Meet Timothy Boggs | Creative Human Being

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

Hi Timothy, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
I’ve never been much of a gambler in the Las Vegas sense. I don’t care for games of chance. If I’m not confident in my chances based on my own knowledge and skill, I’m generally reluctant to wager my precious money or time to win something I’m not very passionate about. However, when it comes to my Art – those skills, talents and gifts that I am very confident about, I’ll risk much to achieve my vision.

Some, if not most risks I take are not quick to realize their success or failure. Instead of a “risk,” I generally call those types of decisions involving chance as “investments” – investments in me. I trust myself and my creative spirit and often use my intuition to help me make those uncertain decisions. If something feels right, I tend to act and act quickly, understanding that the payout may be long in coming though possibly other rewards will be realized more swiftly.

One of the first major life/career risks I took was in 1984 when I quit my job at a computer software company in Norman, Oklahoma to journey to Los Angeles to seek work in the film industry. I left my loving girlfriend and her son, hoping to establish myself in L.A. and then send for them when I was on my feet. I was young and naive of what was required to live and work in Hollywood Land – the place where dreams are supposed to come true. I didn’t yet have the necessary skills to make myself attractive for production companies and found that my will to stay and tough it out was overshadowed by the overwhelming longing for the two great loves in my life I had left behind. After three months I returned to Oklahoma to marry my sweetheart and help raise her young son Sam. But I wasn’t beaten. If anything, I was more determined to learn what I needed to learn and develop the necessary skills required to “make it” in Hollywood. The risk did indeed pay off – just not how I imagined or initially desired it to. I learned that taking a risk and not immediately succeeding is not the same as risking and failing. The difference is how we react to the disappointment emotionally, and what we choose to do next.

After returning to Oklahoma, I took a job at a Ford Audio-Video, an equipment company that sold high end sound and video systems. I was reluctant at first to take the sales job because I wanted to use the equipment, not sell it. But I reasoned it was a good place to learn all about the production equipment I wanted to work with and be around people who were using them. About a year later I met a budding young filmmaker who was looking to make a horror movie he had written and wanted to both produce and star it. His primary obstacle was that he needed someone – a director – who understood the video movie-making process. Soon after, I quit my job at Ford Audio to become a movie director! Maybe a shitty one, but it was an opportunity I could not let pass.

“Blood Lake” was made on less than a shoestring budget – probably about $10,000 in 1986. I had no crew other than the few actors who helped move lights, etc. in-between set ups. There was certainly nothing glamorous about making the movie. No wardrobe or make-up trailer. No lighting or grip truck. No video village. Just a lot of long hours of hard work… and so much fun. I learned a tremendous amount about movie making and problem solving, and how to do more than you thought possible with very limited resources. It was a filmmaking class where I was both the student and the teacher.

(To learn more about Blood Lake and its eventual rise to cult-hood, please read the wonderful book by Richard Mogg – “Analog Nightmares: The Shot on Video Films of 1982 – 1995.” Blood Lake is strongly featured in the book.)

Though “Blood Lake” was not a financial success (I never made a penny), The dividends it has provided me are in many ways priceless. It not only taught me that I could be a Cinema Storyteller, it showed me that I had what it took to do it.

After finishing production on “Blood Lake” I needed a real paying job and soon found one – the perfect one at the time. I became a Media Technician at a local community college. For nearly four years I spent my time writing, shooting and editing instructional and promotional videos for the college… and ocassionally videotaping nursing students changing bedpans on mannequins (I kid you not!) I was able to take what I had learned making “Blood Lake” and earn a modest living doing something I mostly enjoyed. But after a few years, possibly one bedpan too many, I began to yearn for more. I wanted to test my skills and abilities. I didn’t want to become a big fish in a very small pond. I wanted to swim with the the big fish in the big pond. So that yearning led to my next great risk.

Moving my family from Oklahoma to California in the late summer of 1990 was probably the greatest gamble of my life. My wife Shan and I risked nearly everything we had. It felt like we were walking a tightrope without a net. Neither of us had full-time jobs waiting for us in Los Angeles. We were chasing our dreams of working in the TV/Film industry and wanted to make a better life for ourselves and our children. We didn’t have a lot of money to buy us much time to get established, and we had two young boys and no local support system to help us during stressful times. But we believed in ourselves, and through hard work and dilligence were able to make a life in L.A..

