Do You Want to Die Not Knowing? One Artist's Leap Into Art as Service and Healing

Do You Want to Die Not Knowing? One Artist's Leap Into Art as Service and Healing

Have you ever had someone ask you a question that completely changed the direction of your life? In this episode, I talk with commission artist Shawn B. Standley, whose wife asked him exactly that kind of question — and it launched him into a new chapter as a full-time artist dedicated to healing and community service.

Shawn's journey is anything but a straight line — from aerospace engineering student to carpenter, Navy veteran, restaurant manager, and Alaskan wilderness dweller — before finally committing to his true calling: creating deeply personal commission art that captures people's stories, memories, and life transitions.

Now based in Conway, Arkansas, Shawn is partnering with wellness organizations, end-of-life doulas, and medical institutions to bring the healing power of art to people navigating major life changes. He also oversees the urban farming and community garden program at the Faulkner County Library — proof that art and service can take many forms.

In this episode we cover:

• (1:42) How Shawn's father discouraged him from pursuing art as a career — and how he found his way back
• (11:51) Dropping out of aerospace engineering school and the winding road that followed
• (13:17) Moving to Whidbey Island and finding his first real artistic community and mentor
• (16:03) Going to art school at Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle — and why he left
• (18:11) How Alaska got under his skin and changed everything
• (22:07) The question his wife Shell asked that became the turning point of his artistic life
• (23:54) Discovering the profound emotional power of commission art and creating work that tells someone's personal story
• (24:40) Why Conway, Arkansas — and what surprised him about building an art practice there
• (28:45) Finding his why through the Artist Inc. fellowship and the Artists in Business mentorship program
• (32:15) Partnering with end-of-life doulas, the University of Arkansas Medical Sciences wellness program, and the Arkansas Wellness Network
• (37:55) His vision for combining art and healing as a full-time practice

Connect with Shawn: Website: shawnbstudios.com Social media: @shawnbstudios

Connect with me: arthealsallwoundspodcast.com | Substack

Music by Ketsa and Lobo Loco

Transcript

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00;00;12;00 - 00;00;31;11

Pam

Do you believe art can change the world? So do I! On this show, we meet artists whose work is doing just that. Welcome to Art Heals All Wounds. I'm your host, Pam Uzzell.

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Pam

I'd love to know how many of you listening loved art as children, but were discouraged from pursuing it as a career. Maybe by a family member.

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Pam

Maybe by a really mean teacher who told you that you didn't have any talent? How did you find your way back to art?

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Pam

When I was growing up, I didn't even know that a person could be an artist.

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Pam

I remember telling my parents that I was taking film classes in college. The shock of their reaction to that. They kept asking, what do you mean? Are you trying to be an actress? No, mom, I'm talking about making films. Long pause. Like an actress.

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Pam

Today I'm talking with Shawn B. Standley, an artist who works on commission

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Pam

and is also in charge of the urban gardening program at the Faulkner County Library in Conway, Arkansas.

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Pam

Shawn was also discouraged from pursuing art as a career, and his path to finding his way back has many, many twists and turns. A twisty path would also describe his adventures of

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Pam

moving up and down the West Coast, then into the wilderness of Alaska, where he first started painting commissions and really discovered how powerful it can be to create art for someone else.

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Pam

And the latest chapter for Shawn has been this move to Arkansas.

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Pam

I grew up in Arkansas, but I've lived on the West Coast all of my adult life. Shawn's journey feels a little bit like looking through the other end of a telescope for me,

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Pam

but what I see and learn from Shawn really shows me that it's not so much about the place, it's about the person. The art scene in Conway, Arkansas is completely different than anything Shawn has experienced before.

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Pam

To make the connections and find the community he needed first started with him really figuring out his why.

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Pam

Why create art? Why do it here? What does art really even mean to me at this point in my life?

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Pam

And he found that the answers to those questions was another question. How can I use my art to be of service?

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Pam

You want to know how you can really help me keep this show going? Follow me on your favorite listening app. So easy. Right? And if you really want to give the show a boost, leave me a five star rating or review.

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Pam

Hi, Shawn. I'm so glad that you are coming onto Art Heals All Wounds to talk with me. I know some about you. I know that you really have a couple of different practices or professions that are rooted in an idea of service. Maybe you have more, but I know of two from reading about you and seeing your work.

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Pam

Would you describe a little bit about these two different professions?

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Shawn

Absolutely. And first, I am truly honored to be here today and being a part of this community. It's kind of a dream come true. So,

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Shawn

thank you all for listening. And thank you, Pam, for having me today.

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Shawn

Yes. This idea of service.

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Shawn

I'm a professional artist,

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Shawn

who's been painting with intention for over 25 years.

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Shawn

Which is crazy to think over half my life. And,

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Shawn

I also work at the county library where I live here in Conway, Arkansas. The Faulkner county library where I am the garden programmer and oversee the Faulkner county urban farm project.

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Shawn

Among other things,

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Shawn

both of which,

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Shawn

are fulfilling for me in being able to serve the community and people in different ways.

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Pam

Right. And obviously, I'm going to want to talk about your work as an artist, but I do want to hear a little bit more about,

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Pam

your job there at the library.

