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Calina Lawrence (guest host Paige Pettibon)
193 Plays4 years ago
Of the Suquamish Nation, Calina Lawrence was born and raised within her ancestral culture at a time during the reawakening of the teachings of the canoe and the Coast Salish way of life in the Pacific Northwest.
Her vocal journey began at a young age when she was first introduced to the songs of the canoe, the land, and the Lushootseed language. While lending her voice to the preservation of Suquamish traditions, she also grew to love many contemporary genres such as bluegrass, soul, hip hop and Spoken Word Poetry which would eventually lead her on her journey to respectfully expressing a fusion of it all.
Many of the people who raised her emphasized the importance of spreading awareness about the social and environmental injustices that have impacted the quality of lives on tribal reservations and within urban Native communities.. She embraced the awareness of inter-generational trauma combined equally with the examples of her people’s generosity and resiliency, so liberation work now shapes the lens in which the young artist sees the world.
At age 23, Lawrence graduated with Honors from the University of San Francisco (’16) attaining her BA in Performing Arts & Social Justice; a Music concentration.
Since graduation, this Independent Indigenous vocalist, aspiring emcee and producer self-released her debut album EPICENTER August, 2018.
Her most significant Single to-date released in August of 2019 entitled “ʔəshəliʔ ti txʷəlšucid” one translation being “Lushootseed Is Alive” It is her first self-produced/hip-hop inspired/Salish fusion and in her words “has been my largest accomplishment to-date, to have access to the language of my ancestors and have the ability to incorporate what I can into my every day life, including my career.” The song is written and performed entirely in the Lushootseed Language. It features several members of her Suquamish community while the Music Video was brought to life by Kanion Productions, a crew completely comprised of Indigenous creatives. Lawrence continues traveling across nations as a full-time musician while based out of Coast Salish territory; her home, Suquamish.
https://www.calinalawrence.com/
Paige Pettibon is an artist based in Tacoma, Washington. Her medium focus is acrylic painting, but has extended to fiber art, beadwork, digital design, and other media.
Paige is Black, White, and Salish (from the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes). Paige is influenced by her multicultural background. She identifies as a community artist. She continues to grow within the Indigenous community by learning the Lushootseed language, tribal songs, arts, dances, and traditions.
https://www.paigepettibon.com/
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Transcript
Introduction and Host Welcome
00:00:03
Speaker
You are listening to something rather than nothing. Creator and host, Ken Zalante. Editor and producer, Peter Bauer. Hi, welcome to Galapu. Welcome to Galapu. Welcome to Galapu. Welcome to Galapu. Welcome to Galapu. Welcome to Galapu. Welcome to Galapu.
00:00:33
Speaker
Good day to all of you, all of my friends, all of my relatives. My name is Paige Pettibon. I'm based in Tacoma, Washington. Thank you for listening to Something Rather Than Nothing. I'm guest hosting for Ken Volante. And for this episode, we are having an artistic and philosophical conversation with the talented, lovely, beautiful Kalina Lawrence. Hadoop, Kalina. Welcome to the show. Could you please introduce yourself?
00:01:05
Speaker
And he's cool. He's cool. He's cool. He's cool. He's cool. He's cool. He's cool.
Guest Introduction: Kalina Lawrence
00:01:28
Speaker
Thank you so much, Paige. Good day. My name is Kalina Lawrence. I am Suquamish.
00:01:36
Speaker
I come from the place of the clear salt water. And I live in Chochochat, which is a Suquamish village known as Maple Grove or a land of the maples, colonially known as Palsbo, Washington. And I'm very grateful, super grateful for everybody here and thankful to be here today with you, especially Paige. Ah, he's cool. Thank you. I appreciate you coming on today.
Artistic Journey and Creative Roots
00:02:06
Speaker
So I'm going to start with the first question. Were you an artist when you were born? I love this question because I've never been asked this question before, which makes it so exciting to answer and to reflect on this answer. So I first want to say that
00:02:30
Speaker
especially thinking of my parents and getting to know my parents throughout my lifetime, they're definitely creative people. So I feel like I was born with creativity, like inherited creativity. And being a creative person obviously tends to develop into
00:02:55
Speaker
identifying as an artist, right? Not always, not always, but I definitely feel like I was born with the ability to be creative and I think I was born into
00:03:11
Speaker
an environment. And I found myself in many environments where art and different art forms became my mode of expression. So if you combine my creativity with different art forms, then yeah, I would say I was born an artist or I was born with the ability to become an artist, if that makes sense. And I feel like
Rebirth Through Art and Sobriety
00:03:39
Speaker
just where I was born, which is in Suquamish, there's just so much beauty and natural beauty from the earth and the land and all the beings that exist here. So I was able to identify, right, like what is art, you know, what's art all around us and what's happening as art and how to create art. So
00:04:09
Speaker
So yeah, I don't know. I also like to say that I, at different parts of my life, different artistry within me was born, right, at different ages. So I always say like for music, especially my birthplace for music or my music career was
00:04:33
Speaker
in the Bay Area in Ohlone territory when I was about 22. That's where I would consider myself born as a professional musician. But I've been singing my whole life. So I don't know. It gets deep in terms of how many layers we want to peel back. But I was definitely born a creative person. I will say that.
