Episode 43
61 mins
Jo Tito - The Nature of Creativity
Jo Tito is an artist, photographer, meditator and generally amazing person, and we're not just saying that because she is related to Rane!
Jo's work has a real sense of nature, Maori spirituality and groundedness which is why Jo and Rane have some of her photography in their studio Garden of Yoga.
In this episode, we learn about Jo's background growing up in rural New Zealand. We learn how she discovered meditation and how it informs her art and life. We learn how she found a global following while working on her Hand Painted Rocks project - painting a rock, photographing and writing every day for a year.
Jo has much wisdom and has been lucky enough to travel the world sharing her art and collaborating with other Indigenous artists.
Links:
Wondering Earth: http://wonderingearth.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wonderingearth/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ARTISTinNATURE/
Hand Painted Rocks: http://www.handpaintedrocks.com/
Hand Painted Rocks on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JoTito/media_set?set=a.496280546552&type=3
https://www.facebook.com/JoTito/media_set?set=a.10150258314371553&type=3
Walking in Circles Project: http://walkingincircles.org/
Dhamma Medini Vipassana Meditation: http://medini.dhamma.org/
Highlights
Click on a timecode to play from that time in the recording.
1:50 Jo Tito tells Rane how they are related.3:02 Jo tells us about her background growing up in a small village near Rotorua
3:45 Jo moves to Auckland - stays with Rane’s cousin’s Tina and Kiri and Uncle Ruanui.
4:07 Jo discovers vipassana meditation
5:45 How does meditation inform Jo’s art?
8:35 Jo’s rock a day project.
11:27 Does Jo tap into a different aspect of herself and her creativity when she works on the different aspects of her work? ie writing, photography, painting.
12:08 How did Jo discover she wanted to be an artist?
13:59 Does Jo have any advice for people wanting to explore their own creativity but who don’t have the confidence?
16:52 Does Jo have any helpful practices to keep the creative juices flowing?
17:59 Does Jo have tips for facilitating a great workshop?
19:50 The Peace Mandala Project
22:18 Connection to water/wai
23:19 Did these long term projects “turbo-charge” or affect Jo’s creative process?
25:31 On Patience
28:20 A Short break
29:00 How did Jo refine her vision
31:40 Unexpected results from the stones project
34:12 How much does Jo’s Maori background affect her work?
38:15 Collaborating with other indigenous artists
42:02 What is video activism?
43:36 Jo’s time in Columbia
50:45 The core of Jo’s work
Friends of Flow
