Interview with Ank Justice SteadySpear by Kimyada

The International Organization of Talented Artists (IOTA) has just launch a new online magazine. The magazine will serve not only as a networking tool for artists, but also as a catalyst for many other artistic endeavors for its founder Ank J. Steadyspear and IOTAÕs many members. Ank says he was born an artist. He went to visual arts school to study photography and art education. He taught school for two years in New York, including magazine design and darkroom photography. He taught Art History and Mediterranean art in conjunction with the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. SteadySpear, who founded IOTA with wife Diana, will offer artists the unique opportunity to display their talents in a non-traditional manner. Ank recently completed a book entitled Tao Zen: Remembering their faces. Insights and photographs of Hong Kong and China. This book is available on the web at dankunlimited.com/zttz.

Why did you decide to start IOTA?
IOTA was started as a networking tool for artists, to give artists a spotlight more than what is already out there and at the same time try to make some money. I created a magazine in college. Now the format is to network other artists together and say, "okay we can use this concept to show each otherÕs work" and use the web as a new platform. The response to IOTA has been overwhelming. People want to be a part of it because it is grassroots. I see there is a need for it from the responses and vibrations I get from other people when I talk to them about IOTA. Our goal is to be a bit unique, avant-garde.

How is IOTA going to be different?
One way we are striving to be unique is by requesting people write text in their native languages. I feel a translation from one language to another is censorship. Simply because some of the authenticity is lost. In the future we will add a translator program for those who would like to read the stories, poems, etc. in English or any given language. Another way we plan to be unique is to get the best and the brightest. We plan to be very inclusive. We want to touch everybody from every level. The art community has struggled for years with identity. What is fine art and what is commercial art? To me this is crap because commercial art is art and fine art is art. It is just how you plan to use it to live. When the Sistine Chapel was painted it was fine art, but it was a commissioned piece by the church. IOTAÕs own unique perspective is that everyone is art. Every single aspect of communication is art.

So is the purpose of the magazine to expose artistsÕ gifts to other artists or the mainstream?
Both. First, to show artists to other artist to let them know whatÕs out there and what other artists are doing. For example, you may be a graphic designer, but another graphic designer might have a different technique, which you can learn from. That designer may also learn something from you and share the flow. ThatÕs the whole goal, sharing the flow. Also, to show the artists to the mainstream because a lot of artists have 9 to 5 jobs. If these artists can put their work out there and if the mainstream picks it up, with the help of advertisers, one or two of these artist may have commercial success. That would be cool and that is one of the major goals of IOTA.

In your opinion, what is wrong with the way artistsÕ material is presented to the rest of the world?
Personally, I do not view anything as wrong or right. ItÕs more or less the technique being used and who controls that technique. A lot of the time artists controlled by the mainstream of people, who have a large sum of money and decides who they like as friends, will be the number 1 artist for this month or the next mainstream avant-garde artist. There are a lot of young people out there, who are very talented, but have not come into contact with these people. I am basically down in the trenches for these artists. IÕd like to show their work. I am not wealthy and even if I reached that point, I would still comeback to the roots. I am touching the roots while they are not. They are just trying to get the fruit before the tree grows.

You spoke of talented artists who lack connections. What is IOTAÕs role in making their dreams more of a reality?
IOTA will serve as a showcase. You create your work, you submit your work, you have something you want to share and IOTA will help share that with other people. ThatÕs the goal. IOTA means International Organization of Talented Artists. ItÕs a collective art guild for people who want to gain economic freedom through their art. I mean thatÕs what almost every artist is striving for.

So how would one go about getting their work to IOTA?
What I would recommend is to first view some of the work already on the IOTA site or one of its many links (of various artists) and decide if you can see yourself being apart of it. The next step is to send an e-mail to myself or someone else in the IOTA group and express your desire to submit material. From there we will correspond through e-mail. The e-mail address is contact@iota.tv and the URL is www.IOTA.tv.

When you use the term artist, who exactly are you talking about?
ThatÕs a great question because sometimes when people see the flyer, theyÕre like "is music involved?" Yes, music is involved. When we say artist we mean every single individual who is creating something, who is doing something, who views every single person as an artist, and every single person has some creative latitude. ItÕs just the manifestation of that latitude. How this individual is going to bring forth that direct inspiration into reality and share that inspiration into a visible or audible representation. Case in point, I went to the dentist the other day. I mentioned the magazine to her and she views the creative aspect of how she lives as a dentist as an art form. She was ready to give me a photograph of a tooth restoration she was working on. You know what it looked like before and after. So here is a dentist, whom some people might not view in the context of artistic expression, but in fact it is an artistic expression. She is taking something that looks one way and changing it into another. It involves evolving the personÕs teeth or evolving the project into another visual representation. If we can get work from people like that, that is IOTA. Not just somebody who goes to art school for four years and says, "Oh, I am an artist." Many people go to art school and spend four years or more, but that doesnÕt necessarily mean theyÕre artists. Some disciplines featured in the magazine will be photography, illustrations, graphics, writing, poetry, film and video, music. The music director is Nikem Wilson and all genres of music will be represented.

What role exactly does Diana SteadySpear play in IOTA?
Diana is my wife and partner in crime! We met in art school in New York. I had created a magazine and she did great work. We went back to Hong Kong and got married. Then we came back to America with a goal. We first tried to set up an art gallery, but that did not work out as weÕd planned. That did not deter us one bit. We expanded our vision into something bigger and that something is IOTA. We change the name from D gallery to IOTA and D Gallery will be the visual section of IOTA. Diana has invested not just time, energy and patience, but to deal with me during this project is not an easy thing. I kind of demand a lot of high quality. She is the graphic designer and the web master, the direct flow of the visual presentation. When artists send in their material, Diana will do the layout.

You seem very ambitious and goal oriented. What is the next step for you?
In the next 15 to 20 years I would like to see IOTA become an institution of learning. I used to say an art institution, but now I say an institution of learning because I would like to incorporate other disciplines as well (i.e. DNA studies, Finance). To create this institution, that is one of the projects IOTA would like to develop. One area of the magazine, which I am targeting to a younger generation of creative individuals, is called "Children Of the Arts". This area will feature youngsters from elementary middle and high school. I believe that if children show their work at those ages there is a possibility of getting grants and scholarships for college. For example, I got school credits and financial assistance in college, for creating a magazine. That helped to pay my tuition. I would also like to have a vegetarian cafŽ and Diana would like to open a Teahouse. If other members, who come on board, have their own individual projects or dream weÕd like to say use IOTA as a platform to gain financial assistance. This will in turn help us to help others with their projects. So, my dreams involve helping others. That is the future of IOTA. My personal new project is writing books. Movie scripts, books, cooking classes are also personal goals.

IOTA Magazine premieres online October, 2000.

top