After some initial struggles finding steady movie production work, I was hired at a post production sound company in Burbank – my first real break into the “Industry.” I took to sound editing like I was born to it – as if I’d been unwittingly training all my life to do this work. It was so enjoyable I simply stayed. I became a “Looping” expert – directing and recording actors replacing or adding lines of dialog that needed fixed or changed. Through my profession I was able to work with many acclaimed actors, directors and producers I admired and respected. ADR/ Sound Supervising was a small microcosm of the filmmaking process and it kept me interested – always searching for ways to improve the craft. And I’m still searching. I even learned something new today.

During my 30+ year career as a Sound Supervisor and editor, I have worked on many acclaimed TV shows and films, including: “The Sopranos,” “Breaking Bad”, “Fargo,” “Queen Sugar,” “Xena: Warrior Princess”, “Bend it like Beckham” and David Lynch’s “Lost Highway.” Every show I have worked on involved professional risks. “You are only as good as your last project” or so the saying goes. It’s one thing to get your foot in Hollywood’s door – it’s another thing to stay inside for the long haul. You have to be good to keep getting rehired. Quite the thrill ride if you are.

Once my Hollywood Sound career was established, I began to yearn for something more – something different, yet familiar. TV / filmmaking are wonderful collaborative mediums, however, my insides were telling me I needed something for myself – my own self-expression. So after about a ten year pause, I returned to creating Art. I began searching for a new type of art-form that combined my love of photography with my love for painting and sculpture. Having entered the “Personal Computer Age” I explored different digital photo processing programs and found Photoshop to be a great creative tool. I pushed my photo images to extremes to discover their inner secrets. I then altered my photo capturing techniques to better utilize the tools I enjoyed the most. So many choices in the digital world. Every move, every decision causes a ripple effect to the art – each decision having its own set of risks and rewards.

My sad separation/divorce in 2005 pushed me deeper into my creative world. I needed to let go of the old “me” and embrace the true artist I knew lived inside. I began changing my look – grew my hair long and wore clothes that fit the personality I was becoming. It was like I became my own canvas – I was painting a portrait that I would become in mind, heart and spirit. Every change has its risks, but without those changes we run the risk of stagnating and dying. I wanted to live my life to its fullest. So change became my embrace. Some may call it a “midlife crisis.” I call it a “Midlife Opportunity.”

Towards the end of the first decade of the new millennia, I decided it was time to finally “come out of the closet” – as an Artist. I felt like I had been hiding my true self from the world and I wanted my friends, family, colleagues and the public in general to see me as an Artist with a capital “A.” And what better way to establish one’s self as an Artist than having a solo show in Los Angeles.

I hadn’t been involved in an Art show since the Grand Finale of my Art School days (daze?) when my four closest Artist friends and I rented a space in Oklahoma City and displayed our best work. On December 8th, 1980, mere days before I graduated, we put on an eclectic show titled “Art Manifest.” We took the risk to create something special, and it was met with a wonderfully appreciative crowd. None of us got famous – I think there was a small blurb in the Daily Oklahoman – but fame was not what we were desiring. We just wanted to go out of our college years (out of our youth) with a bang!

30 years later, in Spring of 2010 my first solo art show “Timothy Boggs – Organic Abstractions” featuring twenty-four pieces of my printed art opened at the James Gray Gallery at Bergamot Station in Santa Monica. My goal was to plant my flag as an Artist. To establish myself as a Creator. I invited everyone I knew, especially in the film industry. I wanted to reveal who I had become, who I truly was. No longer just a “sound guy,” but a creative artist capable of so much more.

It worked. I soon noticed my friends and colleagues at the studios treated me a little different. They’d ask about my art. A few even bought some. I finally began to feel respected for my creative abilities and my creations, and I truly appreciated the love.

In the Spring of 2013, I was sitting alone in my living room, the walls covered by many of my creations, sipping on a Belvedere martini, and began to have a deep conversation with myself. Reminiscing, I thought back to where I had begun, how far I had traveled to get to where I was in that present moment. I was feeling pretty good, surrounded by the beauty I had created and thinking of all the great television I had worked on. And my little voice (sometimes BIG voice) in my head said congratulatingly –

“Nice job kid.” (It often calls me “kid.”) “You done good… so what’s next?”

I thought for a moment, remembering back when I was teen and desperately wanted to write, record and sing music. My words, my tunes, my voice. And I “thought” back to my voice (because responding out loud to it would feel a little crazy) –

“I always wanted to be a songwriter and singer.”

“So what’s stopping you?”

