#sparkchamber 120423 — World Wildlife Conservation Day
Today, #sparkchamber celebrates World Wildlife Conservation Day — dedicated efforts to protect our planet’s incredible creatures and their habitats, ensuring future generations get to share in the wonder of nature.
In that spirit, we reintroduce the artist Paul Barton who came into the spotlight a few years back, playing classical music on piano for blind and handicapped elephants at an Elephant sanctuary in Thailand. He plays regularly for them, hoping “to bring calm and comfort to these beautiful creatures who have often led tough lives. He finds slow music can calm aggressive bull elephants, and gentle music can bring peace and comfort to blind elephants.”
We all share one planet, we all share one heart.
Originally posted December 24, 2018
There’s something about the end of the year that reminds us, again and again, of the ever-moving, ever-rippling passage of time; the flow of the river. The #sparkchamber is awash in that ephemeral beauty today, as we welcome freelance artist Paul Barton.
Originally from Yorkshire, England, Paul studied art at the Royal Academy of Arts in London — winning prizes for portrait painting and portrait drawing, and graduating early with The Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation prize. He began a career as a concert pianist, and while his brilliant performances quickly helped him on his way to the big stage, the multi-talented Englishman soon realized that this way of life was just not for him. Instead, he chose to travel to Thailand for 3 months, and work as a piano teacher. Fate intervened, as he met his future wife Khwan, also an artist, and he decided to make Thailand his home.
In 2006, he and Khwan built their home [including music and art studios] from the ground up, using recycled wood from old demolished houses. [The result is gorgeous — Paul walks you through the photo album here.]
From his recording studio in the house, Paul has helped countless pianists all around the world develop their skills, providing, through social media platforms, free tutorials and interpretations of many virtuoso masterpieces. His international fan base waits with bated breath for every new video he releases! [Get hooked here.]
Paul has also had wide-reaching influence on lives outside the world of classical piano. In Elephant’s World, a home for rescued elephants in Thailand, he plays piano for blind animals, connecting and interacting with them in very profound and heart-warming ways.
Watch him play to a captivated elephant, and read more about it here.
1.] Where do ideas come from?
No idea where they come from — they just suggest themselves.
2.] What is the itch you are scratching?
I don’t ever think about this question. I just get up in the morning and want to
play piano or draw or paint.
3.] Early bird or night owl? Tortoise or hare?
I work all the time. Nothing helps me get into it, the urge is always there.
4.] How do you know when you are done?
I’m never done.
