We were lucky to catch up with Kim Tateo recently and have shared our conversation below.

Kim, appreciate you joining us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

I have several meaningful projects, and they are all inspired by the idea of our interconnectedness. I was an orphan and adopted, and through the years, this experience has formed my perspective of wanting to create safe spaces and healing in my art. Not only do I want to leave beautiful artifacts in the form of paintings and songs, but I want to create experiences that explore and create connections.

I love collaborating with other artists and creating safe spaces for all people to feel comfortable being creative. For my 40th birthday, I had an interactive art project that took the better part of the year. My birthday was a day before the total solar eclipse, and I envisioned creating a fully immersive painting that one could stand inside. During the eclipse, the world would light up with a black light, revealing a glowing world in the middle of the day. The metaphor around this project was that about our inner light and reflecting that back to one another. I hosted several painting days and invited anyone to paint. The result was a community event at Fruition Seeds in Naples, NY. Unfortunately, it was cloudy, but we had a magical experience nonetheless.

The Snail Mail Art Collab is another collaborative art project. During the pandemic, I wanted to explore the idea of impermanence with a group of artists. Each artist started with a single piece of paper and was encouraged to create anything. From there, they sent it to the next artist in the group. This artist then added to the work in an exquisite corpse manner, but the only agreement was that they needed to leave one element of the original. From there, the artwork was mailed to another person. All said, the artwork moved around like a spiral, exchanging hands with several artists until the original artist received their piece completely transformed.

I am facilitating another round of this project, with three “tracks” of artists worldwide. We have had several snafus and there have been many moments of me wanting to give up, calling it “fail mail”. But we all fail forward, and being in a community with other artists has been incredibly supportive and meaningful.

Different hardships have come up, and we have all been there for one another. This has caused some stress and grief because the artwork has been lost (literally). Still, as the facilitator, I have wanted to maintain a steady energy and encouragement, reminding everyone that life happens, and as it does, can we continue to meet each other where we are? As of now, I have no idea when this project will be complete, but one of the things that has kept the momentum is the new friendships between artists who are sending work to one another.

We’ve had Zoom calls and beautiful conversations throughout the project, always meeting each other where we are in that moment. It’s a reminder that we are all beings experiencing this existence and can all mirror goodness back to one another.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am an artist, musician, community leader, and, above all, a dreamer and believer in possibility. I have always loved expressing myself as a child, whether singing, writing, or painting. And I am so lucky to have explored these passions and created a pathway for myself.

I have multiple projects, but they are all led to create healing and connection. I am the Director of Friends of Tivoli Lake Preserve and Farm (https://friendsoftivoli.org), an environmental education non-profit in Albany, NY. We use a flock of sheep to help manage vegetation in a nature preserve. We have a garden, help with trail work, and have a thriving high school internship program.

Mentoring the students has become one of my favorite parts of the project. What started as an internship focused on sustainability has grown into a year-long program supporting the students by creating a safe and encouraging space for them to dream and have deep conversations with one another. We still talk about sustainability and caring for the environment. I also share things I have learned in plant spirit medicine from the Gaia School of Healing, herbalism, and mindset and mindfulness skills and techniques I have collected over the years, knowing that my younger self would have appreciated them in the toolbox much sooner. I also think there is something about creating space to dream and feeling encouraged to go after them.

Before the lockdown, I led a preschool studio arts program and, at the height of the pandemic, led singalongs on Instagram Live. This little project was meaningful and led me to write my own songs. I have been working with other musicians to bring the songs to life and realized I love the process of collaborating. There is something special about coming to someone with an idea and allowing it to shift. I liken this to a quote by Mark Nepo, “To listen is to lean in softly with the willingness to be changed by what you hear,” and I like to think that collaborative projects like this are somehow part of collective healing.

I hope to release the album and visual paintings accompanying this collection of songs, hoping they can one day be in a children’s hospital or somewhere to have a multi-sensory experience, bringing a bit of joy. My mother had cancer, and I spent the better part of my childhood growing up in hospitals. Having the opportunity for my art to become part of someone’s healing would be incredible.

I am deeply inspired by the land and the idea of our interconnectedness to one another through seen and unseen ways. I have taken the summer to appreciate life and remember my gratitude for being alive. As I enter my second year of the MFA program in Studio Art at the University of Albany, I am excited to see how this will all translate into my thesis show in Spring 2025.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

Our world can be very competitive and isolating. Social media can lead to a lot of “comparing mind” and often create situations where we don’t feel good about ourselves.

The journey of self-love is ongoing, but part of this journey is realizing that comparing ourselves to one another and then feeling terrible about ourselves is not helpful.

Sure, there might be a pang of envy when you see something on Instagram, but that information is helpful! It can remind you of something you wish for yourself. And with this, you can use it as the beginning of helping you find your own pathway to your dreams.

Furthermore, connecting is everything. I truly believe we are all interconnected in inextricable ways, but taking the time and conversing with someone who is doing what you love helps you create community with one another. Community is everything, truly.

I am so grateful that I have unlearned competitive ways and have instead embraced the idea of celebrating one another and our accomplishments because the more each of us is following what truly lights us up, the more, I believe, we are connected to our soul’s purpose. The more we can all be beacons of light to one another.

Part of the “self-love” journey is the reminder of connection and creating community with one another. The more we heal, the more this ripples out and can impact others.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

There are too many books, but Tara Brach has been one of my guiding lights since my twenties. Her reflections have been so beautiful for me.

I have also recently joined the To Be Magnetic community and absolutely love the deep imaginings and going further into healing my subconscious.

I have also always loved the fable about the porcupine.

“During one of the coldest winters of ever many animals who could not bear the chills, died. The porcupines sensed that the only way to survive this cold was to form groups and stay close to each other and give warmth to each other. This way they covered and protected each other. But soon they realized that their sharp quills were pricking each other and being in such close proximity could be harmful to all. So, they decided to distance themselves from each other. On contrary, this action too did not work in their favor. As soon as they moved away from each other, one by one they began to die, alone and froze to death. So, with no other option in hand, the best thing was to accept the quills of fellow companions or vanish from Earth. Wisely they decided to be with each other. To be alive and in order to receive warmth and heat from each other. They were prepared to live with little wounds and pains caused by the closeness. This way they were able to survive.”

This is such a beautiful metaphor for me in remembering to find connection, even in disconnection. To learn to be in the discomfort a difference, that moment when there’s a “rub” because something isn’t aligned, and to pause long enough to breathe, and remember that there’s always another thread to our connection, and then shining the light on that.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lookalittlecloser.com/
• Instagram: @lookalittlecloser
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcopzxA_BxxPKd2-WRMgs8w
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/sparklegardenband

Image Credits

William Fredette, Ken Kozak Photography