Meet Edi Matsumoto and the World of Otter Therapy
Namaste.
Designing your life your way sometimes means leaping into a bold new direction. And today’s guest did just that. Her name is Edi Matsumoto and she’s a former nurse practitioner who traded 30 years in healthcare to reinvent herself as an artist, and a quite unique artist at that. Her Otter therapy, which are playful masterpieces reimagined as otters, has gained national attention for its uplifting healing spirit. And she became a full time artist in 2021 and now has her own gallery in Carmel by the Sea in California.
And she did that in 2024. So I, I know you’re gonna, you’re gonna love when I bring her around because you can see a couple of her, a couple of her adorable pictures right behind her. So I’m gonna bring her up onto the stage right welcome you, Edi, to our show. Hi. Thank you, Grace.
Yeah, love to be here. Thank you for inviting me. Well, I’m, I’m delighted. Ever since I met you, I was like, oh, you’re like the perfect person to have on the show as an example for what is possible when you decide to design your life your way. So I thought, let’s.
From Mother Teresa’s Example to a Calling in Nursing
We might as well start back at the beginning. And you were 30 years in health care as a nurse practitioner. So take us back to maybe a moment or the season or something when you kind of first felt like that chapter of your life was closing. What, what was going on inside of you? What were you, what were you thinking about?
What was coming up for you? Okay, so let me take you back from the moment I decided to go into healthcare, and then a moment I decided to leave. Oh, okay. All right, awesome. If you don’t mind.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I read a book about Mother Teresa when I was in high school. So I thought she was the coolest person I read about. You know, she just did what she wanted to do. She designed her life, you know, that way.
So I thought she’s so cool. So I wanted to meet her. So fast forward after college, I went to India to meet her and, and I volunteered at her home for Dying Destitute where she pick up people from the street, Untouchables in India. And these are people lived and dying on the street. So she picked them up and put them in that secure place and gave them medical care.
So I volunteered there. Anybody can volunteer. So I tried to do whatever I can do, but all I could do was feed the people or maybe dry after their bath. So I couldn’t do much. And on the side, I’m Seeing all the doctors and nurse volunteers doing all them giving medications, starting an iv, addressing the wound.
So that’s when I thought, I wish I could do that. So that prompted me to come to the U.S. i’m originally from Japan and that’s when I decided to come to the us Study English study, study nursing medicine and went to nursing school and I got my nurse practitioner certificate program. And then, so then I was happily doing nurse practitioner nursing thing almost 30 years in healthcare, hospitals and clinics and. But over time I started to notice something was different in healthcare. You know what I love to do?
Burnout, Disillusionment, and the Moment Everything Changed
Direct to patient care. Talking to patients started to diminish in time. So computer comes in, I have to do more documentation, more computer work, more paperwork, more put on hold by insurance company to get permission to give certain medications. So I became more disillusioned in healthcare and also kind of burned out because I couldn’t do what I wanted to do and less patient interaction say. And then at one point, and then I started to paint a little bit maybe about 15 years before I retired as a hobby, personal enrichment.
Then that kind of grew into a passion of mine and also I think it kind of helping me balance in the work life balance. And then at one point in 2021, the hospital said, you know, I know you cut back so you can do more art, but we do want you to be back full time because we really appreciate your work and we need your back end full time. And they kind of forced me to go back to full time. So that’s when I said, you know, I came too far. I love my three days off and I was painting.
I just love that part. I just could not give up. So if I have to choose between full time and nothing, I think I’m gonna take nothing and be free and I’ll do whatever I can do. I had no idea how, how I was going to do it, but that’s when I kind of jumped off the click and cliff and let’s see what happens. I, I, I like that.
And, and it is interesting sometimes that when we are sort of caught in that, you know, what do we kind of do stage, you know, you’re, you’re, you’re loving this. I mean you and, and I’m sure you still loved taking care of people obviously because you wouldn’t have stayed in that profession for so long. But sometimes the, the, the universe kind of gives you a little, little signal and this was a little invitation like, well, you know, yeah, we want you to work full time and you’re like, that’s not really calling me anymore. So I get that because I know I had. I had something like that.
