We’re looking forward to introducing you to Shan Michael Evans. Check out our conversation below.
Hi Shan Michael, thank you so much for joining us today. We’re thrilled to learn more about your journey, values and what you are currently working on. Let’s start with an ice breaker: Who are you learning from right now?
Time…and it has been time all along, whether I knew it or not. I feel more aware of it right now. Watching the days drift by, the years disappear. Mind you that I am not sure what I am learning [laughs]. Seems a dancing kaleidoscope of colors before my eyes. Sometimes it feels every step that I’ve ever taken has been a mistake, every pursuit in vain. So I wonder, how can I align myself with time, but what does even mean? Learning to take time, to stop, and take it all in. Learning to be in constant appreciation of time.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Shan Michael Evans, and I am a lowly illustrator. Self-taught, and poorer for it [laughs]. I seek out opportunities to create murals. On the side, I make prints of my work and adhere them to 3″x4″ blocks of wood, called Small Block.
Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
Well, I would dare say I’ve held on to who I was and have always rejected what the world has told me to be. Not out of spite but a realization the world is big enough for everyone to be who they are. The world will tell you that kindness is a weakness and I have to simply reject that idea. I was taught to behave myself, and I understand “putting away childish things”, but it also always seemed important to stay somewhat a child: to be trusting, inquisitive and curious, to be believing. To always be growing. You’re bound to move, but one should always tend to play. Who you are could be a great number of things. Then again, I also went looking later on, in religions and philosophies, for someone to tell me what to be [laughs]. I’d hate to have gotten it wrong.
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
Oh, constantly! That’s a pretty big part of my afternoons [laughs]. When I feel like giving up, I tend to consider giving up on just everything. It’s when I can’t find work. It’s when I feel I’m not contributing enough, or that I can’t say anything important or inspiring in my work. It’s when I compare myself to others instead of letting my own light shine. I might always have to deal with this depression. It comes and goes.
Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. What do you believe is true but cannot prove?
That there is a Great Big Love behind the entirety of the universe and this life, forever and ever.
Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. What light inside you have you been dimming?
I start to worry that there might not be a Great Big Love behind the entirety of the universe and this life, forever and ever [laughs].
Contact Info:
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