“Cause I don’t play an instrument and can’t sing worth shit!” I laughed.

Again the voice replied, only firmer –

“So what’s stopping you?”

I paused for a moment, then answered thoughtfully –

“Me.”

So began my songwriting adventure. That night I wrote several silly titles to songs I wanted to write. I thought Blues was the genre to begin with – because the way I figured it, I didn’t need to be a pretty singer to sing the Blues – just sing it with feeling. Also I could write funny and silly Blues songs as I didn’t want to create anything too depressing. Eventually I wrote every song title I created that night, and over a hundred more. I imagined that one day, if I worked hard at it (and I did) that I’d find my “voice.” I not only found my singular voice, I found I had several to many different voices. Writing and singing my songs has brought me some of the greatest joy in my life. I risked being a bad songwriter in hopes of one day becoming a great one. Only time will tell…

My latest quest is teaching meditation, something I’ve planned on doing for many years but only recently felt the time was right. Teaching/leading meditation every Sunday morning via Zoom has fulfilled another part of me that needed to be expressed. It’s a creative form that teaches seekers to become firmly in the now – the moment. It is an art – one I will spend the rest of my life perfecting within myself, and hopefully helping others to perfect within theirs.

I can relate all my artistic endeavors to my worldly life endeavors – life lessons. I have found that every decision I make is a risk – some obviously greater than others. I thrive on creative risk. I love to solve problems, especially difficult ones. Meeting challenges is how we grow as artists and as human beings. As I have grown as an artist, I’ve taken greater risks. Simply believing in myself and my far-reaching goals, push me to take those risks. Self confidence balanced with gratefulness and humility have led me to where I am. And I love who and where I am.

How does a person decide if their life was a success, especially if the results didn’t quite meet the initial dream? Maybe their dream ebbed and flowed with their life and became a different dream – possibly even a better dream – one more suited to them. One they could live with and enjoy, the price of the previous dream being too great.

Am I a success? Absolutely! I have attained goals I once never thought possible. No, I haven’t done everything I had hoped to do – but I’m not dead yet!

Am I rich? Depends on what your value system is. Financially no. But I am rich in something of greater value to me. Creativity – something money cannot buy for one’s self (but I will sell little pieces of mine for the right price!).

So I say take the risk. Say “YES” to life. If you stumble or fall along the way, do what little toddlers do – Scream! Then get back up and try again. (You can also try that without the screaming part.) But keep getting back up. In time, if you are diligent, stay humble and kind to others, and keep a grateful spirit, I guarantee you too will become a great success in life, and happier for at least trying.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Unlike many great artists who seem to have been born with talent, I struggled most of my life to develop the creative abilities I have. Since my artistic talents developed later, my parents didn’t necessarily encourage me to draw or paint or sculpt. They didn’t understand my early scribblings were part of my expressive self learning to break free. Then in high school, with the influence of my artistic best friend and a couple of wonderful teachers, I began to explore the nature of organic form and design – the beautiful flowing lines found in nature that seem to dance to their own cosmic rhythm.

Of course, I didn’t know at the time that is what I was doing. I was merely creating art that appealed to my deepest senses. I found creating them made me feel good even if the finished works were not recognized as being very good. How others perceived my works became less important than how I felt about them. By not needing or seeking approval from others, I was free to explore the forms and images that so deeply resonated inside me.

Back then I often wondered about “style” and how does one acquire it and then recognize it when they have. Looking backward fifty years, I see the seeds of my organic style all they way to my earliest works. The undulating lines and forms. The use of color as emotional expression. The abstraction of something real into something different – where you might catch a glimpse of the truth but never fully and must keep returning to explore deeper into the image or object as each viewing implores the viewer to discover something new. Something more.

I don’t feel that has ever changed. My work begs the participant to investigate it – to explore – to seek out what’s hidden deep inside. Each will perceive something different and one’s own perception will continually grow and change over time. That is the nature of seeking truth. One must keep exploring – delving deeper into the unknown.

I think that because I believed in my creative works even when others around me did not, it caused me to become bolder in my artistic expression, and possibly humbler in trying to show and celebrate it. My work is so deeply personal to me it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. Each to their own tastes and opinions, though it does make me happy when my art is embraced by those who view them.

The confidence I have built in myself as an Artist has pushed me to explore other forms of creativity – especially writing and music. I began songwriting when I was in my mid-fifties. At the time I didn’t know how to play an instrument and couldn’t sing worth shit! Now, ten years later I feel as confident about the music and songs I have written and recorded as any of my visual art.