The Leap: Leaving Healthcare to Become a Full-Time Artist
Well, oh, I know what it was. It was. I was, I was mulling becoming. Starting my own business and becoming a copywriter. And I was working part time at.
I was working part time for television station I used to work full time for. And they actually said instead of wanting me full time, they were like, we actually don’t need you anymore. And I was like. Because it was the work I was doing, it was like, we’re going to do it in house. We don’t.
Because I wasn’t living or. And working it full time in this, in the television station anymore. I moved away. So I was doing everything online. I was like, okay, okay, well, I guess that’s my signal to make it go.
Yeah, definitely. The universe gives me signals all the time. So. Yeah. Yeah, I love that.
From Hobby to Art School
So what, you know, you said though, that you were doing this as a hobby originally. So, I mean, now that you’ve decided, okay, so. So you retired from nursing, what was there any kind of like a shift where you said, you know, well, maybe I actually want to do. Maybe not just as a hobby, but because eventually you’ve got your own gallery, you’ve got a book that you did as well. So what happened to kind of have you go from that next level?
Let’s see. So becoming an artist was not in my life’s picture at all until more recently. But I had a little sketch. My whole mother’s side is very artistic, so I grew up in that environment. My mom can do a sketch, my uncle can make all kinds of things.
My sister is a cartoonist. So I grew up in the environment. So being able to draw, very clever. Cat, dog, building, it was normal in my family. So I did that at some point and then.
But I didn’t take it very seriously. Just kind of something I do in my pastime sometimes. But my husband saw one of my drawing that I did in Paris when I was vacation in Paris when I was in college. And. And then when we got together, I just show it to him and.
And then tossed in trash, literally. Because I thought it’s just an old piece of paper. And then I just show it to my husband. He liked it, but I tossed it in the garbage and he said, what are you doing? And so I said, well, it’s just a little piece of paper.
But my husband said, no, that’s amazing art. You have talent and you have to do something about your talent. We’re gonna frame this drawing and you need to go to art school. So I was like, really? Is it that good?
So I didn’t know that it was that good in his eyes. So, okay, I’ll just give it a shot. And because I have a nurse practitioner job, very slow, stable, I don’t have to go to school anymore. So maybe I can take some classes. So that’s how, how it started.
Selling Her First Art for a Cause
And then so the first maybe, maybe 10 years, I was taking one class at a time per semester and it was fun. And then after Japan had a big tsunami and, and then so I thought, oh, maybe I can use my art to do something about it. So I did a fundraiser and I invited all the friends to our house and I sold a lot of things and I had no idea. So first I was thinking, oh, people are so nice, they just want to give me money to send to Japan. But then it just kind of planted a seed, you know, I could sell my art and people like it and, and then so that’s sort of the very beginning of selling some, some art.
Turning Grief and Clinician Burnout Into Healing Art
And then I got involved in the healthcare professionals burnout issue. So towards the end of my healthcare career, it just wasn’t myself, but I saw my husband being burned out really badly, really depressed. And I saw my other colleagues, they’re so depressed and so behind in computer charting. And I just seen those trends. And that’s when the National Academy of Medicine, so a group of clinicians studied this initiative to prevent clinicians burnout and promote well being.
And they were collecting art related to health care. And I happen to have a whole, you know, a series of healthcare professionals portraits. And some are kind of professional portraits, but the others I really wanted to paint was a realistic portraits of physicians and nurses. So some of them are kind of holding their head, depressed and looking very frustrated, exhausted. So that seemed to fit perfectly into this movement.
And so to promote healthcare, clinician, clinicians well being, so they can put it out there. So the message was, you’re not alone. A lot of healthcare people thinks that if they’re depressed, incompetent, they are considered incompetent. So they couldn’t come out to say, I’m not feeling good, can I get some antidepressants? They couldn’t do that, but if we put out those pictures out there, people think, oh, I’m not alone.