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Pam

What I've read is that it's actually quite extensive when we're talking about. Did I read correctly that the library has, like, a 40 acre garden or there's a public 40 acre garden?

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Shawn

Our garden, we do have a couple of community gardens here in Conway. Our garden.

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Shawn

Our library sits on about eight acres, and the community garden portion of it is probably about an acre plus of,

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Shawn

garden

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Shawn

It's an old farm. And so there's a lot of acreage, about half of it, 4 or 5 acres.

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Shawn

That's,

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Shawn

still pasture and orchard that we are slowly beginning to incorporate into the garden out back as we get grant funds and other resources and partnerships to help us develop that space.

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Pam

Okay, so I'm just totally making up this 40 acres.

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Shawn

Winnie the Pooh, right. I love it,

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Pam

Well, but an acre is still huge. An acre is a lot. Is a big garden.

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Shawn

Yeah. It's a it's surprising. I mean, we have a community garden within that. 40 plots of 4x4 raised beds that are open to the community for free in exchange for volunteer time helping take care of the garden where we help teach people to,

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Shawn

to become,

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Shawn

food literate and make good, healthy choices, become empowered,

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Shawn

learn to,

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Shawn

just make healthier lifestyle choices through gardening, through community.

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Shawn

And it's amazing how much food you can grow in a four foot by four foot area, let alone an acre.

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Pam

Well, this is neither here nor there, but

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Pam

my grandmother used to have about an acre garden that she would in the summertime when we go visit her, put

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Pam

myself and the cousins all to work and to the point where we would hide from her because it was so huge. It was so much work.

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Pam

But this all sounds like you talk about these gardens, pasture, orchards. It sounds idyllic, but I it's probably not. I'm probably romanticizing it.

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Shawn

Well, it's interesting because. So we're in the city of Conway, which is around 50, 60,000 people. But this land was donated to the county by the family that had the farm 30 years ago. And so it's this little postage stamp of county property nestled within the city of Conway. So it's literally like a little park that just kind of got set aside,

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Shawn

and like a little slice of time kind of cut out of the middle of Conway.

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Shawn

So it is it is pretty special, actually,

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Shawn

that we're there.

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Pam

Right.

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Pam

I guess what I'm wondering then, now, as you describe it that way, is like, what is the impact of having this space within this urban area

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Pam

what's the engagement like from the people in the urban area, and what are your goals in terms of engagement with the people of Conway?

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Shawn

That's a really interesting question because I have changed so much and learned so much and had my eyes opened to what libraries are. I grew up across the street from a county library, literally across the street in,

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Shawn

Central California, and I didn't have a lot of kids in my neighborhood my age. So my library was my best friend, and I spent hours and hours in the stacks there, and my parents worked.

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Shawn

So I would just walk across the street and spend my day in the library. And it was a very library. Hush-hush library. And we are anything but,

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Shawn

hush hush library.

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Shawn

The Faulkner County Library is really a community center, and I think that's what libraries are evolving into as the information age comes, you know, has come about and we all have access to so much information.

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Shawn

People say, well, why do we need books? And that's a good question. And libraries have adapted to,

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Shawn

to that environment. And now we have everything from taxes to tai chi, I mean, and gardening. It's really we're picking up the pieces of where the community, where government services and other community services fall short. And I didn't I didn't know that.

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Shawn

I didn't know that about libraries. I didn't know that's what Conway needed.

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Shawn

Our town is about 50, 60,000, as I mentioned, and a busy summer months. We have,

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Shawn

devices that count how many people come in and out the doors. I think in July, last summer, we saw 50,000, roughly 50,000 patrons in one month.

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Pam

Wow.

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Shawn

That's the entire population of Conway in numbers. So it's it's mind boggling how much we impact the community and how much the community uses the library.

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Pam

That's actually an amazing statistic.

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Pam

have you been an artist your whole life? Did you, as a child, you know, like, what's your path to coming to be a practicing artist?

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Shawn

And it's anything about a straight line?

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Shawn

Yeah, I was I think a lot of artists find that they were creative as children. I was no different. I loved to draw.

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Shawn

I would copy artwork,

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Shawn

from things in my life that I enjoyed, comic books or games in my teens. I used to love to copy album covers of my favorite bands and put them up on my walls.

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Shawn

My mom always saved all of my doodles and put them on the fridge and embarrassed me by showing our guests my silly little drawings. Even when I got older, Shawn did this when he was, you know, whatever, ten or what. And I'm sitting there holding my head, my head in my hands, you know, don't talk... That's awful.

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Shawn

That's awful. Don't show that. But she was so proud

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Shawn

But it didn't lead to a path, into art.

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Shawn

I'm also very, What is it? I always get mixed up. Right brain, left brain. I'm very,

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Shawn

math, engineering, science oriented, and I excelled at that as well.

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Shawn

I did well in art classes, and I always took art electives in high school and junior high. But I really excelled in math and science. And my father, my parents were separated. So I spent my high school years with my father. He really, really reinforced that side of me and the practicality of,

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Shawn

you know, career and future and job and all that stuff.

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Shawn

He did not support the arts, at all, considered it a hobby.

