We were lucky to catch up with Jonathon Stalls recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Jonathon, thanks for joining us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?
Something inside me knew that drawing wasn’t only a process. It was a portal. It was a sense of “home” when home never felt tangible. As a new student in so many schools, I struggled with acceptance and I fell quickly into peer pressure when around other students. When I was on my own, it was my art and my creative process that saw me. I always made sure I took art classes in each of my schools. I knew, at least for an hour or two, I could breathe a little more deeply, openly, and honestly. I understood art and most art teachers. I loved the projects, homework, and banter between a more misfit arrangement of students. I was always jealous of those who expressed it more freely in school. I belonged there. As soon as I would leave art class, I would quickly put on the masks. Fit in at all costs. Do. Not. Stand. Out.
For all these reasons, I buried much of my personal artistic process. My focus and attention in other areas of study was always last-minute, flimsy and wavering. I could stay up late the night before the math test and get a B or A, but I hated it. I just wanted to draw. I knew, early on, that I had to have some element of artistic expression to complete projects, hold focus and remain slightly interested. I had a lot of outer and inner voices telling me that graphic design was the only way to actually have a “job” as an artist.
I went to school for graphic design, communications, and more. I mixed it all up. I was trying. I was scrambling. I was lost… not in the open and spacious way, but the devastating and self-condemning way. Alongside my studies, I had a terribly difficult time accepting my sexual orientation and more sensitive/empath nature. Coming out as a gay/queer man almost took me out. I needed an experience that would break me, open me and inspire me.
I left the Delaware coast on March 1, 2010 (with my dog) and walked for 242 days across the U.S. This experience shaped me in ways far beyond words. After splashing into the Pacific Ocean in November of that same year, I knew that I needed to get much closer to the inner “creative/artist”. I also grew passionately close to the gifts of moving the way we’re made to (walking or any form of unhurried movement at 1-3 miles per hour). I summoned all my artistic energy and started inviting, hosting, and experimenting with connection-focused walking events. It soon became an incredible community called Walk2Connect. At the beginning, I don’t know that I would have described it all as an “art project”. As I have rooted more fully into describing myself as an artist, I know that’s exactly what it was. It was a blank canvas and I was creating what felt like hundreds of connections and invitations through unhurried movement. As Walk2Connect blossomed and as Intrinsic Paths formed later on, I knew that I had returned “home” personally, socially, and professionally.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
As a self-described, “Walking Artist”, I create primarily while walking through neighborhoods, next to highways, through valleys, into cities, up and over mountains, and across deserts. I spend hours each week moving shoulder to shoulder with a wide range of amazing humans and can easily walk roughly 7-15 miles a day. I always have a sketchbook in my backpack. I record audio tracks, make videos, and snap hundreds of photos. Much of it lands in the realms of drawing, writing, nature wisdom, mindfulness/meditation, and storytelling around positive and harmful examples of what pedestrians face on any given day. I host and create a range of walking/rolling programs, make custom long-distance walking routes, draw with black pen and ink, and so much more. You will find me selling and gifting Intrinsic Paths art prints at local markets, hosting secular meditative invitations on Insight Timer, and capturing “lived experience” stories through Pedestrian Dignity channels (primarily TikTok & Instagram).
I also have my first book coming out this August of 2022. It is a creative non-fiction collection of stories, practices, art, and essays rooted in the many gifts and invitations around moving the way we’re made to. It is called, WALK – Slow Down, Wake Up & Connect at 1-3 Miles per Hour with North Atlantic Books (distributed by Penguin Random House). I am so excited for this to be in the world. More than anything, in all of its imperfections, I am excited to hear from a world of readers who try on one or many of the practices.
Much of my creative work has been made possible by an amazing community of Patrons. I wouldn’t be able to freely create in the ways that I do without their monthly care, support, energy, and nourishment. I can’t speak loudly enough for what is possible when we truly nourish and free up artists in this time. Thank you, Intrinsic Paths patrons! See Patreon link below to learn more.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
I can’t stress enough around what is possible when we nourish, sustain, and uplift artists. We need so much more music, dance, song, poetry, paint, play, and expression in all of our settings and spaces. We need artists to feel lifted, healthy, and taken care of. If you have artists in your life that you benefit from, feel inspired by, or look to, please check-in on them, send meals, sponsor creative getaways, offer gifts, and find ways to financially fill their cup in a monthly way (patronage, membership, recurring contributions). Artists don’t have many systems (if any at all) that offer steady/salaried (with benefits) income around their unique/specialized creative pursuits. Be a part of allowing them to nurture and express what is aching to be expressed. They need it. We need it.
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
The most rewarding aspect of being an artist, for me, is more fully allowing, honoring, and nurturing the flow. I spent so many years blocking or burying it. I still struggle with these things and imagine I always will. I often don’t know the exact plan for what I’m drawing, the walking route I’m forming, or the poem I’m writing. Inviting and living into more creative freedom helps me listen to, open towards, and trust the spaces between. I even crave it. I can feel when I start to get stuck on any one plan or expectation. I take a good long walk and I am back to a more open and emergent place. I feel more at home in my work than I ever have before. I have and continue to take great risks financially, socially, physically, and emotionally for allowing the wildness of artistic expression to rise, sing, and be seen. Allowing my creative channels to more fully open can leave me deeply exhausted. It also leaves me profoundly curious, inspired, and alive. I don’t regret it for one minute.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.intrinsicpaths.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/intrinsicpaths
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IntrinsicPaths
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathon-stalls-17593a9/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/jonathonstalls
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFr9CFst5v91BPwKb2Qn2QA
- Other: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/intrinsicpaths Insight Timer: https://insighttimer.com/intrinsicpaths Pedestrian Dignity TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@pedestriandignity
- This is the link to preorder/order my book: WALK – Slow Down, Wake Up, & Connect at 1-3 Miles per Hour: https://www.
penguinrandomhouse.com/books/ 706314/walk-by-jonathon- stalls/
Image Credits
Art Heffron (last three photos – walking in road, standing next to traffic, and in trees)