{"id":2874,"date":"2025-05-01T11:21:23","date_gmt":"2025-05-01T18:21:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lioninthetrees.com\/blog\/?p=2874"},"modified":"2026-02-14T04:22:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T12:22:17","slug":"raku-mini-gaki-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lioninthetrees.com\/blog\/2025\/05\/01\/raku-mini-gaki-show\/","title":{"rendered":"Giant Robot Store – Raku Mini Gaki Show"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Flyer<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I was invited to participate in the upcoming Raku Mini Gaki show at Giant Robot Store!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Art goes live online on 5\/3 @ 11 AM PT!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Art will be available here:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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GIANT ROBOT STORE SHOP<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The Raku Gaki exhibitions traditionally are meant to showcase sketches from a variety of artists. It\u2019s not meant to be like\u2026super refined work (not to say you can’t<\/em> do that) but rather the spirit and intention is to be a safe space for artistic vulnerability, and to share a little bit from the Sacred Space that is an artist\u2019s sketchbook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You could sketch something new or it could be an older sketch. Reading the invite made me realise I hadn\u2019t actually sketched in a long time aside from my super quick scribbles for ceramic ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Rough<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Rough<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\"Rough<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Rough<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\"Rough<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Rough<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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I used to do these sketches that were also a part of my spiritual practice. I\u2019d use markers, pen, and ink and I would just free draw these pages inspired by words of affirmation, lyrics, animals, and symbols that were meaningful to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of the time, I sketched birds because I wanted to get better at drawing their wings. But I also found a sense of freedom and power in their ability to fly. Creating these pages were a form of meditation and prayer for me.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Marker<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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\"Marker<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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I thought one of these sketchbook pages would be fantastic for this show.
And I contemplated using one of my past pages, but as I flipped through them they felt too intimate and personal\u2014almost like diary entries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I pride myself in being open and vulnerable, but I didn\u2019t feel comfortable putting the majority of these pages on public display. Especially given that when I first drew these sketches, it was under the intention that I would never pressure myself to share them with anyone unless I genuinely felt like it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the ones that I did feel comfortable sharing, I didn\u2019t want to tear them out. It made me feel really sad to think about removing them\u2014separating them from all the others\u2014when they collectively exist as a memory to a core period in my life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I decided to sketch something new!<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Marker<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Ever since reading Carl Sagan\u2019s Demon Haunted World, I\u2019ve been on yet another journey questioning, renovating, and re-evaluating spirituality and my own spiritual beliefs\/practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so it didn\u2019t feel honest or authentic for me to use the same phrases\/vocabulary that I once incorporated into these sketches because I wasn\u2019t sure how I felt about them or that part of me anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Marker<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Words and phrases are a key part of these sketches and so I really struggled with what to incorporate into my sketch for this show. I wanted to use vocabulary and phrases that meant something to me in this present moment, and I also thought about incorporating my spiritual struggles into it somehow.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Marker<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

At first, I tried removing the pages before drawing so I wouldn\u2019t accidentally ruin the sketch trying to tear it out. But it just felt so unnatural, so I returned to drawing within my book itself.
I was also a little rusty when it came to sketching like this and trusting my hand.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Marker<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

But once I warmed up, I started to remember how to put pen to paper.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Marker<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I really wanted to keep this sketch but I knew what I was getting into when I created it. So I wasn\u2019t too bummed tearing it out and sending it to Giant Robot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can see some areas where words and phrases can absolutely fit. And I remember it bothering me that I couldn\u2019t fully fill out the areas, but I also like that I left them empty vs trying to force something to go there because that\u2019s just where I am at the moment.
And one day, in the future, maybe something new that resonates with me can take their place in those empty spaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was invited to participate in the upcoming Raku Mini Gaki show at Giant Robot Store! Art goes live online on 5\/3 @ 11 AM PT! Art will be available here: The Raku Gaki exhibitions traditionally are meant to showcase sketches from a variety of artists. It\u2019s not meant to be like\u2026super refined work (not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2847,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[16,28,67,34],"class_list":["post-2874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art","tag-art","tag-brain-dump","tag-gallery-show","tag-sketches"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lioninthetrees.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lioninthetrees.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lioninthetrees.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lioninthetrees.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lioninthetrees.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2874"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lioninthetrees.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2874\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2880,"href":"https:\/\/lioninthetrees.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2874\/revisions\/2880"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lioninthetrees.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lioninthetrees.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lioninthetrees.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lioninthetrees.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}