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Shawn

And I ended up getting scholarships to go to college in Southern California for engineering. And I also wanted to be an astronaut. I was a dreamer. So,

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Shawn

I went off to school to become an aerospace engineer and was miserable.

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Shawn

The people I gravitated to, my friends were artists, theater majors, filmmakers. I just found myself spending late nights in the art studios with my friends who were art majors. I didn't hang out with my engineering friends. I hung out with my art friends. That happened pretty quickly, and I ended up dropping out of college and not finishing my engineering degree.

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Shawn

One month shy of my degree.

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Pam

Wow.

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Shawn

My mom asked me, you know, why didn't you just finish? And I said, mom, 99% of the jobs out there that might require this degree. I don't want.

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Shawn

and then I, you know, I bounced around a lot. I worked a lot of jobs and traveled a bit, moved around several states. Art was always kind of in the background.

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Shawn

I did it a little bit here and there. Little doodle, little sketch. I was in a band for a while, and I did all of the promotional posters and album covers for our CDs that usually ended up in use record stores for a dollar.

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Shawn

So my my path to art is as rambling as the story.

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Shawn

I did a stint in the service. I was in the Navy for a while. When I got out of the service, I kind of started life over. I was in my late mid late 20s and I thought to myself, I get to start life over.

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Shawn

And I decided to follow my old college buddies. And that led me up to the Pacific Northwest.

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Shawn

I moved to Whidbey Island, which is,

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Shawn

a really creative community. A lot of musicians, artists,

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Shawn

just a really wonderful creative place. And just through serendipity, I ended up meeting a local artist. His name was David Hubbard, and he had,

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Shawn

a weekly paint night at the local art co-op.

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Shawn

And he said, you should come. And up until that point, I was again kind of playing with art here and there. But really not happy with what I was producing. So I started going to these paint nights. I would load up my easel and, and I paints and put it in my mufflerless pickup truck and drive half an hour,

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Shawn

noisily down the road to the art co-op.

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Shawn

And,

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Shawn

it was just a magical place.

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Shawn

It was a safe place,

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Shawn

nurturing place. David and his friend Norma, also a really talented artist, just created a really welcoming environment for anybody that showed up. And we paid a couple bucks a week, like 3 or 5 bucks to keep the lights on. It was affordable. It was accessible and,

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Shawn

I started to really paint, and we would all bring things from home, like anything from home a pinecone, a stuffed animal, whatever. We pile them on this table in the middle of the room to have something to look at, and you could work on something of your own. Or if you didn't have anything, we would draw what was ever in the room.

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Shawn

And,

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Shawn

I loved David's style, his technique as an artist. And so I began to kind of emulate him a little bit, which I think is common in the art world. When you get a mentor. He became my mentor. Right. And,

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Shawn

my skills began to really solidify and take shape. And because we were a group of artists, David also would help,

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Shawn

organize periodic shows, group shows at the art store.

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Shawn

And so I started participating in those, and I sold my first painting.

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Pam

Wow. And.

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Shawn

Yeah. And then people were like, you should do more of this. And I was like, that feels really good.

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Shawn

So I started doing more of it and I just completely became obsessed.

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Shawn

I was building houses at the time. I was a carpenter. And,

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Shawn

I would go houses for eight hours a day, nine hours a day, and then come home and then paint until I was too tired to do anything else. And that's all I did.

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Shawn

And it was such a magical time in my late 20s, just I felt like I had boundless energy and I was cranking out paintings and doing more shows and selling more paintings, and eventually had my own solo show and sold more paintings. And that inspired me to go back to college.

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Shawn

So I said, okay, give yourself permission to take on some student loans and go try this thing, like, really do this thing.

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Pam

So in art school is what you're saying.

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Shawn

Yeah. So I applied to Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle and was accepted as an interview process and all that. And,

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Shawn

moved to Seattle and began life as an art student. And it was really cool at first. But,

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Shawn

the urban art scene and maybe big cities are like this, or maybe it was just back then, really turned me off.

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Shawn

It was very competitive. It was the galleries were king, and it didn't seem like people played very nice in the sandbox. And I did really good at school. I got their top scholarship and, I was going back to school at a later age was really awesome because I could relate to my faculty, my professors, we were peers and that was a cool experience.

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Shawn

I wasn't just an angry 19 year old painting in black and white and red. I had some life under my belt, and I remember the first time one of my professors, a sculpture professor, Steven Lammy, he's like, hey, do you want to go out for a beer sometime? And we went out to Ballard and had a beer and I'm like,

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Shawn

You can do. You're allowed to do that. You can have a beer with your professor, you know, because I was an adult, I just didn't know you could do that. It was so cool.

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Shawn

I really enjoyed that aspect of it, but I get really jaded about the Seattle art scene, and I realized that a degree in art for me, I think unless you want to teach or stay in academia,

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Shawn

I didn't see the need for a degree.

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Shawn

And so I left school again and moved down to bend, Oregon, where my college mates had migrated to, and we started playing. We tried to start playing music again. So art was always an art kind of in the background, right? You pick up a day job and you got to pay the rent. And so I'm doing art side a little here, a little there, and then,

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Shawn

my wanderings eventually led me up to Alaska.

