
My high school days spent many an afternoon at the Art
Institute of Chicago sitting in front of works of Picasso
and Dali and other artists. I saw how their work evolved
with their moods and the changes of the culture around
them. As I remembered, I saw that my own work had done the
same. From the dark pieces I did in the 70’s to the
colorful, bright spirit filled renditions of the last few
years, I could see my own inner growth within my art.
Inner growth to me is the most important work we do, so I
was able to see the important link for me of my art work
and my life!
Interviewer: Art just as most other occupations is riddled
with politics and judgement. You said, an East
coast artist said , “Real artists don’t do flowers’.
Ah…flowers…well I seldom go without fresh flowers in my
house always. I’ve watched our ever present superior court
of art stick their noses in the air on what is right and
good and really art. My opinion hasn’t changed since the
sixties…who gives anyone the right to quantify and qualify
what is and isn’t art? As a writer, I write stories with
many of my pieces…it’s important for me to express myself
in more than one way than just painting…I have a ‘love’
message to the world. The high mucky mucks think that’s
just ridiculous! Tut…tut…
There is so much negative and so much of people ‘hating’
each other for reasons that they don’t even understand…if I
don’t stay a voice of love and understanding and searching
for peace, then I just wouldn’t feel good about myself. The
world is dualistic and there’s plenty enough on the side of
violence, greed, malice, hate and all those other negative
feelings and actions. I have no problem with being a voice
for love and clarity and reaching for the highest and best
that serves people by raising their level of love instead
of negative feelings. If my work makes someone feel better
and it supports them in being more loving in any way, then
I’ve done something. Now enough people have given me
feedback, that I know my work has touched someone to be
more and do more because they were supported and enriched
by seeing something joyous and good and filled with love.
Interviewer: Where do you go from here?
My only job on the planet is to be who and what I was created to
be. Though I’m not religious, Spirit God is at the center
of my life and I am led by powers far greater than me
because as far as I’m concerned we are all one with
everything in existence. So, I just try to listen better
each day and do work that fills me and thus should fill
someone else and help them be all that they are created to
be.
Robyn is currently writing the first in a historical fiction trilogy of Hawai'i's story and still painting.
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