Meet Misaki Saito | Pianist, Photographer, Arts Leader

We had the good fortune of connecting with Misaki Saito and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Misaki, do you disagree with some advice that is more or less universally accepted?
To always stay positive and be happy! This was actually my motto while growing up. For many years, I always wanted to please others and to look happy on the outside so that people would like me. I never wanted to say “No” when invited or asked to do stuff. But what I was left with at the end was sadness, frustration, loneliness, the rejection of part of my inner emotions, and a lack of self-acceptance. Even though my outside may have looked all positive and happy, my inner self was sad, stressed out, and often depressed. In fact, I have had people call me inhuman for not expressing negative emotions, so it actually became hard for them to trust me. To them, I seemed fake, and in a way they were right. There have been countless times I had a “fake smile” on. I had on so many layers of masks used to hide myself in front of people because I was afraid. I was not ready to be vulnerable.
Sure, looking at things in positive ways can be beneficial, and I still do that from time to time, trying to think of the best in the worst situations. What I really want to say is that you do not need to stay positive ALL THE TIME. It’s okay to be sad, it’s okay to feel burned out and to not do anything for a while. It’s okay to rest and really take care of yourself. Your emotions are valid, whatever you are feeling is not wrong, and in fact, all emotions are all beautiful.

I am an arts lover, and I do believe in the power of its expressive nature. There is one quote that stuck with me for a long time from a painter, Ran Ortner. He said, “Art is not a skill contest, not an innovation contest. Art is an honesty contest. If we can be precisely who we are, in the most intimate and candid and courageous way, we will start to connect to the universal. Our job as artists is to become powerfully personal in our work.” Embracing all kinds of emotions as a whole would make our stories and artworks more rich, and more human. After all, without darkness, we do not recognize the brightness of the light. Without light, we do not recognize the darkness of the shadow. All elements are essential.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I am a pianist, photographer, and also a founder of a non-profit project called heARTists. Even though I kept my primary field as solo piano performance from high school until my doctorate, I am proud of my diverse experiences and years of practice in various fields, such as ballet, figure-ice skating, Japanese traditional dance, voice, ping-pong, youth aviation school, mountain climbing etc,. I was also homeschooled in Japan for 6 years (where the practice is still not well-accepted even today) and have experienced bullying and different forms of abuse. By combining my personal and immersion in arts, I came up with the idea of heARTists.

What heARTists do is to encourage people to share stories of painful experiences of hardship. Then, these survivors’ stories in turn directly inspire our group of artists to create original artworks! The overwhelmingly positive reactions from those survivors, whose stories gave birth to artwork, centered around them being moved by the art that was meant for them. I believe in the power of the arts, in the power to communicate and connect with people directly and intangibly. As I was saying earlier about embracing all kinds of emotions, I want to create a safe and open environment where people can share their stories safely and everyone can feel heard. Everyone has a worthy story to tell.

I am grateful for all my friends who have come along to support this project, which is still in the process of growing! Huge thanks to my co-artistic director, Hikari Nakamura, for helping me from the very beginning of the stage as well. heARTists also received a generous grant from Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa and artist Nagasaka Mago for the purpose of growing the project. Please stay tuned for many more exciting projects to come! And if you have a story to tell, please share it with us; if you are an artist, please join us. We welcome everyone 🙂

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
My all time favorite spot is El Matador State Beach in Malibu. With its unique rock formations, it never disappoints visitors with its stunning scenery! Other go-to-spots are the Getty Museum, LACMA, and The Broad. Their art collections are extensive, and their architecture is fascinating! If I knew that my friend was coming to the area way in advance, I would book a tour for the Stahl House as well. Another lovely spot is the Huntington Library, but do not let the name fool you – their famous garden is absolutely stunning. It features plant varieties from cactuses/desert, Japanese, Chinese, rose garden, and all other kinds of stuff. Certainly not something that you would expect to see and experience in LA! As for eating, I love Tsujita, Izakaya Gazen, and Azay for Japanese food, and definitely recommend trying the best Matcha soft-serve found at Tea Master in Little Tokyo!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I am grateful for so many people, including all the teachers I’ve had the privilege to study with, and my friends who are always there for me! But since I cannot list everyone here, I am just going to name a few.

First of all, I am thankful to my family for believing in me and never telling me to give up because of money. I am the fourth of five children in my family, and it definitely wasn’t financially easy from time to time. I’ve seen my mother go through exhausting days just to make sure all her children could pursue whatever they wanted to do! I am grateful for my boyfriend Wesley for believing in me and who taught me to embrace myself as a whole. Besides piano, I’ve learned so many different art forms growing up and for a long time I felt guilty and even embarrassed. I was always self-conscious of not looking “serious” enough as a musician, and not commiting to one thing. Wesley was the one who encouraged me to pursue all my interests, and pushed me to be open about it. That led me to think outside of the box, coming up with ideas for my current non-profit project called heARTists, and everything that I do now! Thank you for your countless inspirations and support as always. And thank you to all the people who are reading this sentence right now, this is quite lengthy and I appreciate you for that!

Website: https://www.officialheartists.com & https://misakisaito.myportfolio.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/misakipiano/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/misaki-saito-86a92140/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/misakisaito.piano

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5C4gXheB2b-XVttE1ygJYQ

Image Credits
Louis Ng, Kevin Hsu