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Shawn

I took a summer job on a fishing boat. It was awful miserable. But Alaska got under, Alaska got under my skin, and,

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Shawn

I was managing restaurants and had moved back to Seattle managing restaurants for this company.

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Shawn

And I just started dreaming about Alaska. So I went down to Pike Place Market. I bought this giant six foot map of Alaska and put it on my wall.

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Shawn

And I would sit there at night and just daydream of all the little places in Alaska I might go,

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Shawn

My heart was like pulling me to Alaska.

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Shawn

I was loading freight cars down on the rails in Seattle, the rail yards.

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Shawn

And a buddy of mine says, you know, Shawn, what the heck are you doing with your life, man? And I said, well, I want to get to Alaska, but I don't know how. And so,

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Shawn

he said, well, hey, my buddy actually grew up in Anchorage and he knows a guy that

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Shawn

owns a restaurant there.

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Shawn

And I said, okay,

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Shawn

well, I'll give him my resume.

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Shawn

about two weeks later was sitting at home on a Friday night, and I got a phone call from the owner of Humpy’a great Alaskan ale house. rock music playing the background. It was loud and he's screaming on the phone, hey, are you serious about moving to Alaska?

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Shawn

And I said, yes, and I said,

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Shawn

I need a restaurant manager like, now. And I said, okay, I'll see you on Monday. So I literally bought a plane ticket and flew up there on Monday. We interviewed, I said, give me two weeks to get my affairs in order. I got back to Seattle. I,

00;19;34;27 - 00;19;37;15

Shawn

packed a steamer trunk and a duffel bag and a backpack.

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Shawn

I put the rest of my belongings in the alley behind my apartment building and,

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Shawn

hopped on a plane and headed up to Alaska.

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Pam

Wow.

00;19;45;07 - 00;19;48;07

Shawn

again, art was always just kind of in the background,

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Shawn

I would sell a painting here and there for a couple bucks, you know,

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Shawn

somebody might say, oh, can you do something for me? Okay. Sure. So I always kept an easel, always kept,

00;19;56;28 - 00;20;02;01

Shawn

you know, my paints around, but it wasn't my focus.

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Shawn

I ended up managing this restaurant in

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Shawn

Anchorage for about six years, but I really wanted to experience rural Alaska, like the whole Alaska thing and ended up,

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Shawn

discovering this little village called Talkeetna, about 900 people in the foothills of the Talkeetna mountains up near Denali.

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Shawn

And there's a of all things, there's a brewery there and a brewpub. And I got to know the owner because I would buy his beer at the restaurant I was managing in Anchorage, and we became friends, and I eventually bought a little cabin in Talkeetna, kind of a summer getaway place. And the owner of Denali Brewing found out. And he said,

00;20;36;26 - 00;20;48;15

Shawn

hey, I saw you bought property. Are you moving to Talkeetna? And I said, man, I would love to live there, but there's no jobs. And he said, what if I could change that for you? And so offered me a job,

00;20;48;15 - 00;20;59;06

Shawn

managing the restaurant there and working for the brewery. So made the move to Talkeetna. And after a couple of years there, I ended up meeting who is now my wife.

00;20;59;12 - 00;21;11;23

Shawn

We were neighbors there. She was with her ex, and I was with my ex. And as a little small town happenings happened, we both ended up single and then together in the small town.

00;21;11;26 - 00;21;18;07

Shawn

my boss was very supportive of my artistic endeavors. He commissioned some work for the restaurant to do,

00;21;18;07 - 00;21;21;16

Shawn

but again, background kind of background,

00;21;21;19 - 00;21;22;21

Shawn

the restaurant was very busy.

00;21;22;21 - 00;21;30;04

Shawn

It was very stressful, was a very touristy town, so a very small town. But in the summer times we got very, very busy with summer tourism.

00;21;30;06 - 00;21;34;10

Shawn

And the job was literally killing me. One day I was,

00;21;34;13 - 00;21;38;02

Shawn

sitting at my boss's desk for a weekly check in, and,

00;21;38;05 - 00;21;41;15

Shawn

my nose began to bleed and I passed out.

00;21;41;17 - 00;21;42;05

Pam

Wow.

00;21;42;10 - 00;21;43;02

Shawn

And,

00;21;43;02 - 00;21;44;04

Shawn

I had I had,

00;21;44;04 - 00;21;46;24

Shawn

hypertension, high blood pressure.

00;21;46;26 - 00;22;07;12

Shawn

And a couple days later, Shell and I were sitting on our front porch in our cabin out in the woods and, just enjoying some wine and the, like, late summer sun. And she looked at me and she said, Shawn, do you want to die not knowing if you ever could have made it as an artist?

00;22;07;14 - 00;22;16;29

Shawn

Wow. Yeah. I mean, that was like, I'm getting goosebumps. It was like a lightning bolt, I’m getting a little emotional. It was like a lightning bolt hit me. And,

00;22;17;02 - 00;22;20;09

Shawn

she's always been so supportive of me. And,

00;22;20;12 - 00;22;29;19

Shawn

in anything that I do, especially as an artist. And we started talking and we made the decision. This was back in,

00;22;29;22 - 00;22;32;07

Shawn

20 was it was before Covid 2019.