Other clinicians are also depressed and having a hard time. So that’s when I got more serious about art and they discovered the power of healing. You know, the art has a healing power and also humor Has a healing power, of course. And that’s when I got to be more serious and then my art got more attention because of that. So that’s when I started to think there might be a future in my art.
But I would have stayed in hospital until retirement until that incident happened, the conversation with my boss. And so the universe kind of kicked my butt. It’s time do something about your art. I’m very thankful that that happened. Oh, well, we are too.
The world is. Is glad that happened too. And, and I do think it’s so.
It was so important and that you were able to be able to help healthcare professionals because they definitely. That’s not an easy job. It’s certainly not a job I would ever want. And you know, and especially, you know, as you talked about at the beginning, when you talked about, you know, the, like, insurance companies and, and all of this now is not making our system very, very friendly. It’s.
It’s more getting to be just more a numbers game instead of the, you know, interaction with, with people where, you know, that it’s supposed to be, it’s. It’s supposed to be a healer, you know, of relationship with, with a patient and that getting so caught up in, you know, selling drugs and everything else that they have to do, you know, pharmaceuticals and all this stuff. So I, I’m glad that you were able to provide these realistic portraits to, to help that organization. That’s so good. So.
But I’m sure people are, especially those of you who are fortunate enough to be watching the podcast and you’re listening to it, you need to go watch this because it’s, It’s. You’re gonna, you’re gonna appreciate her art so much more.
How “Otter Therapy” Was Born
Otter therapy.
It’s a very specific, joyful concept. How did you land on that? Where did the idea come from for that? And maybe also then explain to our audience, especially for those who are listening to the podcast, what exactly? I know I mentioned it briefly in the intro, but what exactly are you doing?
The First Two Years: Starting a Business From Scratch
Okay, so the journey into otter therapy. So I resigned from the hospital. And the first couple of years I struggled because I was not a professional artist. I didn’t know anything about business, marketing or sales. I was a nurse kind of clocking in, clocking out, getting a paycheck every two weeks from the hospital.
So this is a totally new concept to have a business trying to sell my own art. So I was living on my saving for a couple of years, and also I was not selling the healthcare professionals portraits are admired and I help with this organization and the movement. But it’s not something that you want to put it in your living room and look at it every day because it’s kind of a depressed doctor’s face. So I wasn’t selling art, so I was looking for niche. And I am one of those people who are always into self improvement.
Probably you are too, Grace. And I have a bunch of coaches in business. I got a business coach, marketing coach, mindset coach, art business coach. Not all at the same time. So I’m learning about business.
Finding a Niche in Sea Otters
And then one of my artist friends told me who’s been an artist in this area, Monterey, Carmel area, for many, many years. And she said, you know, in this. Yeah, three things that sells landscape of this area, seascape and sea otters. So I say, I have some landscapes and seascapes and yes, they do sell, but they’re not my passion. So I’ll give sea otters a shot.
So I painted about five otters and they sold quickly. So I thought, oh, this is great. But I don’t see myself doing it forever. And then that’s when another universe is signal. So sea auto researcher who left my sea otter commissioned me to do this scream.
Edward Munch or Monk, depends on the screen painting with the red sky with, you know, kind of a desperate human being is screaming, holding his head. But she specifically said, I must see otter researcher. Can you replace the human head with the sea otter? So I said, what? No problem.
That seems like a fun project. So I did that. And then I just love the concept, you know, but kind of vaguely, I just love it so much. And of course my client loved it. And that’s when I had a conversation with my art business coach and he’s been kind of frustrated.
Edi, you can paint different things, but you don’t have a niche. In order to be an artist, you need a niche. So what has traction these days? So I thought, well, sea otters have some traction. I sold all my sea otters and I just had this awesome cool commission that I did.