00:04:58
Speaker
I really love that answer. I think that it allows room for rebirth. And, and I think as a, you know, a Lushutsi culture, you know, that's, that's something that we have is when we listen to stories or observe art or sing songs, they have different meanings for us throughout our life. And
00:05:23
Speaker
art is part of that, and within us. I would say for myself too, I had a rebirth of art when I was 25 and I became sober and I just focused on art and it grew, right? So I definitely can relate with you and your music rebirth area.
00:05:52
Speaker
I love that, that's such a great answer. Yeah, he's cool. Yeah, thanks for sharing.
Vulnerability and Empathy in Art
00:05:59
Speaker
So let's talk about your art. I was listening to your music on repeat and I noticed that you have a lot of personal information and you're so vulnerable. And I was just wondering, how do you create
00:06:22
Speaker
in that state of being? And what is that like for you? And what responsibility is that? Or is it a responsibility?
00:06:32
Speaker
First, I just want to say thank you for listening. I mean, from just off top, anytime someone takes the time out of their lives and their days to listen, it's just a couple minutes, but the amount of hours and really the whole lifetime that goes into creating a two or three minute song is...
00:06:54
Speaker
It means a lot to me when you intentionally take that time to listen. So I really appreciate that. And then a step further, right? When you really allow yourself as someone who's receiving
00:07:09
Speaker
this information to ask more questions and to explore what's coming up for you or what your interpretation of it is, right? That also is very validating as an artist and as, like you said, someone in a place of vulnerability where, you know, what I consider art or
00:07:33
Speaker
why or how I use art is especially to exercise my mind to, I would say, grow as a decision maker.
00:07:51
Speaker
to make sense of what's happening in my life or what has happened or to visualize what could happen, right? All these kind of tenses that exist and to establish a path toward empathy. So as a former foster youth, I always start with this idea of
00:08:19
Speaker
being in a position of either advocating for myself or not being advocated for. And when we talk about this vulnerability, especially with my music, it comes from a place of needing
00:08:39
Speaker
to find a way to express myself so that I'm understood by folks who are either unable to understand or committed to misunderstanding. So for me, truth is a vulnerable place to be, and it's a necessary place to be.
00:09:04
Speaker
And I've been really fortunate to lead a life of truth. And with that comes the responsibility of vulnerability and of, um, Hmm. Representation. So, um,
Performance: Live vs Recording
00:09:33
Speaker
When I was younger, so when we kind of backtracked to the birthplace of my music career, because I would like to identify as a multimedia artist with different art forms, right? But when you talk about music, a lot of my earlier years of expression was through poetry.
00:09:55
Speaker
And I really didn't have the skills and the tools to write music yet until I was about 22. And so during that time, I had this 22 years of lived experiences built up without a structure to release and express it in a
00:10:17
Speaker
a very specific way until I learned songwriting and intentional lyricism. So I think the vulnerability came through as a truth that was sitting on my vocal cords for a really long time and just had to
00:10:47
Speaker
Exit my body.
00:10:49
Speaker
you know, had to exit my mind through my vocal cords. And so, you know, as I've grown and gotten older, you know, sometimes I think back like, oh, should I have said that? Or should I have written that? You know, like, was that too much? Were people ready for that? But the truth is that, you know, it came out when it needed to, how it needed to. And I had to trust myself that that was the message that was
00:11:18
Speaker
supposed to come of an idea or an emotion. And I feel like
00:11:32
Speaker
especially within our indigenous communities, a lot of times we are, all the time, we are processing from generations of lots of emotions, lots of teachings, lots of learned and unlearned behaviors.
00:11:55
Speaker
And vulnerability isn't always a part of that. Vulnerability isn't always encouraged or celebrated. And I think being able to have music as an avenue to nurture that and reclaim that and
00:12:17
Speaker
encourage that is also a responsibility, right? It could be a safe space for that to happen on the level of being a creator and on the level of being an audience member and a receiver. So that's a very long answer to, I think, your question, but
00:12:43
Speaker
You know, I just want to always honor what's happening intuitively. And if I'm always letting my intuition lead, even if it means saying very personal things or saying very difficult things, my intuition is guiding me. I love that so much. You hit on so many points that I think of as
00:13:08
Speaker
someone who is indigenous, someone who is creating artwork for the public. And I personally give a lot of talks as well. And thinking about recording, right? So pre-contact, our records were oral or, you know, on baskets or tapestry. And
00:13:35
Speaker
So recording music is somewhat
Art in Indigenous Cultures
00:13:37
Speaker
kind of like a new thing. And then there's the performance aspect too, which delivers something else that it evokes a moment and enables change and progression that sometimes recording doesn't always.