00;22;32;07 - 00;22;36;21

Shawn

Before 20. Yeah. Before I put a hit. And I said, okay,

00;22;36;24 - 00;22;43;13

Shawn

we were going to sell the little cabin that I had originally bought to give us a little bit of money, and I gave,

00;22;43;13 - 00;22;45;03

Shawn

six months notice at my job,

00;22;45;04 - 00;22;54;01

Shawn

But then Covid hit and I ended up staying at the restaurant in the brewery for quite a bit longer, helping them get through that very tough time.

00;22;54;04 - 00;23;03;02

Shawn

So in late 2020 or around September 2020, they were settling, the things were settling down and they were doing better. And,

00;23;03;05 - 00;23;04;06

Shawn

I said, okay, it's time to move.

00;23;04;06 - 00;23;07;05

Shawn

It's time to move on. So I embraced life,

00;23;07;10 - 00;23;13;28

Shawn

as a full time artist. And I've been doing that pretty much since,

00;23;14;01 - 00;23;20;21

Shawn

but it's hard. It was hard in rural Alaska. I didn't have a good business plan, and we were pretty isolated and,

00;23;20;21 - 00;23;27;24

Shawn

I was doing okay. Mostly commission work. People were, you know, supportive and asking me for for paintings to do.

00;23;27;24 - 00;23;54;27

Shawn

And so I was creating things for people and that was really fulfilling. That's when I really started to embrace commissions. When I was in my 20s, I painted to for my for me, things that I thought were were beautiful. When I started embracing art at this chapter of my life, people began to ask me to make things for them, specifically for them about their life and that was a big shift for me.

00;23;54;29 - 00;24;19;26

Shawn

And the connection was tremendous like that. When you when you hand over a piece of art to somebody, that's for them and they look at it for the first time and you can just see them well up with emotion because you've told some, some story, their, their story, their legacy, something important in their life. They get it's made, made tangible on a piece of art.

00;24;19;28 - 00;24;35;01

Shawn

I can't express that feeling, you know, that that exchange that happens when, when when I connect with somebody on a personal level. And since then it's it's been it commissions. It's been my thing making things personal.

00;24;35;03 - 00;24;40;27

Pam

how did you wind up in Conway, Arkansas, is my next question. Right?

00;24;40;27 - 00;24;45;14

Shawn

I know, I mean, a place that most U.S. citizens can't find on a map,

00;24;45;16 - 00;24;46;01

Pam

Right.

00;24;46;01 - 00;24;47;16

Shawn

my wife's family lives here.

00;24;47;21 - 00;24;49;27

Shawn

Her sister, her youngest sister,

00;24;50;00 - 00;24;54;03

Shawn

moved here years ago, and then her parents, when they retired,

00;24;54;06 - 00;24;57;10

Shawn

wanted to be close to the grandkids. We don't have kids, but my,

00;24;57;15 - 00;25;03;05

Shawn

sister in law does have a family, and they want it to be close. So they moved to,

00;25;03;05 - 00;25;06;09

Shawn

Greenbrier, which is near Conway.

00;25;06;12 - 00;25;08;09

Shawn

And,

00;25;08;11 - 00;25;18;12

Shawn

and, gosh, 20. I should know this. It's the the year I got married. I'm at the moment, I'm on the spot here. And you look at my phone right after we got married,

00;25;18;16 - 00;25;22;14

Shawn

my father passed very suddenly, and,

00;25;22;17 - 00;25;25;02

Shawn

we went down to California for three months,

00;25;25;05 - 00;25;29;06

Shawn

to tie up his estate and take care of things.

00;25;29;08 - 00;25;43;28

Shawn

And then when we got back, her father started to have health problems, and we came out here in Arkansas for a major surgery, and she stayed behind to help the family for a bit.

00;25;44;00 - 00;25;57;05

Shawn

And when she came home, she just, I feel, as she calls it, the hand on the back. That's what she calls it. You know, I feel a hand on the back to be with my parents for their final chapter, and I couldn't say no to that.

00;25;57;07 - 00;26;19;27

Shawn

I mean, I didn't get that with my father. I didn't get that with my mother. Right? And I didn't want her to miss out on that. So we made another big jump. We put the house up on the market, sold the house as is, turnkey, full of everything. Like we didn't get rid of anything. The person that bought it got a snow machine or a four wheel and a generator and all that.

00;26;20;02 - 00;26;22;10

Shawn

It just we just left it all behind. Wow.

00;26;22;14 - 00;26;27;04

Shawn

We took the down payment and bought an old 1993 RV,

00;26;27;04 - 00;26;32;25

Shawn

we called Peace Arrow and we loaded it up with everything we could pack in there and,

00;26;32;27 - 00;26;37;22

Shawn

drove to Arkansas. I mean, all the way through Canada. Took a month and drove 4000 miles.

00;26;37;25 - 00;26;38;24

Pam

Wow.

00;26;38;26 - 00;26;39;28

Shawn

And landed here in,

00;26;39;28 - 00;26;50;14

Shawn

Greenbrier and now Conway. It's the library that brought me into Conway. The job. But, yeah, never in my life dreamed I would live in Arkansas.