All of my artistic works seem to compliment each other – the words, the sound and the images – each of them exploring the deeper truths hidden inside nature and inside of us. All the stories are there, hiding in the dark, waiting to be discovered and rejoiced for their unique beauty and profound meaning. It’s my great duty and pleasure to continue to seek and explore those truths, and do my best to help coax those mysteries out of the darkness and into the light

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I love LA! there is so much to do and explore, both in the city and the surrounding areas. From urban to desert, beaches to mountains, classic to the eclectic – we have it all. Besides the normal visits to some of our many wonderful museums and tourist spots, I’d show my friend some of the more off-beat treasures the city has to offer.

The Warner Brothers Studio Tour is a must (since I have worked on the lot for many years, it is a personal favorite). Vasquez Rocks just east of Santa Clarita is easy to get to and fun to explore. The beautiful El Matador Beach north of Zuma is my favorite beach, but I like to finish the day at The Sunset Restaurant at Point Dume. And Venice Beach is always fun for its colorful insanity.

Pasadena is another favoirite spot. Beer and fish & chips at Lucky Baldwins is a must before exploring Old Town, and a nice snack with hot Mexican chocolate at Amara Cafe is also a great choice. Pie n Burger is by far my favorite burger joint anywhere – a delicious old-style burger, fries and hand pumped (fresh-squeezed?) Coca-Cola, and of course, PIE!

Hollywood at night! I like to start at the Griffith Observatory for sunset for the most beautiful views of the city, then any number of places to chill the night away. The Roosevelt bar is a classic, as is Musso & Franks and their hand stirred martinis. A little later, The Burgandy Room on Cahuenga. Tell Torrence the doorman I said “Hi.” Later, (if we can get in) No Vacancy and it’s cool and eclectic vibe.

Street vendors and food trucks are a must, but if you are craving a slice of pie after a night of partying, I recommend Joe’s NY Pizza. A slice of white with a bottle of Mexican Coke is my preferred choice.

Day trips to Ojai, Santa Barbara, the Santa Ynez Valley and Joshua Tree are always on my list.

Listening to live music is my #1 pastime. The Canyon Club in Agoura (or any or their other venues) is a great place to see Tribute Bands celebrating my favorite music. From “Which One’s Pink” to Led Zepagain,” there is always something fun going on. The Orpheum is the coolest venue to see concerts. It’s an old classic theater with an amazing sound system.

Sunday mornings after my meditation class, I like to venture to Culver City for my weekly dance fix. Jo Cobbett’s “Fumbling toward Ecstasy” is a wonderful place to let your body go and experience the “5 Rhythms” of music and movement. I call it “Moving Meditation” as it it is very freeing for the mind, body and soul. A great way to begin (or end) a week.

Afterward, I like to explore the many restaurants in the area. Wonderful on a sunny day (something we are not in short supply of here in beautiful LA). I generally start at India’s Sweets and Spices for their excellent chai, and possibly a samosa or something else from their small hot buffet. The Culver Hotel is also a great spot to people watch on a Sunday afternoon. The whole area is a smorgasbord of visual and delectable delights.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My life Influencers – my teachers, especially from my high school, “The American School in London,” and my art teachers at “The University of Oklahoma.” My spiritual teachers and guides along the way – especially Audle Allison and Jerry Densow who taught me that everything in life is a gift and we should treat it all with humility and respect. My parents (both of whom have passed) who I still ask for guidance from… and receive. My brothers Steve and Larry who have always loved and supported me, each in their own loving way. My cousin Rhenda Anderson who has been more of a sister to me and continues to be my greatest confidant. All my wonderful friends and colleagues who continue to root me on. My secret and sacred Muses – those loves and infatuations that I have drawn much inspiration and motivation from. My granddaughters Lillian and Mikayla who are the reason I continue.

Especially to my sons Sam and Aaron who continue to teach me what being human in this world is really all about. When my time is over and I can look back and measure the value of everything I have created and accomplished, raising those two boys and guiding them to maturity will always be the most important work of my life.

Website: ZenArtistLA.com

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

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/timothy.boggs.3

Other: To hear some of my songs, check out my band, Karmic Jesters at: KarmicJesters.com Some of my philosophical meanderings and information about my meditation classes can be found at: CYmeditation.com And explore my TV and Film credits under “Tim Boggs” at IMDB.com.

Image Credits
All images created by Timothy Boggs