00:14:01
Speaker
And so I wonder how does that fit into your practice and being someone who
00:14:09
Speaker
listened to your music that was pre-recorded and someone who had had the pleasure of you coming and being a guest speaker for the Native Pathways program at Evergreen when I was a student there and you came in and you sang for us and performed for us and you also enlightened us and shared with us and shared space with us and
00:14:36
Speaker
It's just so interesting as someone who consumed both forms, I feel like there's a deep honesty in both the recorded and a deep honesty in the performance part. They're very connected, very connected. I was shocked when I listened to your music and I was like, this is brutally honest.
00:15:03
Speaker
and it reaches all spaces. So I was just like, I was taken back by your vulnerability, to be honest. And I just felt so encouraged myself to be vulnerable too. I think that program really helps me be vulnerable and also reclaiming
00:15:26
Speaker
that type of mindset, right? Like I have the right to be vulnerable in all spaces and how to handle that. I mean, I just, yeah, how did you get to that point? Like how do you get your mindset to be ready to perform and to record and how do you get that to translate in both forms?
00:15:50
Speaker
Mm-hmm. He's cool. He's cool. I would love to first acknowledge this very true observation you have made. It's so interesting. One of the questions I get asked a lot is like, when did you start singing? Or when did you start performing? And if I think about it, I've been performing my whole life, right?
00:16:18
Speaker
When I think about it, you know, my dad has the story of me standing on the back of the couch. I couldn't even speak a recognizable language yet. And I was, you know, singing and performing for them, right? I was two, three years old. As I was growing up, I was very blessed to have access to different types of musics and different cultural musics, Coast Salish musics, right?
00:16:46
Speaker
some contemporary genres of musics, other indigenous types of musics that are not necessarily ancestral to the Pacific Northwest, but are very much practiced here, such as powwow music, Northern and Southern, and also peyote and AC music.
00:17:06
Speaker
So, um, I grew up like singing a lot and I would sing in person, you know, when we're on tribal journeys and we're all jamming out, that's performing like really when we think about it. Um, and
00:17:22
Speaker
we descend from performers, lifetimes of performers. So when you talk about this difference and connection between being in person and performing for one another and
00:17:39
Speaker
recording and the intimacy and the skill that it takes to be a recording artist is very real and is something that I'm still honestly navigating. When I'm in a room full of a couple thousand people or when I'm on a Zoom with 50 other people, it's pretty like,
00:18:08
Speaker
just second nature to share, to sing, to speak. When I'm in a studio with one engineer and it's only me and the microphone and the engineer, I really have to zone in and take myself to a different place. And also not like it's this balance of being very mindful, but not hypercritical.
00:18:37
Speaker
of myself and the takes that I'm going to do and the energy I'm going to bring. And being able to feed off of the people who are in a room with me when I'm performing versus just
00:18:53
Speaker
just me and the mic. It's just me, my truth, my voice, this mic, the press play, the press stop button. It's like, it is very different.
Adapting Art During the Pandemic
00:19:05
Speaker
And for me, just recognizing the medicine that each hold, right? Because there is something about having this prerecorded
00:19:20
Speaker
piece of intentional decision-making offered at your fingertips. And you can listen to it over and over and over and over again. But when I'm doing a live show, you can't be like, oh, can you do that one again? It goes from the vibrations of the room to just the state that the listener is in. So there's all these different factors.
00:19:50
Speaker
And I have grown to appreciate both settings. I think as many of us as artists, we have our moments of solitude. We have our moments of collaboration, right? So performing live is such a collaboration. There's so much happening and everyone's involved.
00:20:15
Speaker
every person, the person on the stage, the person in the audience, the person at the sound booth, the person at the door who's greeting everyone, you know, the first face they see when they come through the door. There's all this collaboration happening and then, you know, just kind of
00:20:38
Speaker
Again, following that intuition and trusting in the energy of the space that's being held. For me,
00:20:47
Speaker
just really learning over the years about honoring where people are at because of the depth of some of my lyrics and the topics, the heaviness of the topics, which feels heavy, but it's also our truth, you know? And as indigenous peoples and for me as a Coast Salish woman, I don't have a choice but to
00:21:14
Speaker
to navigate these very real, very true and very
00:21:23
Speaker
sometimes overwhelming realities that we're living through on a daily basis. And if music can't be a place for me to address and identify that, then where is? If beadwork can't be a place for me to address and identify, then where would be? And so I just kind of
00:21:52
Speaker
have to come from a place where I believe in my ability to represent the life I've lived. And if I'm always coming from a place where I believe
00:22:15
Speaker
in that ability, then that's the only choice that's going to channel through. No matter what setting the music is being shared. I just feel really grateful for the outlet and for the
00:22:32
Speaker
for the processing because I know that there are so many of our people who don't have that quite yet. And the goal is always to, you know, just introduce ourselves and introduce other people to these spaces where this energy happens and this healing happens and this truth telling happens and then the celebration also happens and the
00:22:59
Speaker
curiosity also happens and the encouragement, the unspoken permission is taking place for all of us to just explore that. Whatever that train of thought that is introduced to us, for us to explore that and
00:23:26
Speaker
and take what we can. I love that. Yeah. I love that so much. I have some inside scoop because I was going to be part of this show. Your birthday's coming up and you were going to have a celebration and we're postponing it, but I wanted to
00:23:51
Speaker
give space for you to reflect if you'd like to share on that reflection of that process and what it means for you to postpone. And, you know, I think what's so interesting is you brought this up to about time and going back in the past and you having many tenses in your work.
