State of the Art 2026 was a smashing success on so many levels; it might take us a second to unpack this one.
In the interim, THANK YOU to all the artists, volunteers, sponsors, musicians, donors, partners, vendors, and attendees- that made this the best SOTA yet.
While we rest for Sunday, and wait to get content back from our photographers, here’s a Moment of Grace - with 11-year-old original songwriter Gracie Belle performing a new song that she wrote over the past 3 weeks, “Butterflies in June.”
We’d say “thank you South Bay” for your support, but with guests driving from Orange County to Thousands Oaks and beyond, and artists from Germany, Ukraine, Ireland, Czech Republic and Kentucky, the sacred Message of Creativity and Consciousness is growing steadily to help more youth each year.
What a success, thank you.
@mcmaster.peace
#HeartsofHermosa!
THANK YOU @hbef90254 for your tireless effort in our mission to ensure our local kiddos have the best public education possible. From the teachers to the sponsors to the parents and donors alike - it takes a village, and it’s a “one square mile village” that we are deeply appreciative to be part of! 🤍 🙏 🤍
Thank you @belindaoakes for your years of leadership and service to the cause, and congratulations to the entire team for throwing yet another flawless event.
We are grateful to call Hermosa, “home,” and even more appreciative to call our community and schools, “family.” ✌️ ❤️
Come support our local kids and local schools!
@hbef90254 Annual Fundraiser #HeartsofHermosa is Saturday! Come bid on these 1-of-a-kind student art projects - made in collaboration with the @youngatartsouthbay docents of Hermosa!!!
The event is Saturday, but the amazing collection will be on display Friday May 8th 4-6p here at @rsn_lab@indivisible_arts
The 2nd edition of the Fundamental Life Tools book is now live!
Come join Rafael at the @redondobeachcsl for a first look at the new edition and a presentation on each of the 7 tools.
Friday, May 8th
6:30 - 8:30 (Presentation at 7)
Redondo Beach Center for Spiritual Living
Rafael McMaster, founder of Indivisible Arts, is coming to RBCSL to break down the Fundamental Life Tools.
Awareness. Acceptance. Intention. Gratitude. Forgiveness. Compassion. Connection.
This is about one core truth: you are not your thoughts—you’re the one witnessing them.
And when that clicks, everything changes.
Friday, May 8
6:30–8:30 PM
FREE event (yes, free)
Register on Eventbrite: Link in bio (you’ll get a free raffle ticket)
Guess who’s back in the studio together, writing a new song to debut at State of the Art, May 16th…
Gracie Belle and IA Founder Rafael McMaster are excited to share a new hymn from the heart… Sophia Elena and Hudson Grabher will also be playing original live music! Come celebrate and support these wildly talented youth songwriters and the next generation of local leaders through creativity, music, and art… A fundraiser with FUN x purpose… tix in bio, “finally a fundraiser for the whole family!”
freestyling through lyrics and melodies…
pencil on pad, Gracie and I are about to spend our Sunday together practicing the craft of songwriting…
#HappyPlace
Save the date May 16th! STATE OF THE ART is right around the corner! A fundraiser to support youth mental health in the South Bay @indivisible_arts
Join us for a “fundraiser for the whole family,” - a wildly creative heart-centered adventure of a night you wont want to miss! Open bar all evening by @palmillahb@uncorkedwineshops@culturebrewingco , as well as an immersive projector dance party, and a kids area - the first annual Hermosa’lympics! Get tickets in our bio
Moments from today at @indivisible_arts afterschool program at @rsn_lab .
At a time when screen addiction and a disconnection/loneliness epidemic are at a peak, our teen volunteers are immersed in visualization meditations, sharing from the heart in circle, and collaborating together on community art projects. Connection through creativity and consciousness are an answer to the disconnection resulting from screens….
I am so deeply proud of the CULTURE we’ve built at Resin. It’s got heart and integrity (and it doesn’t happen overnight, or without the community’s help!)
THANK YOU!!!
Picasso is quoted as saying, “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain one when we grow up.”
We’ve all been missing the point. He wasn’t talking about coloring books and macaroni necklaces and summer camp crafts.
He was talking about the freedom a child has to just make stuff. They make stuff and don’t worry if they can monetize it or if it’ll fit in an art gallery. They don’t care if it looks different than their friend’s art.
The freedom to create is what Picasso is getting at. He painted like the old masters as a teenager. It was technically perfect. But he said he spent his whole career learning how to paint like a child again.
He’s the reason we even have oil pastels. He wanted adult crayons to try and restore the freedom of being a child.
Unfortunately, we have lost this freedom.
Society, work, adulthood, and “responsibilities” try to keep us from exercising the creative nature that’s in all of us.
You may never be a professional artist, you may never want to be, but everyone has a spark inside them that wants to make stuff.
If we ignore that, we starve ourselves of a special part of the human experience and it often manifests as depression and anxiety.
Taking care of our mental health often starts with being creative. Art is even used as therapy to help build stronger cognitive ability.
Indivisible Arts, a non-profit using creativity as a tool to help build resilience and mental well-being for kids through art and creativity, asked me to create a fox painting for them.
I immediately said yes.
“Morning Hope Mojave Fox”, 24 x 30”, has slept on rocks but a new day is dawning. It’s a reminder that peace can always be found and that we are not our circumstances. Maybe we slept “on the rocks” but there’s always hope for a new day, a new chance, a new opportunity.
Thanks to @mcmaster.peace and @indivisible_arts for allowing me the privilege and honor to create something special for their May 16 Annual Fundraiser, State of the Art, in South Bay, California.
#foxart #art #mentalhealth #picasso #artistsupportingartist
Thank you @belkin for inviting us to speak at this event!
We are so grateful to have the support and opportunities from our partnership to uplift the next generation!
We’ve had a long running story with belkin over the past few years including being a part of an article featured in fast company regarding our partnership! Here’s to continuing our impact one kid at a time!
“MORNING HOPE MOJAVE FOX” PART ONE:
Art and mental health are inseparable.
�Doing creative things rewires our brain and builds resilience.
For some of us, it’s more than just a hobby. �It’s nourishment.
And when we go without that food, our mental health declines.
When I realized this, it changed my life entirely.
When anxiety or depression tried to force their way into my life, I was able to check myself.
Am I creating enough?�Am I prioritizing making things each day?�The answer was usually no.
Creating is what keeps me healthy mentally and there are a lot of us out there like that.��When @mcmaster.peace from @indivisible_arts reached out to me about creating a painting for their May 16th Annual Fundraiser, State of the Art, I immediately said yes.��Their mission to empower youth through creativity by using art as a tool for transformation and mental well-being is something I can endorse 110%.
I’d have given anything to have a program like this growing up as a lonely, farm kid.
What Indivisible Arts is doing is transforming lives through art. The next generation deserves this.
Take a minute to follow and check out their mission. ��I am truly honored to create for such an incredible and selfless group of people!
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#art #mentalhealth #artistslife #painting #colorfulart