Opening the Gallery and Naming “Otter Therapy”
Sea otter in the screaming painting. And he said, I think that is it. You can do Mona Lisa, you can do American Gothic. And we had this amazing brainstorm session together. Oh yeah, we can do the Venus, we can do Van Gogh, we can do Dali, blah, blah, blah.
So I had a great time with all the possibilities. And also that’s about the time I opened a gallery. Just, you know, that’s another leap of faith. I opened the gallery and put those first five other in masterpieces. And right away people started coming in, stop, laugh coming in and get my others.
And what impressed me the most is, you know, people just laugh instantly and come in and happy. They get happy. So the first two years, you know, after I resigned, you know, trying to be an artist, but I had another dilemma besides financial difficulties. But I thought, you know, I’m not helping people anymore, so that’s not very fulfilling. But when I did, my other people come in happy and live happier.
So I thought, no, I think this is healing. I think I’m making people happy. So this is therapy. So I think that maybe the second month that I opened my gallery, I put the sign otter therapy. If you’re smiling, it’s working.
“If You’re Smiling, It’s Working”
And people come in. Yeah, it’s working, it’s working. I need more therapy. So I just became a thing in my galleries. I have other therapy all over the place.
And people come in. Yeah. So yeah, and, and people comment something like, oh, I didn’t know I needed otter therapy today. I really needed it. So that’s how it started.
And so just power of healing, you know, using art, humor and also people love something really cute. Otters are known to be really adorable. So a lot of people go, oh, they’re so cute. So I think this a trifector of art, humor and something adorable. So that seems to be quite healing.
The Science and Soul of Healing Through Art
And because I did this healing art through the National Academy of Medicine, I’ve done quite a bit of research about healing power of art, reciting different research papers that was done a lot of cancer patients using art to kind of as a diversion, as a community event, to raise self esteem. And physiologically it’s really helping lower blood pressure, lower breathing rate and lower cortisol levels. And actually it is proven to be healing, you know, using art and humor. So, you know, at the beginning it was sort of a joke out of therapy because I’m a nurse. But I think it really, you know, backed up by the science of, you know, healing art.
So I just used that and I’ve done, I’ve done a quite a few talks about healing art for healthcare professionals. No, that’s before I retired. But yeah, I did that grand round or did a conference for nurses. So yeah, so I just can continue to do my therapy healing, you know, with the spirits of Mother Teresa to help people, serving people, healing people. So it just kind of coming full circle, you know, just a different doorway.
But I was using art to help serve and make people happy. I love that. And I can, I would imagine, and I don’t know if this is true, but I Would think that a lot of different healthcare, you know, practitioners should want to. I, I would think it would be a perfect place to like you know, get a couple of your pieces and put it up in the waiting room. So if you know people are coming in, you know, it lightens because sometimes you know, you can be so stressed when you have to go to the doctor or you don’t feel good and to be able to do that, I think it’s.
It starts the healing right there. Have you found that that’s a great idea? Yeah, I have some book samples in some dental offices and actually yeah. Dental oral surgeons bought a whole bunch and put it in their dental office. So yeah, at least.
Yeah. Some people started to notice my otter therapy and started to use that most of people are using at this point. Most of people using for themselves. Yeah, you know, like people who are living alone. Like I have you know, income.
There are a lot of retired population and more women of course than men because women tend to live longer. So a lot of, a lot of women who are older woman lives alone and they buy my otter. And they may not even buy my art. They might take my postcard or business card. I have cute business cards with otter faces too.
So they just have it on the refrigerator, on the wall and that you know, they come back and tell me your otter is making me smile. I don’t feel so alone. Your otter is keeping me company. Or even some people who had a surgery and having a lot of pain after the surgery says something like, you know, your orders keeping me company and make me smile. So that’s helping me cope with my pain and loneliness and hardship and frustration.
