Becoming an Artist
The Path Was Always There. I Just Had to Say Yes.
There’s a truth many of us quietly carry:
We’ve always been artists. We just didn’t believe we could be.
Not the kind with galleries and brushes.
The kind with curiosity. Imagination.
The kind who see patterns where others see problems.
Who make something where nothing existed before.
For me, it started with drawing.
Then it showed up in sound, curating rhythms as a DJ.
Then words. Then concepts. Then blank-wall ideas that became business visions.
But I never claimed the title.
Never gave myself permission.
Until now.
NOW: The Art We Left Behind
After college, I almost became a music programmer at a radio station in Los Angeles.
But I was talked out of it.
“You’ll never make any money. You should go into sales.”
So I did. For 30+ years.
But here’s the thing: I never stopped making art, I just didn’t recognize it as art.
I sold ideas, not just products.
Narratives, not just tactical solutions.
Conceptual outcomes, stitched together from media, talent, and intuition.
I was never transactional. I was translating stories into strategies.
The artist was always there, just wearing a suit.
Ask yourself:
What part of your creative self did you abandon for the practical path?
What have you always loved, but quietly left behind?
The Now is about acknowledging what’s been buried under “being responsible.”
NEW: Accepting the Artist Within
A decade ago, I took my first mosaic class.
I didn’t know it then,
but every tile I placed,
every shape I broke and reassembled,
was a conversation with my younger self.
Each mosaic became a meditation. A reclaiming.
A slow, sacred act of saying:
You’ve always been an artist. It’s time to live like one.
Then came Rick Rubin’s The Creative Act: A Way of Being
a book that didn’t just open a door.
It tore down a wall.
It gave language to what I’ve always felt.
That to create is not a hobby. It’s a way of being.
And so, 35 years later, I stopped deflecting.
I stepped into it.
I am an artist.
Ask yourself:
What creative voice in you is still waiting for permission?
What’s one practice you could return to—not to perform, but to remember?
In the New, we stop negotiating with the artist inside us. We welcome them home.
NEXT: Art As Narrative. Narrative As Mosaic.
This is where ShiftStory and Narrative Mosaic come alive.
Not as services. Not as frameworks.
But as expressions.
Of how we reclaim our wholeness.
Of how we become artists of our own identity.
Mosaics are more than art.
They are fragments with meaning.
Just like our lives.
The missed jobs. The made choices.
The pivots. The silences. The half-finished sketches.
All of it is material.
What we do with it, that’s the art.
Ask yourself:
If your life were a mosaic, what colors have you left out?
What would it mean to compose your next chapter as a piece of art, not a plan?
The Next is about designing not just what you do, but who you are becoming.
THE PAYOFF: The Artist Was Always There
In the Now, we hear the whisper: You were always an artist.
In the New, we accept that truth and begin to create from it.
In the Next, we live it, unapologetically, publicly, and powerfully.
So here’s your invitation:
Don’t just build a life. Compose one.
Tile by tile. Word by word. Feeling by feeling.
Through ShiftStory, we surface the art that’s been buried under roles, titles, and expectations.
Through Narrative Mosaic, we don’t just tell your story.
We design it.
Because you’re not a resume.
You’re not a bio.
You’re not a brand.
You’re a portrait in progress.
And the art is already inside you.
Time to make it visible.
"Creativity is something you are, not only something you do. It's a way of moving through the world, every minute, every day." ~ Rick Rubin, The Creative Act: A Way of Being.
I’m Tobin Trevarthen, a narrative strategist, founder of Spatial Shift by Tobin, and author of Narrative Generation.
I spent decades in the corporate and start-up worlds, selling over $1B in marketing programs before shifting into narrative work that helps people and organizations make sense of transformation through story.
I’ve worked with founders, execs, startups, Global 1000, and cultural institutions to design narrative frameworks that spark clarity and alignment.
Now New Next is where I reflect on the long game, with a sense of urgency. I write for modern elders, edge thinkers, and curious builders trying to name what matters now, what’s emerging, and what’s worth pursuing next.
You’ll find no hype here. Just a mix of strategy, story, and soulful direction for a shifting world. I also write about narrative worth, identity, and the art of sensing what’s unsaid.
Let’s walk the edge—together.
ShiftStory™ is my new ideation for building narrative agency in uncertain times. I have one slot left in the pilot program for May 27th. Sign up here for your 24 minute walk n talk: https://calendly.com/spatialshift/24-minute-shiftstory-field-call
Follow me on LinkedIn. Or DM at tobin@spatialshift.com for more information.
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