Ep. 18 | Tub Talks with Elena Stonaker: Multidisiplinary Artist
This week we soak in the tub with Elena Stonaker, a long-time collaborator and multi-disciplinary artist whose artwork you may recognize from many of our Secular Sabbath environments, such as our giant green snake and larger-than-life mushrooms. Elena is a full-time ethereal artist, living in her whimsical inner landscape. A lot of her art is born out of her bedroom. In this episode, Elena and I reminisce on the earliest moments of our personal friendship through exploring an unconventional way of socializing that has come to define us both, and a live drawing class that would be imbued into the framework of Secular Sabbath.
Elena was inspired to host a live drawing class in her home after taking a figure drawing class in art school and painting on (her friend) Sarah Buckley’s body. Hosting a loosely-led class in the landscape of her soft sculptures was a way for Elena to hold space for others to be creative, while simultaneously and perhaps unintentionally, creating an unprecedented way for others to relax and hang out in Los Angeles.
Art and creativity ooze throughout Elena’s life, whether it is in the business or personal realm. Elena shares about the benefits and learning opportunities that exist in being a self-employed full-time artist. An example she describes is a commission from a friend - the opportunity to create a cat couch soft sculpture. She has learned from these experiences how to navigate expressing her own creative impetus, while collaborating with someone else’s vision and what they want as an end product. She compares commissions to giving birth to a child. And the metaphor sticks in our minds.
Coming from the lineage of creative resourceful parents, Elena was encouraged to explore an artistic life. Elena remembers a distinct adolescent moment when her surprise birthday party became a core memory, where her ethereal homelife clashed with her traditional assimilated school life. This led her into a melting pot of life in the inner and outer world coming together. Through working with beads in her art, Elena creates a meditative process which she describes as sowing prayers which originates from Southern American indigenous cultures. Beads became a staple in her art because she sees them as something small; when in a collective multitude, beads create something magnificent.
Elena strives to portray a childlike space to experience feelings. From her “Big Mama” to our Secular Sabbath snake and green mushrooms, Elena creates a place for community to be held. Listen now to take a glance into Elena’s ethereal inner landscape!
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