So that’s delightful. Testimonial to my, my otter therapist. Healing power. Oh yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
Mother Teresa’s Courage and Finding Your Ikigai
I’m sure it makes you feel, feel good to know that, that you’re bringing healing to, to people. So you’re still actually working. You’re now you’re an artist practitioner instead of a nurse practitioner I think or an otter practitioner. Otter therapist. Yes, exactly.
What Mother Teresa’s Story Really Taught Her
Otter therapist. I love it. Now you, you, you mentioned a couple times you talk about that Mother Teresa was a. Was a big influence in your life. So how.
I guess how is her spirit or what does her spirit even mean really mean to you now as you, as you are, you know, continuing your journey and becoming an artist. How you know, talk a little bit more about what that really how she has affected you and in, in your work as an artist. Okay, sure. Let’s see. So I mentioned a little bit but when I Read the book about her.
What impressed me was more about she, her courage, that she was a nun. She had a calling. She heard the voice of God. She should be a nun. And so she went to.
Yeah, she became a nun and she was assigned. She’s from Albania, but she was assigned to go to Calcutta and teach in Catholic school. So she was a teacher again. She had kind of a steady job teaching children and which she loved. And that was a secure job inside the school system.
But then she had another calling and she just wanted to go out and help people. And she did that. So she left the security of the whole system, school system, all by herself, very little money. And she went out and did it and made it into this international movement. So I thought that it’s so cool.
The main thing was her courage to do what she believed to be the right thing or what she wanted to do. So that’s the major influence on me because my first 30 years I loved nursing, but it was what I wanted to do. But as I mentioned, it kind of. I became disillusioned. So I just realized, okay, this is not what I wanted to do for the rest of my life anymore.
Discovering Ikigai: Your Life’s Purpose
So just with her spirit and okay, what do I want to do? That’s when I encountered this. The concept of ikigai. It’s a Japanese word for life’s purpose. So it’s something that you are good at.
So it’s like a Venn diagram. So there’s something you are good at. And then at the circle would be something you love to do. And then the world needs. And then you can make a living.
So, so something that you love, that you are good at, you can make a living because the world needs it. And then just this kind of humorous art that make people happy. You is the. The center, this overlapping area. So, okay, so I thought this is my calling.
The Leap of Opening a Gallery in Carmel
But opening a gallery is a big deal. And in Carmel there are like 80 galleries. So talk about competition and the high, high rent. So I just gave myself one year and I had some no saving. So it’s unlike Mother Teresa, she only had like a 50 cents.
So I did have some, you know, capital that I can invest in myself. And so. But I gave myself one year, you know, sink or swim, you know, because there are so many other galleries out there and I don’t know anything about business. So we’ll see what happens. But, you know, but I did not want to not do it.
So when I had this gallery opportunity, first I didn’t want to do it, but then I thought, if I don’t do it now, I’m not getting any younger. So if I don’t do it now, probably I’d never do it. So I just thought, I’ll give it a shot and see what happens. And, yeah, so that’s her spirit that kind of carried me. Do.
Mindset, Resilience, and Overcoming Self-Doubt
Do what you want to do in life and see what happens. And I just unfolded and I got some help from different sources, and here I am at 2 years plus, and gallery is thriving. My others are thriving. So I’m so glad I did. Oh, that’s good.
Yeah, congratulations. Because it’s. It’s definitely not an easy thing to be able to. To start a brick and mortar thing. And as you said, there’s lots of.
When Doubt Creeps Back In
Lots of competition out there. Was. Was there ever a time and. And that in the process, like, even. Even getting ready to open it or maybe even that first year where you maybe had maybe that courage that you.
You were channeling from Mother Teresa maybe left you a little bit, and you’re like, have I really made the right decision? And. And if so, then how were you able to overcome that? I. Yes, that still happens from time to time.
Like on certain months, I don’t make enough money or, you know, some of the commissions fell through. So things happens. But that’s. I think a part of my success is all about mindset, because I also have a mindset coach that I’ve been following for years. And not just one coach, but there are other business coaches that I found.
