We were lucky to catch up with Kellen “Klassik” Abston recently and have shared our conversation below.
Kellen “Klassik”, thank you so much for taking the time to share your lessons learned with us and we’re sure your wisdom will help many. So, one question that comes up often and that we’re hoping you can shed some light on is keeping creativity alive over long stretches – how do you keep your creativity alive?
Admittedly, I found it hard to pick just one of these topics, but the two that resonate the most with me (keeping creativity alive and finding purpose) work in tandem for me. As a child, and an only child at that, my parents saw to it that I have creative hobbies and “toys” as opposed to video games to keep my mind occupied , and I was a little introverted nerd, so sports never really did it for me. Because of my parents’ influence, and also with my father being very active in the arts, being in a world with only my imagination to guide the adventure became not only the norm, but my most natural state. All of those sketchpads and drawing guides, and lego sets that I would build and then deconstruct and reconfigure into original creations; the hours spent with the privilege at such an early age to develop my own creative voice has left an indelible mark on me as a human and artist. Within my most creative and imaginative state, I am most alive in my purpose. When I am most passionate and excited by the possibilities, challenges or curiosities is when I am most activated and most alive in my purpose. Simply put, creativity and passion are what keep me feeling most alive, so keeping the fires of my imagination stoked are an essential life labor.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
As an artist, I perform as “KLASSIK”, and my practice I’ve recently refined to five words: Black Pastoral Sonic Landscape Painter. May sound like a mouthful, but it perfectly encapsulates the expansiveness of my work. I started with jazz saxophone at 10 years old and studied extensively, both in public arts schools and private conservatories. Junior high, a good friend gave me Fruity Loops 3, and by high school I was making beats feverishly for the local rappers around the city. After high school and a brief stint of college, I got the writing bug and began writing to and performing my own productions. Fast forward 16 years; dozens and dozens of stages, theaters, libraries, museums, and even more school/youth outreach work later, my mission has outgrown the idea of entertainment, and is transitioning focus onto the museum/gallery world, positioning and developing my work to be presented as a touring audio/visual art installation. Ambitiousness and the passion to pursue curiosities have been mainstays of my development as an artist, and this next endeavor is no different…
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
I think maybe I inadvertently already touched on the impactful experiences that have shaped me, but my uninhibited creative time and self-discovery as a child is probably the most influential and important. Because of that time, I think the three words that describe me and my motivation came to be: passion, self-awareness, and intention. I learned to observe and listen, in my home and in my jazz studies, in a way that shaped the way I view the world. Everything is jazz to me; the spontaneity and the unexpected, the willingness to be fluid and adaptive…things you learn when learning to improvise in jazz, and things I discovered in myself even before picking up an instrument. I learned to cultivate my mind and imagination as my most powerful tool, and it is why, especially in my educational outreach work, I always leave the students with this thought:
Find the thing that makes you tick, that gives you a special joy and fulfillment unlike anything else, and therein lies your purpose; your ability to contribute passionately and authentically to the world. Take the time to find YOUR thing, because the thing that is special to you, you will treat as such, and hopefully radiate that same energy back out into the world.
Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?
The Artists Way, by Julia Cameron.
I read it when I was in a music accelerator/development program 5 years back, and within the first chapter, there was something that stuck with me and resonated heavily. The author posits that art is a high spiritual connection to the source; speaking not religiously but purely from a spiritual perspective, if there is a “Creator”, than to be a creative is to be a conduit to the source. For me, art and music is an extremely spiritual, out-of-body experience, and that feeling informs the degree of intention and passion I put into everything I do.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.iamklassik.com
- Instagram: @iamklassik
- Facebook: @iamklassik
- Twitter: @iamklassik
- Youtube: @iamklassik
Image Credits
Samer Ghani
