Sunday 7 December 2014

Why is my blog called Diary of a Chainman?

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

http://www.chainman.me

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