Daily Affirmations and Designing How You Think
They’re not so much about strategies, but about changing, the shifting, the mindset. Basically believing yourself, believe in your products and just tell yourself, you know, you can do it, I can do it. So. So. And I still do affirmations and read things, journals.
So I’ll do all that. The work, you know, the first, first two hours. Pretty much every day I’m doing that type of work and affirmation and reading something type of thing. So continuously I’m trying to. Designing what.
Yeah, so I’m just really creating my life, designing. And then that starts with that thinking I’m designing how I think and also how I feel. So I’m just purposely directing myself in that direction. So whenever something seemingly negative thing, I’m kind of getting much better at catching it. I still feel overwhelmed sometimes or like, oh, another thing I have to do.
I have to take care of this thing or there’s another extra expense that happens all the time, but I’m better at catching it. And when I’m feeling slightly negative, I Catch it. And then I have this kind of a positive replace with a positive thinking. You know, there’s always something positive come out of this. So this is a learning process.
Reframing Failure as Redirection
Not everything, it’s a cliche but, you know, everything happens for a reason. And I don’t really believe in failure unless you stop it right there. So, you know, failure or something, it’s not working out. Just the opportunity to do something different, think differently or. Yeah, like a resigning from the hospital was the best thing that happened to me in a way.
So, so something fall throughs or something doesn’t. Yeah. Go the way I know little me wants to do it, but there’s a little bigger picture, much bigger picture. And I can kind of take myself out of that little me and then try to see the big picture and something good is going to happen out of this. It’s.
If not, I am learning something from this one. So I just apply to the next step. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, that’s, that’s the same thing that I, I tell people all the time and yeah.
Is that, yeah, it’s, it’s stuff is going to happen, but it, but you’ve got to be able to have that resilience which, which you have. And, and, and it starts with the mindset because you can be.
I really think that’s, that’s the key to being successful in anything you do, whether it’s in business or, or anything in your, in your personal life. It’s, it starts with deciding, number one, you know, choosing how do I want to be in this moment and, and saying, you know, I, I, I’m gonna make this work in. And, and stuff still happens and we, you know, you have to deal with it. But, but I love that. I think the other thing that, that you, you mentioned earlier on, which I thought was good too, is that you did set yourself a goal of like, you know, I’m gonna, let’s see, you know, do this for one year and see what happens.
And I think that that’s important too, Dina, to set yourself, set yourself a little bit a goal so that you can, because if you don’t have. What is it? What do they say? If you don’t have a goal, then you’re not shooting at anything. You know, it’s like, it’s, you’re not, there’s no way you’re going to make anything.
Her Advice for Women Who Think It’s Too Late
But if you at least have that, I think that’s important. So that’s so cool. Yeah. If a woman listening to this right now is, you know, has maybe a creative dream that they’ve never given themselves permission to pursue and thinks perhaps it’s too late. What, what would you advise her?
What do you want her to know? I have people coming in here every day from all over the world, but maybe half the people from California, Northern California, Silicon Valley people, a lot of it, people, worker bees. And they may not be necessarily happy. And then because they come in and see this joyful others, joyful art, they say, oh, I wish I could do that. Or I used to love painting, I used to love drawing, I used to love playing music.
So I get that glimpse of the artist in everybody, just about everybody, and I really encourage them. You know, this was not something I planned to do all my life. I wasn’t even drawing or painting when I was 40. Even close to 45, I wasn’t doing this. And you just never know.
So what I tell people would be, you know, just remember what you really loved doing when you were little and. Or even now, you know, just you enjoy that, whatever that gives you joy. So that’s one thing, you know, they want. They may want to sit down and think about. And again, the ikigai, what you are good at, what you love to do.
And so think about life’s purpose. And another quote I often use is Wayne Dyer’s don’t die with your music still in you. So, you know, well, I qualified to be on this podcast because I’m over 50. So whatever, you know, younger people might still have lots of years left, but, you know, don’t die with your music, your music, your art, your whatever creation could be, you know, cooking or gardening or whatever, your creativity. Don’t die without expressing that.