Time, Community, and Collective Health
00:24:16
Speaker
And I think as indigenous artists, we're able to reflect on
00:24:21
Speaker
time not being a linear concept. And I think a lot of people in America are feeling time differently since the pandemic happened. And so I feel like you're the perfect person to have a reflection about time and this postponed show and your birthday and reflection. I would love to hear your insight on
00:24:51
Speaker
all of that. Yeah, it's so important. A couple things first that come to my mind and my heart is my love and my prayers continuously go out to everyone affected by
00:25:08
Speaker
This pandemic, you know, so many of us have loved ones who have survived through this. Some of us have loved ones who have not. And each of us are doing what we can to get through each day. And so, you know, to everyone on every single level who
00:25:35
Speaker
is just prioritizing health and well-being, I'm so grateful for. And in addition to that, in terms of this show, what this means, so me personally, I have not performed live in a venue setting or a space setting.
00:25:58
Speaker
just over two years now. And everything went virtual, everything went through Zoom, which I've been performing for and everything. And it's still been amazing and such a blessing to find community in these ways that we're able to
00:26:20
Speaker
But this particular show, meaning like we're returning or I would be returning to the stage for the first time, right? Basula Tzu, like what does that mean? And for me, when we're talking about the power of in-person space sharing and in-person frequencies and in-person vibrations and the experience of live
00:26:47
Speaker
I just knew that I wanted it to be very intentional, very special, and very safe.
00:27:01
Speaker
And this word safe means a lot of things too. So for this particular show is going to be, yes, my 29th winter on earth. Also my first show since the initial shift in our daily lives, which was March of 2020.
00:27:23
Speaker
And then also my first show since moving back home to the Northwest after spending seven years in Ohlone territory. So it was like this whole, it was like this, you know, really like for me, it was like a pivotal point in my personal life. And so I'm like, okay.
00:27:45
Speaker
As someone who has engaged in different levels of organizing, event organizing, community organizing throughout the last 10 or 15 years, I have to really hone in on
00:28:02
Speaker
the decisions, who's there, what's the message, what are the vibes, who's present, you know, how can we have so as many people engaged as possible. I put so much thought into it and then also a lot of it was just aligning, you know, the community connections with Alma and just, you know, my favorite people who also happen to be
00:28:31
Speaker
artists and then also happened to be my friends too. It was just such this thing to look forward to. At the same time, the very realness of this pandemic that we're going through has not stopped. It has not ended. It is still very much at the forefront of our lives.
00:29:00
Speaker
with folks who have been able to or are unable to get vaccinated, it felt like, oh, maybe there's this pocket of time where we can be as intentionally safe as possible and gather and get this medicine without feeling so obligated that we want to put people at risk.
00:29:22
Speaker
And for me, in picking the lineup, if you will, in picking the artists who I wanted to share this space with, y'all were my biggest priority. Like obviously the audience, the attendees, the health of them.
00:29:40
Speaker
is so important. But for me, it's like if even just one of you who I asked personally to be a part of this didn't feel comfortable or had some, you know, just had some doubts or any specific requests, like even if just one of you was not on board to move forward with it, then that was it for me, right? Because I wasn't going to be like, yeah, Paige doesn't really want to do it, but we'll still do it without Paige. Like, no, no, no, no.
00:30:09
Speaker
That's where my mind was. And so checking in with you all to make sure you felt okay with this and have this kind of unanimous...
00:30:19
Speaker
decision was very important. And so the choice to postpone Basu Latzu returning to the stage was one in honoring of all of our health, all of our psychological and physical health, right, and immune health, and then also trusting, right, that, you know, it's going to happen.
00:30:49
Speaker
And it's going to happen when it can and when things align. So being an artist, we have to adapt at all times. Having the skills to adapt are pretty crucial to a successful creation of any kind. Trial and error, right? And so for me,
00:31:15
Speaker
It's just knowing and trusting that we've all put this intention into this particular space that we want to hold and it will happen and it will be just as wonderful and beautiful in six months as it would have been this Friday.
