Kindred Connect

Let's connect with ... John Arkoosh

Mar 08, 2022

Happy Tuesday! Welcome to Acting Class Daily. Each week we make a Kindred Connection with a member of our community - learning about formative moments, experiencing a few of their favorite things, tasting their artistic heart, and getting a look into their very soul.

Share Your Kindred Spirit

#KindredConnect … John Arkoosh

Lost. Alone. Insecure. Say yes - figure the rest out later. Hide so there is no one and nothing to say yes to. Hermit . Martial Artist. - Broken Bodied. Open Heart. Open Mind. Forever feeling the Fraud. Forgotten Dreams, Missed Chances. Small. Wounded. Unsure. Yet to grow up. Forever Screaming Inside. A Son, Father, Teacher, Friend. Hopeful. Alive.

Connect with John: Facebook or Instagram.

#IAMELYSIUM

Open Windows

They say the eyes are the windows to the soul. Here’s an unguarded, unedited, uninterrupted minute with the windows open.

My Artistic Heart

Revealing the truest, rawest taste of your creative soul through any form of live expression.

My Elysium Artist

The “reputational quote” you’ll earn when you’ve reached your potential.

Selfless and supportive. There for you; not just as a fellow creative but as a fellow human being.

What about Elysium feels kindred in spirit to the artist you are today?

I have an intense desire to uplift and support those I hold dear. The idea that we can all come together, from all over the globe and find solace in one another - a chance to be free and be ourselves, together - to be accepted and to accept. To share in the joy that storytelling brings. To ignite each others passion.

#FearlessFavorites

Movies

TV Series

Songs

Books/Poems/Plays

Foods

#TheInnerView

What role would you most like to live-through … and why?

I identify with many - from Jauquin's Joker to Bale's Trevor in the Machinist to Stormare's Jeff in Dancer in the Dark. The struggle for acceptance of one's true self and one's place in it all. I live their lives as I witness and I relate and I crave that relation.

Tell us about a life-shaping moment.

Deciding to be a father to a 15 month old child that is not my own. The absolute best choice I ever made (and continue to make every day as he grows - he will be 12 in a week!)

Share a moment when you experienced the best of yourself as an artist.

Just prior the start of the Covid pandemic lock-down I was comissioned to create thirty identical wooden walnut bowls for a fine dining restaurant in San Francisco. The bowls were to be used as part of their Gallery Opening party and then to be used in their private dining area. As I typically only make one-offs (my first production run was *not* a great experience) I was unsure of myself going into this job, but as always - say yes, then figure it out after. It was a lot of long nights and early mornings but I was able to accomplish what I had assumed was probably not going to happen. I was also able to provide them with a selection of bowls and platters and vases for their gallery. All in all, it was a great experience and one that allowed me to grow in my art - not through creating something amazing, but through the repitition of creation under constraint (in this case time and confidence / experience).

Where have you travelled … and most want to travel?

I have been to Taiwan. Mexico. Canada. Various States. Traveling is not my thing and I do not have a place I want to go next. I am very much a feet on the ground type - a walk is infinitely more enjoyable to me than a trip. Every place I have been feels the same to me - just a place in time. It is the people I am interested in. Taiwan had such wonderful people. Everywhere I have been I have met wonderful people. I would make sure to live in Hawaii in another life.

What does your perfect day-off look like?

Caffeine. Wood Shavings. A walk with my Dog. A Hug and a Smile from my Boy. Steak and Rice. A glass of Wine. Bed.

Did you know…?

I've had 5 total loss of consciousness concussions - waking up later in another place (be it in a ditch or an ambulance). I have a terrible memory; very difficult for me to hold onto the moments as they pass. Lines are a nightmare for me and are gone as soon as I no longer actively hold tightly onto them. Not uncommon to quote me my own lines a day after I said them and my not recalling what that's from.
I've also never cared about success, certainly not as an actor. I just like the craft of it, the fun of it - I like to play. The rest is whatever. I love rehearshal and cold reads and such much more than the actual performance - the exploration drives me. It is the same with my woodturning; I start projects way more often than I ever finish one and most never see the light of day, let alone get photographed and shared. I just do it for me.

Kindred Spirits. Connect.