And you don’t have to quit your day job right now because you need a little planning and it’s nice to have a little saving and a little capital to start business. If you’re going to, you know, start a business or being an artist, you’d need a little. Yeah, capital, little saving. So don’t, don’t give up on them and then just nurture them. Because I nurtured, you know, painting for about, you know, 15 years before I even thought about, you know, being an artist.
So it could be just a hobby, but it’s just good for your psyche. We talked about healing power of art. It’s not only visual art. It could be dancing, performing art, music, anything. Cooking, poetry.
Yeah, writing books, any of that. So I just tell people, don’t give up. Keep doing it just on the weekend or could be five minutes a day, but keep doing it, it’s healing for you, it’s nurturing your soul. So don’t give up. And there is a time if the person is receptive, I say, yeah, the universe will give you a sign so you’ll know when it’s time for you to go full time or to start a business or whatever.
So yeah, keep doing that. So that, that’s one of the message I tell, I get to tell that to a lot of people here. So it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s wonderful to have the opportunity to encourage young people or not so. Young people. Yeah, absolutely.
AI, Authenticity, and Why Human-Made Art Still Matters
You know, you mentioned, because you, you did mention this, you’re near like Silicon Valley and AI is all to talk about right now. What are your thoughts on that? Especially because they’re using it to create art. What’s your feelings about that?
I use AI all the time myself for different things, marketing and my Instagram post. But the visual is 100% My hand painted art and I believe it’s here to stay because I think a lot of people buy my art because of my story and, and people who come into my gallery, my captive audience, so they listen to my story a lot and how, you know, and they do. See I still have a healthcare series and part of my gallery. So a lot of people wonder why, why do you have so many doctors and nurses on the wall? So then I, okay, let me tell you about my healthcare to you know, art transition.
And you know, I don’t force them to hear, listen to me but a lot of people interested in the transition because it’s such a, you know, 180 degree transition. So I talk about that and then talk about everybody asked me why others. So we talk about others and they, yeah, get inspired and so I think partially they buy my story and why I got to paint this one and yeah, why, yeah, why I paint this. And so I think a lot of people, you know, sometimes you know, other artists, examples there are some artists who are not as skilled but they might be selling really well and that’s again, people are buying their stories sometimes I heard about, I don’t know personally but I know some painters who paint abstract and put, you know, like something the title that’s related to Bible, the verse John 23rd or whatever. And then people buy that because of that so because they know the story behind it.
So there’s a human behind it who’s painting these others and then she used to be a nurse and this is a healing thing. So. But the AI doesn’t have the story, the human behind it. So people collect art because they like a human, they like to follow the story. So in that sense, I think human art is here to stay.
So I’m not too worried about that part. And you know, people can make otter face replaced with this girl with the pearl earring. You know, they can do that, but it’s not the same, you know, that I painted, you know, by hand, so. Exactly. Yeah, I think that’s an important point.
And, and I do, I do agree with you is that I, I mean I have, I have a friend who, who likes creating music through, through AI and, and, and there’s a place for that. But sometimes I, I still like the idea of it being yourself. And I think no matter what, there’s people, as you say, people are responding to you, they’re responding to your story. And, and it’s, you know, if you had two of these pictures side by side, I think you’re still going to feel your spirit because it’s your spirit that gets put into that picture because that’s what created it as opposed to a just machine creat. And there’s, there’s still no, there’s still no soul in that machine.
And, and we have one. So I, I think it’s, I agree with you. We’re art that’s created by humans are still going to be needed and wanted and the other is fine for quick stuff, but something to hang on your wall, you’re going to want something that, that someone else created. So that’s cool. Is there anything else that I didn’t ask you about, any other last point as we wrapping up here today that you want to leave our audience with that they should know about?