00:31:35
Speaker
and just really honoring that. It's bittersweet, of course. There's also this really intentional choice not to go virtual because that's still not going to be the same effect and the same feel as if it were to have been live in the venue, in the space with
00:31:59
Speaker
all this art happening, all these different types of art and forms of art happening. So when we think about this idea of time and our relationship with time,
00:32:15
Speaker
our relationship with planning, our relationship with canceling plans. We're learning so much about acceptance. We're learning so much about adaptability. We're learning so much about control and our relationship with control as well, what's in our control, what's out of our control, how much, you know,
00:32:41
Speaker
How much control do we need? We're just learning so much. And for me, I know and I've put so much intention into this particular
00:32:59
Speaker
like vision and combination of people and elements and art that it's going to be incredible when it happens and it's okay that it's not right now. I love that. Yes. So for folks who aren't aware, we were going to have a
00:33:22
Speaker
live performance in person at Alma Mater, which is a very cool venue, restaurant, space in Tacoma, Washington. And luckily, we have some people there that they
00:33:39
Speaker
They throw shows there and they were really respectful for our decisions as well too. And Colleen was going to have me do a live painting. And I just love how on board you had all of our perspectives be and involved. And I just really appreciate the grace you had in opening up communication for us.
00:34:05
Speaker
Honestly, I feel like your approach really made me feel comfortable with feeling with expressing my feelings of postponing because I want my mom to come and She might get sick and I would not be okay with that So, you know, I've invited her to it if I put my mom at risk that wouldn't be good so I really appreciated you to to be really gracious with hearing us out and I just I love that
00:34:34
Speaker
I love that you pointed out, you know, it will happen and, and why we have to do it in person. So it hits right. Right. Like the whole, like the whole name is to return to the stage and it just wouldn't be authentic if it wasn't happening in, in real time.
00:34:59
Speaker
in shared space. I really, yeah. Yeah. And I thank you for acknowledging that because we all have different processes. We're all learning. We're all different kinds of organizers. And for me, yeah, it's my birthday show. However we want to define it, for me, it was just like,
00:35:24
Speaker
It's not just me. It's not just about me. It's about all of us and everyone we have access to and everyone we show up for on a daily basis. And again, in my love and respect for each of you as artists and kind of this idea of
00:35:44
Speaker
of inviting different people from different communities in my life and different but very similar just fierceness and talent and skill and talking many conversations with Amber Hayward
00:36:08
Speaker
who was also right beside me helping to envision so much of this space. It just feels like this group of people who is going to be a part of this is
00:36:26
Speaker
such a special intersection that I really want to honor and do the right way. It certainly will be the first but won't be the last time that all of us cross paths and collaborate. And what's also really important for me to mention is just that
00:36:46
Speaker
My trust in each of you as artists and my respect for you all as artists and also my curiosity to introduce some of y'all to each other who might not know each other. There's so much more than just a lineup. It's not just a bill. It's not just, here's your 15 minute set. And then there's so many moving parts and pieces.
00:37:16
Speaker
and respect that I have for each of you and I think that it'll be really special when our communities can come to a place together in person and receive the blessings that each of us, you know, will offer and the gifts that we'll offer and
00:37:34
Speaker
Yeah, it's just, it's going to be amazing when it happens and we'll definitely keep all of you posted on the new date. We have not announced that yet, but we just want to make sure that, you know, we're patient and we're accepting and we're, and we're, you know, we're kind and we're helpful and we're sharing and we do what we can and still utilize the space that we have to, you know, keep
00:38:02
Speaker
keep processing through it. So yeah, that's exciting. Thank you. So I'm going to ask you, what is art?
Defining Art and Its Purpose
00:38:11
Speaker
What is art? So there's so much possibility to the answer of this question. And when I think about art, I think about intention. I think about decision making.
00:38:32
Speaker
And I think art is very intentional decision making. And I also think art is natural. I also think art is organized and I also think art is applied technique.
00:38:57
Speaker
But when you say the word organized, like there, it doesn't mean like linear, like we were talking about. It doesn't mean like one plus one equals two organized means, you know, uh, we, we have a way of intentionally making decisions to produce something. Um, and, uh, for me, I would say, you know, the art that I create is, um,
00:39:29
Speaker
is a release. It is a release of what is constant inside my body and constant inside my mind. So I am, I am taking something that's being held within me and I am emitting it outwardly. I am creating something intentional to be received.
00:39:56
Speaker
doesn't have to be technically a physical thing you can touch, but it is being received by someone other than myself. And it is assisting my personal journey, right? Like to figure out what is life, what is actually happening? What really, what was yesterday really all about? And how do I make sense of that?
00:40:27
Speaker
So some things that I wrote down, art is words, sounds, silence, art is vocal, right? Art is poetry, art is glass, beads, scissors, you know, beading needles, thread, material.
