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"Making pictures is one of the earliest memories I recall. Before learning\xa0to write the alphabet I was drawing from my imagination in crayons. And over all the years that followed, there has never been a period where I didn\u2019t continue the\xa0practice. I remember for example just after graduating high school and living on my own as a dishwasher with no ambitions in life but to get drunk and high. But when the party was over I would be in the kitchen of a house I didn\u2019t live in, drawing past dawn. Or even when I was a student at the University of California Berkeley, on my way towards a corporate life, having never conceived even the possibility where art could be a profession, I filled my notebooks not with words from lectures, but with sketches of teachers\xa0and classmates. And though later I would become a \u2018professional artist\u2019, I sometimes look back at such moments if confused\xa0with the roots of\xa0my creativity. It started\xa0purely as an\xa0act of autonomy, where nothing outside myself influenced or affected it. I\xa0simply drew because I enjoyed it above all else. Sure, like anyone I\u2019ve had plenty of typical\xa0life experiences that have brought their own joy, but nothing compares in consistency and meaningfulness that making art has provided. Even during those\xa0unavoidable\xa0periods with living\xa0that challenges us most,\xa0drastic life change/loss/death,\xa0art has functioned as a medium with giving meaning to suffering, transforming it into an experience with healing.\xa0This I hope, begins to describe the art I make. The drawings and paintings you see on this site, are similar to\xa0snapshots with\xa0the lens pointed\xa0in Life's\xa0direction with penetrating force. I hope you enjoy any of what's reflected back. Thanks for visiting." - Akira Beard

Topics Discussed In This Episode:

• Identity
• His Japanese American heritage
• Akira\u2019s self portraiture work where he addressed the theme of identity
• The idea of \u201cself, culture, nature\u201d
• Self-realization
• The Buddhist concept of impermanence
• The difference between a technician and a fine artist
• \u201cThe Tibetan Book of Living and Dying\u201d
• The enigma of love
• His body of artwork called \u201cLove In Spite of Everything\u201d
• His 4 year path of discovery
• Marcus Aurelius
• Stoicism
• Daily rituals
• Anais Nin

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