00;26;50;17 - 00;27;01;10

Pam

Well, as you know, probably I grew up there, and. Right. It's an interesting state. I mean, I, I love it a great deal.

00;27;01;13 - 00;27;07;14

Pam

But it can be a very frustrating place for me as well.

00;27;07;17 - 00;27;09;19

Pam

I'm so curious.

00;27;09;22 - 00;27;14;11

Pam

I know that you have really found yourself

00;27;14;16 - 00;27;19;13

Pam

when you talk about this idea of service. And we talked about the library, which,

00;27;19;14 - 00;27;23;01

Pam

it sounds like it's more than a job to you.

00;27;23;03 - 00;27;39;05

Pam

But I'm also wondering about other things in terms of your artwork that you've involved yourself in there in Arkansas. Has that expanded for you, this, this community of artists.

00;27;39;08 - 00;27;41;12

Shawn

In a way I never expected?

00;27;41;15 - 00;27;51;10

Shawn

It was tough when I got here. I thought, oh, I can be an artist anywhere, right? Arts, art can translate anywhere. Not so much in central Arkansas.

00;27;51;13 - 00;27;52;14

Pam

Interesting.

00;27;52;15 - 00;27;55;02

Shawn

Not not not the art that I was doing.

00;27;55;02 - 00;28;01;08

Shawn

And I'll be honest, you know, I my my, my price points as an artist, I, there's a lot of,

00;28;01;08 - 00;28;06;18

Shawn

fairs, craft fairs, that kind of stuff. People here are very accustomed to,

00;28;06;21 - 00;28;09;25

Shawn

you know, they might spend 30 or $40 for a print,

00;28;09;28 - 00;28;12;25

Shawn

you know, they don't expect to spend a lot of money on art.

00;28;12;26 - 00;28;23;13

Shawn

Least not they. Not when I first got here. That not the circles I was getting myself into. And I found it very difficult to make a living as an artist.

00;28;23;15 - 00;28;25;17

Shawn

People weren't into commissions.

00;28;25;17 - 00;28;30;06

Shawn

So it was very challenging for me. I would go to arts fairs and crafts fairs and

00;28;30;09 - 00;28;36;01

Shawn

you know, they'd see a price tag on a painting and they'd just shake their head and say, no, no, thank you, you know?

00;28;36;01 - 00;28;37;06

Shawn

And,

00;28;37;09 - 00;28;38;14

Shawn

it was really hard,

00;28;38;17 - 00;28;45;08

Shawn

to connect artistically here. And so I enrolled in a or I was accepted into a,

00;28;45;11 - 00;28;47;07

Shawn

a program called Artist Inc.

00;28;47;10 - 00;28;53;23

Shawn

I was awarded a fellowship. It's, it's a middle America arts alliance. They're based out of Kansas City, and it's,

00;28;53;23 - 00;28;56;13

Shawn

a program to help artists become better businesspeople.

00;28;56;16 - 00;29;00;06

Shawn

And that was really great. I began to meet other creatives, some of whom I'm still friends with.

00;29;00;06 - 00;29;05;07

Shawn

This is a couple years ago. And then I went deeper. I joined a mentorship program called,

00;29;05;11 - 00;29;13;18

Shawn

Artists in Business, and it was a very significant financial investment, but really deep into,

00;29;13;18 - 00;29;14;22

Shawn

my why,

00;29;14;25 - 00;29;23;11

Shawn

and how I connect with people. And this program really got me open to the idea of partnership,

00;29;23;14 - 00;29;25;18

Shawn

working with people,

00;29;25;21 - 00;29;30;06

Shawn

or businesses to say, how can I serve your community?

00;29;30;08 - 00;29;35;08

Shawn

As I got deeper into this process and asking myself about why I do what I do,

00;29;35;11 - 00;29;39;19

Shawn

and this was happening concurrently with the library all happening at the same time.

00;29;39;22 - 00;29;45;04

Shawn

And I think the library reinforced this process of.

00;29;45;06 - 00;29;48;06

Shawn

If people people need to value,

00;29;48;06 - 00;29;54;25

Shawn

they're looking for value. Connectivity in art and art can be simply beautiful. Art can be inspiring.

00;29;54;28 - 00;30;01;21

Shawn

But I create commissions and it's a deeply personal process. And so.

00;30;01;23 - 00;30;02;04

Shawn

People

00;30;02;04 - 00;30;18;28

Shawn

need to value that process. And so I began to like, okay, I'm doing something really special with people. I'm capturing a moment in life or a place, some memories, some experience. And then as we share and talk, like, if I was to do a commission for you, we would sit and I would get to know you.

00;30;18;28 - 00;30;22;05

Shawn

Just like we're getting to know each other right now. I want to know your story.

00;30;22;08 - 00;30;39;22

Shawn

And so people share that. And it takes me back to when I was selling paintings in my 20s that somebody would even want what I do, but then it would spark something in them. But really, what the real magic was, was when they personally connected to the art.

00;30;39;25 - 00;31;04;02

Shawn

It brought back a memory or a feeling, and so that that idea of service you talk about was like, how can art, how can I bring value to someone's life through art? Right? Why would somebody value this? What do I have to give them? And that's that energy exchange. And the deeper I got into that, I began to realize, like, that is what matters most to me, right?