00:40:50
Speaker
Right? Art is the materials that we find in nature. Art is the materials that maybe we manipulate and find some sort of shape or form for. And then we place it somewhere in an organized way that makes sense in our head. Art is cameras, right? iPhones and
00:41:16
Speaker
cameras, Sony's and all that. Art is communication, which kind of goes along with words. There's just the sheer act of interpretation, how we interpret the world, how we interpret
00:41:42
Speaker
these things that other people have created and offered to us. I even, I also braid hair. So I think our braiding hair is art. It's like, whew, you know, it's deep. Making clothes. I mean, just being human beings and
00:42:12
Speaker
being intentional with whatever materials are at our fingertips, physically and metaphorically, you know, and making sense of this realm that we're in, somehow. I love that. I'm like feeling all my five teachers, right? All my five teachers, you know, I need to,
00:42:41
Speaker
how to create and how to absorb art and what you're saying. I really like that. I really like the answer and it's so different from the answer that I had. And it's like, I love how interpretations, right? They can both be right. It's not a binary thing. And I think it's a conversation that continues through time and space
00:43:11
Speaker
Well, and there's so much context too. I think context is important. And when I went to college and we had to really understand what makes something art, like what makes it music, what makes it dance, what makes it theater, what makes it this label that we place upon it, there's a formula that
00:43:37
Speaker
establishes it as a said art form, right? There's also the freedom and the liberation of personal identification and personal definition, personally defining what is art to us. And
00:43:56
Speaker
You know, there's context. And this is why I think I emphasize so much on decision making, right? Because we're making informed decisions based off of our upbringing, based off of our cultural teachings, based off of our
00:44:14
Speaker
you know, just the very specific things that make us Paige, that make us Kalina, that make us, right? Coast Salish, that make us Salish, that make us Puyallup or make us Suquamish or make us, right? There are very specific ways that we do things and instructions that we're given that shape and form
00:44:41
Speaker
who, what we create, how we create, and how we define what we create. And so to me, interpretation of the person creating, interpretation of the person receiving is really so informed from who you are and
00:45:08
Speaker
The definition is really going to change based off of that person's context.
00:45:21
Speaker
To me, the only way that I can define art is, you know, just obviously some things happened by accident, but it was still based off of a decision that was made. So it's very intentional decision making. So what is the role of art?
Processing Life Through Art
00:45:46
Speaker
I would say again, processing life as we know it, like exercising our minds, engaging our minds, choosing to be present, you know, choosing to be here, choosing to engage and participate.
00:46:05
Speaker
And again, whether that's the creation of art or the receiving of art, we're participating in this consciousness. We're participating in the being present here and what our role is as human beings.
00:46:25
Speaker
I think it's also documenting. And we talked a little bit about this, right, about as, you know, in many indigenous cultures and certainly in Coast Salish cultures and Salish cultures.
00:46:41
Speaker
Our ancestors have always, always, always documented through various art forms. We said audible, right? We talked about basketry. We talked about artwork and we talked about, you know, jewelry. And so there's all these ways that our ancestors have always documented our reality.
00:47:05
Speaker
or documented certain eras, documented certain times on earth that indicated shift or importance or just the truth, like what happened? And also we got very creative about
00:47:24
Speaker
about documenting life through humor and through metaphors and all these different ways that we're like, yeah, just kind of making sense of things. And so documenting and like we were talking about, right, recording music as like such a new way to
00:47:45
Speaker
refer back and to call upon and draw upon. It's like, okay, how are we, as Nina Simone has so famously been quoted, reflecting the times, right?
00:48:02
Speaker
how are we saying in two or three generations or more down the line, if they want to know what life is like in 2022 Gregorian calendar times, what was the world like? And all they have is one of Page's drawings or one of Kalina's songs. How are we documenting
00:48:29
Speaker
the world through our eyes, the way we see it, the way we perceive the world. So I think one of the rules of art obviously is
00:48:41
Speaker
being very literal about how life is and being very other than literal about how life is, you know, for us. I also think it's establishing space. And I'm not gonna put an adjective in front of the word space, or I'm not gonna put like a,
00:49:09
Speaker
I'm not going to describe what kind of space because I would love to say safe space, but it's not always safe. Um, but, but art, the role of art is establishing space for this spectrum of emotion that we experience as humans. Yeah. And it would be really great if it was always safe, but like I meant,
00:49:36
Speaker
Like it's not always safe. It's not always fun. It's not always right. There's not always a description in front of the word space, but what's happening is that space is established to either process or understand or evoke or, um, or, uh,
00:50:04
Speaker
affirm emotion, human emotion, and what emotions come from as we're thinking about whatever the art might be. So I think one thing that I've been taught
00:50:23
Speaker
in different ways from my life experiences is that the ability to feel emotion is what makes us so...
00:50:39
Speaker
So unique, right? As human beings and holding and honoring the space for emotion and the spectrum of emotions that we are capable of and letting them be what they are and how we feel them through this kind of like filter, which is art, right? And hopefully a safe way, but not always. I agree. And I think what you said,
00:51:07
Speaker
prior with intention. I think it's our responsibilities as artists to have our intention creating those spaces and processing the human experience. I always look at it as my responsibility to show many facets, right? We can be vulnerable and strong at the same time. And that was something I had to learn and I had to build those tools. I had to exercise and expose myself
00:51:35
Speaker
how to exercise and use those tools. So there's many things that you've said that I definitely am like, yes, you are correct. You're hitting, yeah, you're hitting it, right? Like that's exactly what it is. And I think, you know, obviously it doesn't come out perfect and obviously it doesn't always translate, but those stories are important
00:52:04
Speaker
important too in diversing the canon of art and music and everything. It's important to have that be out there too and not just one side of the story.
