Art | Music | Culture Archives - The Quake City Portal

QCP #031 | Karen Nani Apana, Ph.D. | The Questions We Live With, Higher Worlds, and How to Find Stillness in Biography Work

Prisma Coloring Courtesy of Edwin Hacking

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Dr. Karen Apana is one of the founding members of the San Francisco Waldorf School – first founded in 1978. She has been a lifetime teacher, mentor, and student of Anthroposophy for over 40 years. For over 25 years, she has been teaching biography work and has a private practice for biography counseling in San Francisco. She also holds frequent biography workshops all over the Bay Area, and although she is now retired as a Waldorf teacher, she still mentors and advises teachers in the Bay Area and all over the globe.

She was born and raised in San Francisco, and as you’ll find out in this conversation, she is a local, cosmic gem. In this conversation, you’ll learn about Anthroposophy and some of the philosophies behind Rudolph Steiner. She also offers a firsthand account of someone born into a generation of San Francisco coming into social consciousness during the 1960s, which eventually set the stage for many spiritual seekers, creators, activists, artists, and life enthusiasts today.

QCP #014 | Ivan C Lopez – Artist, Ceramicist + Muralist | Healing Through Creativity, Plant Medicine, And Listening To The Universe

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Ivan C Lopez is an artist from San Francisco by way of Columbia. He co-founded and helped build Artillery Art Gallery – a creative community space in the heart of the Mission. His passion to provide space for community inspires others to find what has been explorative and healing for him. Through ceramics and painting, Ivan hopes to bring balance; within a connection to the natural world alongside the concrete walls of the city.

I wanted to speak with Ivan because he connects this idea of the modern human being returning to our wild selves by communing with our indigenous selves. Not only through embracing creativity, but through encouraging and teaching others to pick up a brush to play with colors. Or taking a lump of clay and sitting at a table to be creative together. In this way, we embrace our childlike curiosity to explore and meditate upon the infinite ways of knowing ourselves, just in the same way we were created from virtually nothing.

In this conversation, Ivan shares his creative process, his journey in his lifetime exploration of art, self-discovery, and community.

Please enjoy this stream of consciousness conversation beneath a canopy of redwood trees in McClaren Park San Francisco, on Ohlone Rammaytus land – with the artist, the wild human, the mindfully grounded, Ivan Camilo Lopez.

Ivan’s Instagram: @ivanclopez
Artillery Art Gallery
Ivan’s Art here.

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QCP #012 | Why do we collect things? | Chino, The Sneaker King of the North

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What is it about our collections that take up spaces in our lives?

Meet Chino – The owner of the largest sneaker collection I’ve ever seen.

He comes all the way to us from Edmonton, Canada by way of the Philippines. He’s a loving husband, father of two boys, a working man who does whatever it takes to make an honest living to care for his family.

A few years ago, I had the chance to see in person an entire storage basement full of sneakers, jerseys, and sports memorabilia. And after having this conversation, it reminded me of the importance of culture, no matter what form it takes, in helping us come together, and integrate with the world around us.

Check out our smoked brisket Youtube Episode.

NOTES | MENTIONS

QCP #009 | A Trip Across the World and Into the Multiverse with Jethro

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Jethro is, what I like to call for fun, my younger brother from another mother. He’s the youngest son of my dad’s twin brother. Currently residing in Manila, by way of Cagayan de Oro Philippines. With his short stay in Manila, he immersed himself in his art within the underground hip-hop community. Through finding his artistic medium, he fixated his lens on the vibrant, unsung scene of the culture in Metro Manila.

However, his passion was only realized during a difficult time. At six foot four, he was a highly scouted youth basketball player by some of the most prestigious universities in the Philippines. As a professional basketball hopeful, his career took an abrupt stop after blowing his knee during the recruiting process. Without resources for surgery, It forced him to rethink his path. With help from his family and friends, he found his way – pulled by the gravity of a creative life. Through teaching himself the craft of editing and networking, the discipline he learned from basketball earned him some professional opportunities with film editing.

QCP #005 | Ernesto Pineda |How to Awaken Our Curiosity and Engage in New Ways with our Surroundings

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Ernesto Pineda has over 20 years of experience in the Real Estate and Real Estate Tech industry. He is an entrepreneur, a business advisor, and an artist at heart. With his life-long love for books, art and travel, he uses his experience to merge his professional and creative endeavors. He has a passion for learning through experience, conversation and interacting with his environment.

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