00;31;04;03 - 00;31;19;06

Shawn

That's really why I do it now. And I think we shift as we get older, right? 20s versus 50s. I think a lot of us get into this chapter and we begin to reflect on our lives. It's time to start giving back right?

00;31;19;09 - 00;31;41;15

Shawn

So part of the process is, you know, you hop on ChatGPT or Claude and you ask, okay, here's my artist's bio, here's my artist's statement, here's my why find me organizations that I might align with. That's literally what's that that kind of simple and straightforward and what started coming back to me was,

00;31;41;15 - 00;31;45;02

Shawn

health and wellness organizations.

00;31;45;04 - 00;31;50;03

Shawn

Legacy organizations, people preserving memories, families, people,

00;31;50;06 - 00;31;52;12

Shawn

end of life transitioning.

00;31;52;14 - 00;32;15;04

Shawn

And I thought, okay, well, I'm just going to start reaching out to some of these people. And so I did I just started sending my wife helps with the marketing too and we just started sending out emails. Would you be interested in having a conversation to see how my art could somehow benefit your community? And what what's coming back was,

00;32;15;07 - 00;32;17;19

Shawn

end of life doulas?

00;32;17;22 - 00;32;18;14

Shawn

Responded.

00;32;18;21 - 00;32;21;17

Shawn

The University of Arkansas Medical Sciences

00;32;21;20 - 00;32;25;11

Shawn

wellness mindfulness program responded,

00;32;25;14 - 00;32;25;28

Shawn

the

00;32;25;28 - 00;32;29;15

Shawn

Arkansas Wellness Network as a new organization responded.

00;32;29;18 - 00;32;29;29

Pam

Wow.

00;32;30;00 - 00;32;44;24

Shawn

And so I was like, okay, well, that's that's what's aligning is these people that are talking about health, wellness, major life transition. And so I listened and,

00;32;44;27 - 00;32;49;00

Shawn

I began to partner with these organizations.

00;32;49;06 - 00;32;50;11

Shawn

And it's growing,

00;32;50;14 - 00;33;06;13

Shawn

and I'm actually like, I'm getting goosebumps again. I did not expect it. It's growing slowly, but it's happening and I didn't I didn't realize there would be such excitement around art in these communities.

00;33;06;19 - 00;33;29;09

Shawn

It's not built into them. And so there's this genuine curiosity, it seems like with these people saying, wow, here's an artist that wants to get involved with wellness, here's an artist that wants to sit with people as they transition out of this life and create something meaningful for them and their families. And I'm surprised that they're surprised.

00;33;29;11 - 00;33;30;18

Pam

Right.

00;33;30;21 - 00;33;32;17

Shawn

But it seems to be clicking.

00;33;32;20 - 00;33;38;19

Pam

The sense I get from your story, I mean, there

00;33;38;21 - 00;34;20;22

Pam

may be many artists who say for me, it's all about the process. And I have I've not heard you not say that, but for you, it really is the sense of being in community, whether it's a couple of other people or whether it's a wider association, and finding that place where you and the other person, where there's someone commissioning your art or the organization, your work with overlap and click, that is the part that is your why, your excite, your, you know, that excitement for you.

00;34;20;27 - 00;34;29;27

Pam

Is that fair? Or do you think that it's the balance of both the process and then also the audience and the community?

00;34;30;00 - 00;34;47;03

Shawn

It's the connection. And I don't know why. That's me, I suppose. And again, I think maybe it's the chapter of life as we get a little older, but it's the connection. And then I didn't I just to throw out some stats.

00;34;47;11 - 00;34;49;02

Shawn

I didn't realize Arkansas

00;34;49;04 - 00;34;56;03

Shawn

you know, 49th in the country for health and wellness, 50th in the country for food security.

00;34;56;03 - 00;35;06;04

Shawn

I didn't know that until I worked at the library. And so I can't help but wonder. I tell my wife this whole time,

00;35;06;07 - 00;35;16;20

Shawn

we're here for a reason. And we were called to this community to to be of service to this community in a way that neither one of us even dreamed of.

00;35;16;20 - 00;35;21;16

Shawn

She is just started becoming or doing her training to become an end of life doula.

00;35;21;19 - 00;35;57;23

Shawn

That wasn't on the radar two years ago. Not even in our wildest dreams, right? And so now we're dreaming of working together so she can help people in that process. And I can be a part of that process. We dream of of teaming up and using arts and her natural abilities as a healer to to help people with end of life transition and help families and a life transition that never would have happened had we not come here and gone through the bumps and bruises and scrapes that we've gone through in adjusting to life in a place that

00;35;57;25 - 00;36;04;17

Shawn

doesn't generally really align with our values in many ways, but we're finding our people.

00;36;04;20 - 00;36;05;23

Pam

Right?

00;36;05;25 - 00;36;31;00

Pam

I don't want to say what's the word. It's not the destination, but it's it's like the way that you've landed. It does sound so haphazard, but I think the difference is, is that instead of treating it as haphazard, you really looked around. And I liked how you said you listened. You listened,

00;36;31;02 - 00;36;41;22

Pam

It's it's really it's very, provocative to think about where you are now and how you got there.