00:52:22
Speaker
So even if they do mess up and not make it a safe space, maybe that is for someone. But I think it's also important to take care of your listener, take care of your viewer, where they're not hurt when they walk away.
00:52:38
Speaker
There's ways of doing that, I think, right? Yeah. You do. I feel like you're like the queen. I was like, how is it that she can say things that are sad, but I feel so uplifted and encouraged and so determined to make my way and path in this way. That's why I feel like we're masters of our own crafts in so many ways as
00:53:07
Speaker
indigenous people hitting these intersections, we're always analyzing and processing this experience. So we're masters of living in many different spaces and places and these intersectionalities and how it feels to be all and none at the same time.
00:53:32
Speaker
So that leads me to the namesake of this podcast, Nina.
The Meaning of 'Something' Over 'Nothing'
00:53:40
Speaker
Why something rather than nothing? All right. So first off, I have to acknowledge that I'm the type of person who, as a student of language and multiple languages, I really love
00:53:58
Speaker
to look up definitions, right? So in preparing for this, I was like, okay, well, first I need to know what's the definition of something and what's the definition of nothing, right? So that we can try to zone in on this question. So one definition I found for the word something is a thing that is unspecified or unknown.
00:54:24
Speaker
So that was the definition that I had looked up for the word something. And then the definition that I had come across for the word nothing is not anything, not a single thing.
00:54:39
Speaker
Right? Not a single thing. There's no value. There's no... And so the answer is something because even though it's unspecified and even though it's unknown, it doesn't mean it's non-existent. But if it's nothing, then it's...
00:55:04
Speaker
That's not true. That's just not true right now. I mean, there's so many things. There's so many somethings here right now, right, for us in our lives and on this earth and beyond this earth. There's so many somethings. And the unknown versus the non-existent, right, is the way that I see or the way that I would answer this question.
00:55:33
Speaker
There is so much unknown and there's so many ways to get to knowing that I think is also why we're artists. And even people who are not artists are still working to get to the place of knowing.
00:55:57
Speaker
this place of knowing and this place of learning and this acknowledgement of the unknown, the acknowledgement of not knowing and being okay with not knowing, but still striving toward that something.
00:56:12
Speaker
and recognizing everything that's here as my really good friend, Josh Cocker, who's Kiowa and Tongan, everything that we need is always at our fingertips. Every single thing we need is at our fingertips. And to me, that is this question. That's why something.
00:56:39
Speaker
Right. That's why something rather than nothing, because we're, we're, we're forward moving and where we are. We are.
00:56:56
Speaker
brave and courageous, brave and courageous enough to even ask a question like this. So I'm going to choose that even though it's unspecified and unknown, that's where I want to be rather than the opposite. That's awesome. I love that because it's like even the something still has the
00:57:22
Speaker
the word unknown in it, which could be perceived as nothing. But the way you described it, it's kind of like we've got a basket and it may be empty or it may be filled with some something. And then we fill it up with the unknowns that we want to know.
00:57:43
Speaker
Hey, yep. Yeah. This is just me emptying out that basket, right? And sometimes the emptying process is art, so. Exactly. I mean, I kind of broke my mind thinking about that answer, but your answer. But I think it's pretty beautiful in the way that there's twists and turns, plot twists, right?
00:58:12
Speaker
So is there even nothing to begin with? Probably no, because everything's at her fingertips. I feel like that holds a lot of power in the person too, knowing that everything's at your fingertips. I think that just empowered me, just like, yeah, I have everything. I freaking love that. Oh my god.
00:58:38
Speaker
Yeah, this is... Shouts out to... Can you remind me again? So the title of this is... The title of this podcast is Something Rather Than Nothing, created by Ken Vellante, who is a phenomenal person. And I hope that y'all get to meet sometime.
00:58:58
Speaker
And I'm sure he's going to be so smitten with hearing from you. He's going to reach out. I already know. That was awesome. Yeah, he's so good. He's so diverse with the people he brings on. I just really love his perspective.
00:59:15
Speaker
These questions are so good. I love how they're so different from being an artist. We get asked the same questions, but not philosophically, right? So, you know, analyzing artwork in this way is, I think, really, it's a really good exercise. So how can listeners connect to you and your artwork?
00:59:40
Speaker
Well, this is the age of social media. You know, we are the generation of online communication and whatnot. So I'm definitely accessible through, you know,
00:59:58
Speaker
pretty much every mode of technology, cell phone, email, FaceTime, Zoom, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and all of the platforms that stream music, given, yes, lots of controversy and all the good things that, all of the in-depth work that's happening, right, as we unpack what
01:00:24
Speaker
the role of the music, the role of the musician is in this century and how we are deemed valuable and how we are compensated. I'll just say my music is available on all streaming platforms because I think it's important that however you as a listener chooses to
01:00:53
Speaker
have your music portable with you. I want to see how I can offer that. Yeah, everything is just under Kalina Lawrence. C-A-L-I-N-A-L-A-W-R-E-N-C-E across all platforms. And also my website, KalinaLawrence.com. You can go there to keep up with what I'm up to. There's also a contact
01:01:22
Speaker
what you call it, tab. If you want to reach out about any inquiries or just check in. I'm pretty accessible and all of my information can be found online.