Community, Connection, and Where to Find Edi’s Art
You know, let’s see. One thing I was gonna mention earlier is I do, I create community in my gallery, although this is a gallery, but I gather people at least once a month when I have time more than once a month. And I call this Carmel Bohemian Club. And so as I mentioned, I encourage a lot of amateur artist or wannabe artist or whatever the art might be. So I gather people, community people once a month.
And they could be a blogger, writer, it could be environmentalist. It doesn’t have to be an artist, photographer, filmmaker, dancer, sound healer. I have so many different amazing people here, so. And then I have them show their stuff, you know, depends on the day. Sometimes they have two minutes each person or sometimes they have five minutes, or sometimes I feature certain artists and they can talk about 20 minutes or even longer.
So I just provide opportunity for kind of hidden artists, emerging artists to have an opportunity, safe place, an opportunity to share their art, their gift, their poetry with 20, 30 other people. And then we have this thing at the end of their presentation everybody gets a whoosh. Meaning we get 1, 2, 3 whoosh. So we give the heart energy, love energy. So everybody gets that and that receiving end.
They feel this energy of all the whoosh from everybody. So they receive it. And so I did. So I’ve been doing this ever since I opened the gallery. So I have maybe 120 people on my mailing list.
About 30 would come here. So, so I think that the point is that the community. So don’t do this alone, find a group or find a like minded people, could be only one another person, could be a few girlfriends, get together, talk about book or art, music, painting or starting a business. So don’t do it alone. Just find this like minded person and share your dream and encourage each other.
And you know, I don’t want to say wait for the sign but you would know when it’s time. So something will tell you through somebody like you know, hey there’s a city open over there or somebody’s looking for a musician or something like that. So and then take the opportunity and do it if that’s something that comes from your heart. So I think I’m the example. I just never thought this is possible.
I’m really living my dream. I live in Carmel, I have art gallery in Carmel. I paint all day, every day. I talk to the people from all over the world. They love my art.
You know, it’s, yeah, what else do I want? I got everything I want. Oh, it certainly sounds that way. And I, I, I, I love. We, we may have had a slight little gap there.
My Internet was not playing nice there so we froze a little bit. But hopefully. Okay, okay. But I love, but I love when you were talking about community because I actually did it did an episode not too long ago where I talked exactly about that, how important it is for us to have community. So, so I’m so glad you mentioned that.
So if someone wants to learn more about you and they want to be able to see more of your art and maybe buy some of it themselves. Where, where can people go to to connect with you? The main thing is Edi Matsumoto.com so it’s my name. So the Edi Matsumoto.com E D I M A T S U M O T O and also you know, if you want to email me, you can go to edi@edi Matsumoto.com My book is available at bookstores or Amazon. You can put in auto therapy.
I think I’m the only person, but there are lots of other books. But you can put in otter therapy by Edi or Edi Matsumoto. So you can get my book there. And on my website, you know, as soon as go to Edi Matsumoto.com all the others, about 50 others, maybe more. You can see all of them.
And whenever you don’t have to buy anything. You can buy all kinds of things, from T shirts to stick stickers to yoga mats, but you can just look at them if you need a little chuckle, little, you know, kind of pick me up and have fun. Absolutely. I love that. Well, thank you so much for, for sharing some of your otter joy with us today.
And it truly is. Yeah. You know, humor, humor, heart. And I, I love it. It’s a great combination for, for healing.
So perfect. So thank you so much for being with us. I appreciate it. Thank you for having me. Thank you.
Yes. And I do want to thank all of you for joining us today. And I hope that. Hope you’ve been inspired to be creative and, and, and it doesn’t even have to be, you know, necessarily to totally change your life using art, but maybe right now it’s a good way to help you to possibly come up with some new ideas for how you want to design your life. Because when you engage in that creative process, whether it is drawing or, or painting or writing or gardening or cooking, it’s amazing what can come up for you when you do that.
So I encourage you to. Yeah. You know, do something creative this week. And until I see you again next time, I just would also encourage you to just go out and live boldly and on purpose.