00;36;41;24 - 00;36;45;03

Shawn

Yeah, it's I was just reflecting, you know,

00;36;45;06 - 00;36;48;27

Shawn

I just keep coming back to there's such a sense of gratitude.

00;36;49;00 - 00;36;51;06

Shawn

When when I think back at Shell’s question, you know,

00;36;51;06 - 00;36;59;00

Shawn

do you want to die not knowing if you could have made it as an artist even back then, what, 5 or 6 years ago?

00;36;59;02 - 00;37;01;01

Shawn

What I thought it meant to be an artist.

00;37;01;08 - 00;37;07;10

Shawn

It's so different from what it means to me now to be an artist.

00;37;07;13 - 00;37;09;16

Shawn

These times are pretty intense, right?

00;37;09;19 - 00;37;15;14

Shawn

What is the old. Is it Chinese or Japanese curse, may you live in interesting times.

00;37;15;17 - 00;37;27;07

Shawn

I hear a call, I and I don't I did not expect it to be in Arkansas, but if there's a need here. I'm being called, and I hear it, and I feel the need to answer that.

00;37;27;07 - 00;37;31;15

Shawn

I think we all have multiple gifts and talents. And so I feel

00;37;31;15 - 00;37;55;28

Shawn

I feel a responsibility to, to to use that where I'm at in a meaningful way. And again, the overlap is real. The library has kind of galvanized me and shown me what the community needs, and then the art is aligned with that. And again, like you said, I'm listening and trying to figure out how to make it work and then how to make a living in my dream life.

00;37;55;28 - 00;38;00;15

Shawn

I would love to transition. I'm working on transitioning back into art full time.

00;38;00;18 - 00;38;11;23

Shawn

I want to maintain some kind of activity at the library and the Urban farm project, whether I volunteer at the community garden or however that works. I don't want that to not be a part of my life. But,

00;38;11;26 - 00;38;24;04

Shawn

if art could be my full time again, that's what I'm working on manifesting and hoping that maybe in the in the healing community, in the wellness community, there's space for that.

00;38;24;06 - 00;38;36;03

Shawn

Then there's room for the energy exchange. As artists we have, sometimes I have a hard time receiving right, putting value on our work. I carry a lot of that from my father's voice.

00;38;36;05 - 00;38;45;13

Shawn

So learning to say yes, I have value as an artist. I have something that I can give of meaning to the community, and it's okay for me to make a living at it.

00;38;45;15 - 00;38;46;25

Pam

Right?

00;38;46;28 - 00;38;51;26

Pam

Well, I think this is a really good place to

00;38;51;26 - 00;38;55;17

Pam

let you tell us where people can find out more about you.

00;38;55;17 - 00;38;56;16

Shawn

Thank you.

00;38;56;19 - 00;38;57;20

Shawn

I'm online.

00;38;57;25 - 00;39;00;08

Shawn

ShawnBstudios.com is,

00;39;00;12 - 00;39;04;00

Shawn

my website. You can see my work there. And,

00;39;04;00 - 00;39;10;12

Shawn

I really want to invite people. There's a little tab up there. It says book a call, and it's just a conversation.

00;39;10;15 - 00;39;13;28

Shawn

I really want to connect with people and find out how,

00;39;14;01 - 00;39;17;05

Shawn

how you imagine I can be of service.

00;39;17;05 - 00;39;39;20

Shawn

We can talk. Let's get creative about art. We we come into this world as artists. Every kid believes they're an artist. And I believe that we should leave this world feeling creative, too. And so I really want to help inspire people to feel creative so you can find me at shawnbstudios.com or at Shawnbstudios on all social media platforms and out there,

00;39;39;23 - 00;39;43;00

Shawn

and would love to connect with anybody who wants to talk more about this kind of stuff.

00;39;43;00 - 00;39;44;26

Shawn

Just talk.

00;39;44;28 - 00;40;02;04

Pam

Well, that is wonderful. Thank you so much for agreeing to come talk to me on this show. I have really enjoyed hearing your journey, so I'm wishing you well, and I hope that you'll stay in touch and let me know how things progress for you.

00;40;02;06 - 00;40;05;06

Shawn

Yes. Thanks, Pam.

00;40;05;08 - 00;40;19;13

Pam

And you're listening to Art heals all wounds from.

00;40;23;15 - 00;40;27;22

Pam

Thank you so much to Shawn B Standley for sharing his journey back to art.

00;40;27;24 - 00;40;34;10

Pam

I'll leave all of his info in the show notes so that you can connect with Shawn about how art can play a role in your life.

00;40;34;12 - 00;40;37;26

Pam

And thanks to all of you for listening today.

00;40;37;29 - 00;40;42;22

Pam

I'm not using social media right now, but you can always connect with me through my website.

00;40;42;22 - 00;40;45;01

Pam

arthealsallwoundspodcast.com.

00;40;45;04 - 00;40;52;05

Pam

I also have a Substack, so if you want to follow what's happening with the show, I'd love for you to subscribe.

00;40;52;08 - 00;40;56;21

Pam

The music you've heard. This podcast is by Ketsa and Lobo Loco.