01:01:36
Speaker
And I'm also someone who loves to, you know, just continue to build interpersonal relationships with folks too. So on whatever level that can be in terms of just, you know, social media friends or if we're in the area and there's any way that I can support people in their efforts, I want to be accessible that way.
01:02:00
Speaker
on a communal level too. So it's not just an extractive exchange, right? So that it's not this inaccessible, dehumanizing artist, viewer, artist, listener,
Connecting with Kalina Lawrence
01:02:18
Speaker
right? We are human beings as well with very complex lives and very intentional
01:02:26
Speaker
relationships that I don't ever want to seem
01:02:34
Speaker
you know, the ways in which we idolize musicians that makes them feel separate from us here on the same earth. Right? And I say that because it's really easy to feel like so impressed and so encouraged and so inspired by
01:03:01
Speaker
especially by musicians and then seem like they're unreachable or like they're perfect or their lives can never cross paths with our life unless it's right just through fanaticism. And so I would like to think that there have been many generations and we are also a generation who is
01:03:29
Speaker
moving outside of that kind of celebrity disconnect and we are focusing more again on the connection. And so the long answer, that's the long answer to how you can connect to me and my art. And the short answer is, you know, social media and whatnot. Yeah.
01:03:54
Speaker
He's oh, oh, thank you so much. I really appreciate that at the end too, because, you know, it just really shows like how we're in community with each other and the reciprocity that, you know, sometimes gets forgotten when it comes to art. You know, being an artist as well, you know, I
01:04:18
Speaker
If it wasn't for my supporters really filling my cup every day, it would kind of feel really hard and invalidated, but they do. They should have a part of me as I have in them.
01:04:40
Speaker
Yeah, I really, I really respect that. And thank you so much. Peace call. I really appreciate your insight. I appreciate your artwork. I appreciate the, the, you know, relations you have with everybody and your, you know, how you're so in community and how you're so uplifting and vulnerable. Like you are so important to our people today. And I'm so honored that I was able to,
01:05:09
Speaker
get you to come on the show and talk art and philosophy.
01:05:15
Speaker
Thank you for listeners and supporting this podcast. Thank you for Ken for asking me to guest host. It's been an honor and a privilege. And I could talk to Kalina. I swear to God for hours and I feel like there's so much more to be said. And yeah, so this will be a continuous conversation. I'd love to hear some insights that people have from this episode and reach out to me and Kalina.
01:05:42
Speaker
on the social media and wherever you can find us. We both have websites and we both would love to hear from you all. Hot slafel. Hot slafel. Thank you so much. Thank you Paige. Hot slafel. Hot slafel. Hot slafel. Hot slafel. Hot slafel. Hot slafel. Hot slafel. Hot slafel. Hot slafel. Hot slafel. Hot slafel. Hot slafel. Hot slafel. Hot slafel. Hot slafel. Hot slafel. Hot slafel. Hot slafel. Hot slafel. Hot slafel. Hot slafel. Hot slafel. Hot slafel. Hot slafel. Hot slafel. Hot slafel. Hot slafel. Hot slafel. Hot slafel. Hot slafel. Hot slafel. Hot slafel. Hot slafel. Hot slafel. Hot slafel. Hot slafel
01:06:37
Speaker
Yeah, fire and water are teachers of care Patience is found in the earth in the air At some point we lost sight of basics, kept taking, we gave in to ego and ended up here Money and power are teachers of greed But we won't put profit in front of our needs Hear us or steer us each time that we plead But we welcome the lessons we're ready to lead We'll be T-I-I-A Cultivating our acres, we'll be
01:06:39
Speaker
We are smart, we are-
01:06:58
Speaker
Tiya, giving food to our neighbors will be Tiya, supporting all our art makers We are all relations and we're healing through these layer layers We are the way Keep dancing We are the way Keep dreaming We are the way Keep drawing Keep buzzing We are the way Keep learning
01:07:26
Speaker
We are the spark, we are the flame I feel a change, gon' come today We want love to let it shine, let it stray We are the way, we are the way We are the way to something greater We are the way to something greater
01:07:51
Speaker
Change comes when we learn from reflection And we open our minds to every hard question Like, why are there humans in cages and streets? Why do our children have low self-esteem? Why is it normal for men to mistreat and uncover it up using threats and deceit? When will trans people live past 35? When can our two-spirit loved ones revive? When do our elders get to retire from raising grandbabies at age 59? How will we heal all the hearts of the parents? How will we reach every orphan's hand?
01:08:17
Speaker
Will we remember those days in the village and remit, create our connection to land? Isn't slave labor outdated, outrageous? Do we see how courageous, outrageous? Trust the youth and embrace all the stages to free us from these colonial cages? We are the way, we are the way, we are the way, we are the way, we are the way, we are the way, we are the way, we are the way, we are the way, we are the way.
01:08:55
Speaker
Let's do it straight