Art by Akamai (my website link)

Painting/Drawing: I’ve loved drawing from as far back as I can remember—as a four-year old obsessed with Blues Clues, I would make my own “Handy Dandy Notebook” and draw the clues along with Steve. My love of art never faded and in college, while I was technically majoring in Computer Science, I was secretly taking twice as many art classes. I studied for a couple semesters under the late Bill Paskewitz, whom I credit with greatly elevating my understanding of and ability for art-creation. He introduced our class to sumi ink and bamboo brushes, which quickly became a favorite medium of mine for ink’s fluidity and the range of textures you can achieve with the bamboo brush’s vast range of strokes. On my own I’ve explored acrylics, where I tend toward a stylized, somewhat cartoonish style. In this mode I find Japanese illustrator Rokuro Taniuchi to be a kindred spirit (I would consider him a master at striking a unique mix of childlike imagery and complex, mature emotion—something I strive toward). I am continuously learning & developing my acrylic methods and styles. I find inspiration in the abstract works of Helen Frankenthaler, the experimentation of Paul Klee, and the colors of Milton Avery, among many, many others. Music also informs my paintings, as I will be inspired by a particular lyric, image, or feeling from a song.

 Mitch “Mish” Akamai Meyer

Growing up among the cows and hills of Livermore, I was drawn to nature from an early age—I also had an early proclivity for creating art, perhaps partly inspired from living amongst natural beauty. I’ve always been making something, whether it’s painting, photography, or music. Keeping with my curious and restless nature, I tend to explore various mediums and approaches, rarely settling on any one style for too long. No matter the medium, however, I try to imbue a sense of experimentation and emotion, whether it’s whimsy or wistfulness. I’ve also become fond of chance—I like to leave some parts unplanned and open to improvisation, something unique to that specific moment of creation. I try to embrace mistakes as part of the artistic process, working with them in a rebellion against perfectionism. Sometimes I will even add a mistake just to keep things interesting.

I was employed with the Bothwell Arts Center for several years and, while I’m now working full-time in an electrical apprenticeship, I continue to help set up the annual Art Walk event.

Photography: When I would go on a school field trip or family vacation as a kid, I would often be given a disposable camera. When my mom would have them developed, she would ask “How come you never take pictures of you or your friends?” All the pictures were of animals, landscapes, empty soda cans on the ground, etc. And I still tend to do that to this day. Later as a young teen I would buy my first DSLR, a Canon Rebel, and frequently take it on “photohikes”. My family would also take long road trips to New Mexico and Utah to visit family, where I would take hundreds of pictures of the changing scenery that zoomed by. Fast forward to 2020, as Covid emerged and photohiking became one of the few sanctioned activities, I started to branch out and delve into film photography. I quickly fell in love with the excitement of film—the limited shots per roll, the loud clunk from the shutter release, not knowing how each shot would turn out, the quirks of each film stock, and so on. I gifted my digital camera to my friend and have been shooting film exclusively since 2021. Most of my photographs are taken in and around the Livermore area. I’m greatly inspired to photograph what I consider to be the endangered natural beauty of Livermore; several things I’ve photographed over the last several years are gone or irreparably changed, often from development or natural disaster. The Garaventa Hills Project is a great concern to me, as it will devastate much of the natural habitats of the local wildlife and, more selfishly, mar the incredible views of the surrounding rolling hills. I am driven to capture the beauty we have now before it’s potentially lost for good.