Sorry for the lack of content laltely fellow bloggies, here's an update on my latest project, please support my effort by liking and sharing: http://www.facebook.com/groups/numovie/permalink/389306147900364/
Hi
Laura and fellow
nü Icon hopefuls,
How do you do?
My name is
Dylon Whyte and medical science has no explanation for my feet.
This may seem like a strange place to start a last minute entry for the
2015 nü Icon scholarship contest. However, much like any loop, link,
ring or circle, there’s a reason epic oddities tend to begin where they
end. Or is that the other way round?
In my hometown I operate as a
freelance jack-of-all-trades IT technician. In my “spare time” I am
also a respected author, actor and artist who has never quite figured
out how to make a living by “just being themselves.” In particular, the
last 26 years have been spent creating and teaching folks how to make
their own chain jewelry and armour.
Then one day
(about a five
and a half years ago) something unquantifiable happened. The resulting
discovery was a preference for the of linking words into poems and
stories. A creative expression I came to enjoy more than the physical
activity of linking metal rings together to create clothing and jewelry.
Not that I had any desire to quit teaching, quite the opposite as a
matter of fact. I have always thought it better to teach folk how to
fish, as opposed to selling them fish.
Yet some unexplainable
part of myself burns for something more. So over the years, instead of
continuing with my regular DIY titles, I toiled
(amongst other things)
on a string of remarkably unsuccessful eBooks. Each with it’s own unique
humour and each failing to reach an audience.
In the meantime we
opened a small family gallery last year featuring the work of my
father, artist
Jack Whyte, amongst other friends. Here we envision a
future where it will be possible to acquire the work we love directly
from artists for resale. It is hard to imagine a more organic method for
supporting arts and artists.
You wouldn’t believe how hard it is to start an all-original art gallery here!
The best way I can think of describing our region is as a locale which
has been between a rock and a hard place for so long that the rat race
evolved into a dog-eat-dog struggle for survival.
Although, I’m
convinced that if you can survive here, you can survive anywhere. Also
with the rise of crowd funding, virtual goods and everything in-between,
the digital economy offers renewed hope for remote regions such as
ours. If not our world as a whole.
I had to think long and hard
about what to create for this scholarship entry. Being homeschooled and
auto-didactic means that this kind of contest is an avenue which I
hadn’t previously explored.
On some level I must like working
under pressure or I simply wouldn’t always be leaving things like this
to the last minute
(literally 23 minutes to go as I edit this for the final
time.) At first the plan was to create a video introduction to myself
and career.
Then
(as usual) my schedule was constipated by the
regular chores of survival here on
Manitoulin Island. The Island’s east
end is literally the penultimate conclusion to Ontario’s Hwy 6. Which I
believe starts somewhere down your way.
Finally I settled on a
medium with which I’ve become accustomed since my rickety attempt at
awakening nearly 5.5 years ago. In case it isn’t obvious, I’ve chosen
storytelling with an accompanying picture collage as the medium for my
contest entry.
The truth is that I’m a lover of art in all its
forms. Often I find myself wishing that I could absorb every single
artistic ability I stumble across. Currently, above all things, I have
come to love evoking images and emotions in the imaginations of my
audience.
My own strange tale is a combination of ups and downs
with a persistent creative talent that at one time often seemed as much
bane as boon.
However, for the sake of brevity already exceeded,
I will now restrain my pen to the matter at hand and a tale which began
last May with
International Soul Day.
Although often dubbed
“spiritual” by others, I’m actually not sure what a soul is and was
immediately attracted learning more from this interactive online event. A
discovery I would not have made if not for scanning targeted
advertisements over my wife’s shoulder as she surfed a popular social
media venue.
Interestingly enough, male vs. female audiences
often receive radically different advertising and I was therefore
enjoying an alternate perspective with insight into potential target
audiences.
I don’t recall the exact content of the International
Soul Day advertisement, but I was immediately drawn in and recall
thinking “this is somebody I really need to learn from.”
Immediately I joined the Pure Inspiration mailing list and have followed your story for the past 9 months or so.
I particularly enjoyed the tales of your serpentine jungle encounter
and your courage in overcoming art school critics. Above all else I have
been completely blown away by the
nü Icon material. As mentioned, my
belief in the ability of a digital economy to reinvigorate the world is
wholehearted and I simply love opportunities for distance education.
This means the nü Icon program is exactly the kind of learning I both
desire to tap into and eventually share. With an eye toward someday
awaking others to their potential, much as you do.
To me arts and
culture are a vital component of mutually assured survival. This means
the concept of joining the nü Icon program and mastermind are precisely
the kind of collective connections I dream of fostering.
It may
seem like a non-sequitur, but did you know that
the average Northerner’s debt is akin to life with an angry Kodiak bear continually lurking over your shoulder?
Neither did I, until recently researching online
advertising opportunities. I honestly thought I was alone in the feeling
of being consumed by financial insecurity.
I remain convinced
that it is this fact that lead my heart to literally skip a beat when I
received the email announcing the scholarship contest for the 2015
nü Icon program.
Over the years I’ve been told that it is who and
not what you know in life that makes a difference. Well, if there is one
guide whom I would like to receive mentoring from in the new year, it
is you,
Laura Hollick. Or any of my assorted friends, family, fans,
followers and yes, even foes who may happen to bee reading this.
There’s an old adage that states when a student is ready, the master will open the door.
So, if nothing else, I would like to thank you personally for your
time, this opportunity and for all that you do in service to the arts.
Journey On,
Dylon
P.S. Still wondering what the heck my feet have to do with it? Well,
despite medical science’s lack of conviction on the matter, being
attached to the rest of my person via my ankles is enough of an
explanation for my feet as I’m ever likely to require. Of course, this
doesn’t mean that it’s easy to find any
(let alone good) winter boots
for a person of my
podiatric stature.
Please find attached some pics introducing myself and my latest wearable art project.
The same way each link that makes up a chains inevitably circles back
on itself, chains themselves are especially symbolic for someone
(such
as myself) who is determined to make their own way in this world.
Thank you for Reading Diary of a Chainman
http://www.chainman.me
