Meet Shrine

Today we’d like to introduce you to Shrine.

Shrine, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Belief is more important than talent. When I was very young my grandmothers Lucile and Kate told me I was a good artist, I believed them and acted accordingly. Being an artist was an idea that became real with belief.

My entire life has been an unbroken chain of self-expression, its a journey with each creation leading to the next.

For myself, the point of the journey is to stay in a state of inspiration, expansion, discovery, so I can create and change the systems around me. I work against the cult of sameness and the cult of war by nurturing creativity and imagination.

At this point in my life, in my career, I’m less interested in ART that relates to ART and more interested in Self expression or Investigation of self, as the first part of healing. For me, what there is to do in this life is the healing of natural systems that are polluted, depleted, disrespected and the healing of our social systems from a worldwide history of colonialism.

I paint walls and buildings, I create installations with found objects and trash, I have a sculpture garden called The Haunted Shack Gardens. I do these actions with soldiers and displaced people or anyone interested in nurturing a healing process in their lives.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Obstacles and challenges are catalysts for growth and when they arise, they should be treated as opportunities.

I’ve had many difficult situations, including two near death accidents that created opportunities to refine my understanding of gratitude and healing. We use our choice, our creativity and imaginations to turn negative situations into positive situations.

Self-expression exercises the muscles of creativity and imagination that are then used to create each day of our lives. We use our creativity and imagination to create paintings, sculptures, songs, etc. but more importantly, we use our imaginations to create our realities.

I also come from privilege, the system I was born into was designed to support straight white American males, I’ve had the luxury of being supported by this system while I faced my personal life challenges.

We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
We perform rituals of peace.

Myself and a Group of artist; Chef James Thompson, Nour Matragi, Archie Thomas and Syrian artist Mustafa Ali are painting a staircase with soldiers from opposite sides of a five-year war in Lebanon on the Syrian border and eventually painting the entire front line with soldiers and people that live in the area. James will be preparing and leading the creation of large shared meals as part of our rituals of peace activities.

This group is also creating a sculpture garden park dedicated to peace with the rubble and debris outside of Damascus with local youth and led by Mustafa Ali and Nour Matragi. We will be bringing in trees and plants and together building ovens to create shared meals together at the site of the build which will be an ongoing project.

I’m part of Mike Zuckerman’s team in Uganda and various parts of Africa doing research and development in the field of building with plastic bottles and other trash, painting with all kinds of displaced people, creating stages, recording studios and places for people to express themselves however they choose.

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
If you’re going to create something you share with people, you must willing to be vulnerable.

Positivity creates expansion, negativity creates constriction.

I only make what I want to make, I’m not for hire to create other peoples vision.

I quit my day job over 30 years ago.

Contact Info:

• Address: Haunted Shack Sculpture Garden- 1422 n Sierra Bonita Ave Pasadena CA, 91104
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: shrineon

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