Year: 2015

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ Shannon Hemmett

“After flying overnight from Vancouver to NYC, I found myself at the Museum of Modern Art standing in front of Pablo Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon… I was having a creative drought at the time and was eager to experience paintings that I’d only encountered in my books…I’d always been interested in Picasso’s attraction to masks and they play a central role in this piece. The brush strokes are confident from afar, but they are not clean on close inspection and one of the mask-like faces on the right hand side has been aggressively reworked in comparison to the rest of the painting… Yes, I realized that even Picasso reworked his canvases! It was important to see the potency of the imperfections, it was a pep talk about letting go and keeping an open mind in my own art practice…” – Shannon Hemmett // @shannonhemmett   018/100 of #100DaysofConfessions Instagram Project

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ Guzman

“Cobra a Sans (known as first people)…man we met in Botswana’s Kalahari. He is a tracker, and medicine man, Cobra speaks to and understands the sentient beings in his environment…birds, scorpions, snakes, lions, meerkats, etcetera… He can read the markings and tracks of a myriad of animals, he is one with his environment. Meeting Cobra was absolutely life altering. Trackers reading prints, the landscape, intuit where when how … To quote Marcel Proust …the real journey of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but on having new eyes…” – Guzman AKA @lesguzman   017/100 of #100DaysofConfessions Instagram Project

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ Mike Schultz

“When I am traveling, drawing helps me to see what is right in front of me. Not only is drawing a grounding, peaceful activity for me, but it truly helps me digest what is happening wherever I am. It slows me down, makes me really look, and connects me to the situation at hand. Living in South East Asia, drawing has helped me work through my culture shock many times. Also, because I am an art teacher, drawing has proved to be an incredible mode of communication between myself and my Burmese students, even when there is a language barrier…”   – Mike Schultz AKA @mike_schultz_studio   016/100 of #100DaysofConfessions Instagram Project

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ Brianne Miers

“Even though I’ve never really had a lot of money – with school loans, going to graduate school full-time and working mostly for non-profits – I’ve always made travel a priority. For as long as I can remember, I’ve preferred to spend what money I do have on new experiences instead of material possessions. This philosophy has allowed me to see a lot of the world, meet a lot of fascinating people and make a lot of memories that will keep me smiling well into old age – from sharing a seat with an armadillo on a bus in Belize to drinking wine on the banks of Seine with a handsome Parisian man. On the flip side, I drive a 2003 Honda Civic.” – Brianne Miers AKA @brimiers   015/100 of #100DaysofConfessions Instagram Project

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ Les Franklin

“The best adventures to me or rather the ones I enjoy most are unpredictable…I’m a rather impulsive person so there are days when I’m in my car heading nowhere in particular and I’ll see a spot in the trees that looks “picturesque” and I’ll pull over and take a walk if weather and traffic permits… It’s been times when I’ve been on my way to a friend’s and I’ll get sidetracked walking down a train track or through a small forest…What sparks my curiosity most is going towards a place I’ve never been, seeing an area that’s unfamiliar to me… In my favorite movies during death scenes, the people who love the character the most always attempt to pull him or her back from the light…You know your experience, your full life over and then you’re given a tunnel with a light towards which to follow…In life, I like to take those tunnels and attempt to reach that light that’s ahead before time escapes me…” – Les Franklin AKA @l.franklin     014/100 of #100DaysofConfessions …

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ Meghan McNeer

“I have been known to be a road trip warrior in my day – two way tie for the craziest…Just recently, after being overserved at a wedding the night before, 5 of my friends and I piled into a car outside of Dublin. I drove on the wrong side of the road (it was my first time that weekend!) all the way to the Cliffs of Moher…  We thought it was like 2.5 hours away, it was definitely closer to 6! The drive was visually stunning and I wouldn’t redo it any other way. But after 50 minutes in the spitting rain at the cliffs, as 6 wet cats, we piled back into the car and drove straight back to Dublin. We did stop into a charming pub that let us dry our outside layers over the fire and have a world class chowder! The other time – when I was driving in the south outside Charleston on a Sunday and ran out of gas in the middle of the night on the side of …

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ Sumaya

“I grew up admiring the water but never managed to enjoy it until I was an adult. Whether snorkeling in the Red Sea or listening to the Pacific Ocean waves crash, I’ve found being in the water is the closest feeling to flying…Suspended in space, I’m insignificant but in control. Every wave roar and wind gust that taunted me before no longer strikes fear in me. It’s just welcoming me back…Giving me a chance to recharge before I go back on land and conquer my dreams.” – Sumaya   012/100 of #100DaysofConfessions Instagram Project  

Confessions of a Jetsetter w/ Wynne Gavin

“November 2012…My best friend, Christina, and I were staying in Orvieto, Italy during a very rainy couple of days.  The power went out a couple of times one evening and we really didn’t think much of it, figuring that their infrastructure wasn’t as strong as that in the US and dismissed the issue.  We went to dinner next door to our hotel, their power flickering as well.  Again, gave it no thought… The next morning at about 8:00am, I awoke and went into the bathroom.  No power, no water.  Again, dismissed it.  Christina and I figured it was a good opportunity to sleep in a bit.  But after about 15 minutes, I heard a racket outside; it sounded like a helicopter. So I went out to our balcony and sure enough, a helicopter was flying just above roof level, at the restaurant we had enjoyed the night before.  When I took a look around, I started yelling, “OH MY GOD!  OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!!” Christina was asking, “What is it?”  I could only …

Confessions Of A Jetsetter w/ Aimee Zvinakis

“I am a water sign through and through and am drawn to being close to it, to painting it, to being in it. It’s a bit ironic that I am currently living in Beijing, which is a very dry inland city, but I digress… One of my most memorable days at the beach took place on a little island called Gili Meno, situated right next to the much larger island of Lombok in Indonesia. It’s the kind of island I would imagine was similar to the one Robinson Crusoe was shipwrecked on, with a few more comforts ;). No motorized vehicles are permitted, just donkey-powered carts and one can walk the perimeter of the island in about an hour.  Take in the sunrise against the silhouette of Mount Rinjani and then at the end of the day, make your way to the western side of the island and watch it set behind Mount Agung. Basically, it’s heaven on earth. On this particular afternoon, a friendly local man directed us to a spot known for its …

Confessions Of A Jetsetter w/ Peter Nguyen

“My favorite place has been my most recently far journey to Bologna, Italy. It was so laid back, it really made me reconsider how I want to approach life and my work. It propelled me to want to be a lot more independent, where I can take a long lunch and have wine and chill out with no worries… A funny encounter in Bologna was when my girlfriend and I kept dining at this restaurant called Diana, which is Mario Batali’s favorite place to eat. They do the classic tagliatelle Bolognese perfect. It was probably our 3rd time there in one week and we went right as they opened… We asked for some wine, our waiter didn’t speak English well, so we pointed to a drink list and he came out with an entire bottle. He was about to open it and said “no cancel?” We said fuck it and got drunk after we finished the whole bottle. It was 10am.” – Peter Nguyen // @theessentialman   009/100 of #100DaysofConfessions Instagram Project