Photo: Jon Keppel Founder and Director of The Life Art Institute: An Online Space for Learning About and Practicing Life Art.

Hi, I’m Jon

Welcome…

Being an artist for me does not simply entail painting or sculpting but a coming to terms with one's nature and activating one's self and life as art. The main message I wish to share currently is that art can be the craft of life and that coming from a place of true Love is the “why” in life. We can come to life in all its glory with attitudes and approaches that cultivate our highest and best selves creatively, but it takes a transformation of ourselves in the nature of being.

In 2017, I gave a very spirited TEDx talk to over 700 people in Akron, Ohio and that was a thrill (see The Art Spark, TEDx). And at the time I thought that was the highlight of my life.  There has been so much more though!  I have continued the sentiment of that talk to explore what happens when we think of ourselves and our lives as art, particularly as a way to generate well-being in our lives. One of the questions I am exploring is - How can we begin to care for ourselves and each other just a little deeper when we creatively approach our uniqueness and preciousness?

An important element in my discoveries pertaining to the power of art deals with a profound clinically diagnosed Depression and mental illness that I went through in my late 20’s and the majority of my 30’s.  I am now 44.  It is a huge part of my story which I have not gone too much into until now because I now feel l can adequately describe what has happened to me (or rather for me) and how I have experienced going from a victim to a victor in my life through a radical transformation from hell into health.

What I have to say could end up challenging what you have always known to be art and always known to be true.  What I need to tell you up front is that I went through a process of disavowing the act of resenting life.  That is the absolute core understanding you need to get from this writing.  This radically changed my artistic mindset and actions in life, my behavior as it were.  And this is the ultimate message of life art in a nutshell.  Love is the answer.  Life is the question.  Keep on asking questions!  It’s in our nature.  It’s what we’ve come here to do while factually being Love. 

I am an artist who, in a sense then, deals primarily with personhood and more thoroughly stated, Love. It has been quite a journey since starting to do rather conventional acrylic paintings a couple of years ago (see Conventional Art) after being newly recovered from the mental illness that I was experiencing for so long. That work helped me to find my inner child which was always there but got obscured by garbage I had been putting into my mind and heart and also biological upheaval in the form of uncontrollable intrusive thoughts and disordered thinking which had left me dysfunctional and in disarray. 

I still very much value conventional practice and am still quite involved with its development, execution and appreciation. If you feel called to simply make art, then that is what you should do.  I only beg that you find a way that serves you in the highest. For me, I have been called to engage with what I see is a continuum beyond conventional practice alone that is made of all life practices that comes to make us who we are. That is why I have allowed this realization to blossom in my life, humbly becoming the father of life art in the 21st Century.  I know this to be true in my heart and my soul.  It is why I was born and also why I am doing everything I am doing.  It is who I am.  It is the wish fulfilled of my Heart’s desire. 

Art as the craft of life is just as much the crafting or co-creating of ourselves (along with crafting or co-crafting our lives, any conventional art we may choose to create and the impact that we have on the world around us). We want to make that impact a positive one.  That is crucial.  It has been a true transformation to come to this understanding and is one that I feel has incredible possibility and potential.  All of this can be known by the term life art and is my offering to you as a human being through and as my life.

I know what it is like to want to dismantle this place, one’s self included and I am here to tell you that you have to transcend that impulse to release the true potential in yourself that is given to you by the nature of being.   

I want to say also that my study of the Western canon in art has been a part of what has brought me to this conception of art practice (see Proposition for Life Art). Developments such as relational aesthetics and social practice, I feel, have been precursors to treating life itself as an artwork. Many other artists' works have contributed to that as well including Marcel Duchamp, John Cage, Allan Kaprow and Rirkrit Tiravanija along with folks who may not associate themselves right away as artists but who have been heroes of mine and are definitely in my opinion living artful lives. Those folks include Ashley Turner, Brainard Carey, Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, Andy Puddicombe, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Chris Anderson (TED), David Deutsch and Yuval Noah Harari (see Other People’s Books/Resources).

In addition, folks from my scene who have also heavily inspired me include DM Whitfield, Susie Frazier and Laura Curwood. Special inspiration has also come from the spirit of Albert Einstein. My work continues a tradition of fresh thinking in that it brings art practice to the everyday through, among other practices, reading, meditation and conversation along with the conventional work that I do. Though it seeks to respond contemporarily to life it is still informed by the many artists that have come before me.

My daily practice consists of a few main components. Every person is different of course though paradoxically we do share a universal quality at our core which is essential to understand and that quality is known to us as the word and reality, Love. For me, good regulated deep sleep is a number one priority. Also, I pursue a well-balanced diet which in my case is of the vegetarian variety. Physical exercise including walking outside is another key ingredient to my recipe for life (when I am at my best) which many times and in many ways becomes an improvisation. Don’t get me wrong, there is much improvisation along the way. And everyone’s recipes and improvisations that go into their style of life is going to be different. That is the beauty of individuality.

I also read, daily, including physical books, audio books and various online publications (see Other People’s Books/Resources). In the past I have made heavy use of podcasts (with personal preference for society, culture, technology, science and art). Furthermore, I meditate just about every day with a number of guided approaches mixed with my own approach (see Meditations and Talks). I also do an ongoing practice of what I call “crafting” each day. Other words for this could be self-coaching, life planning or visioning.  Basically, that is where I sort of actively dream and think about how my life is going and what is developing into a priority. I think about good actions to take to bring those ideas to life. I do this in the mornings, on my breaks at work and when I get home in the evening.

I am working full-time at a library which itself is beyond words fulfilling. I graduated with my master’s degree in library and information science and am now a librarian! That has been a bigger-than-my-imagination dream come true!  Life art helped me do that and the library work is an expression of life art! I continue to develop life projects to support myself fully in my dreams and am day by day establishing a new type of understanding that has already taken the shape of an institute for learning about creatively fulfilling approaches to living with particular emphasis on society and culture, service and self-actualization. This informal initiative is currently housed online and is called The Life Art Institute (see the Life Art Institute).  When I have time in an evening every now and then or on weekends I update my website, post to Instagram, do a YouTube video, paint, make some music, write, blog, create a guided meditation and so forth. Just as much however and this is very important, I am living my day-to-day life more and more fully with abundance paying special attention to the love and care of my life in the fullest sense of the terms. I love going out as well and am working more and more on balance in my life.

I hope you will see from this website that there are many, many ways that art can come to life and that in the end it is beyond even the word art and all words altogether in a realm of pure potential. For now, I feel we may describe it as Love.  Love as the core for art is the age in which we are living.  It is my belief that we are all artists, we are all art, and that art can be the craft of life. All the best and thanks for reading. Many of the sections on this website are dedicated specifically to all of you and your journeys. I wish you well! Peace