Today we’d like to introduce you to Dail Chambers.
Hi Dail, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I am a visual artist who creates installations and crafts. I farm and run a mobile business that is all a part of a wholistic living approach to entrepreneurship. I have been a visual artist my entire life. My preschool teacher told my family that they should follow up about my drawing talent. We laughed at home because I come from a family of artists.
It was somewhat natural for me to pursue a career in the arts. My uncle, father, and brother are all professional artists too. What came to a surprise in my professional development is my love for wellness. As an artist, I began to reinvest into learning healing modalities such as Reiki and Touch for Health Kinesiology, Coaching and more. I participated in a Farm School and found artist opportunities that would be open to my love for horticulture and growing herbs.
After having a deep interest in anthropology and history during college, I began to weave together a career path of inquiry. Inquiry is to ask questions with those around you and the environment. Inquiry-based community building has been a path for me to explore social entrepreneurship in a socially just way. When we enter community, I began to ask about the culture of a place, group or project. What is already there for me to creatively explore or support? Many times that question grows into consultation for arts development, writing art curriculum, holding public exhibitions and for me- starting an orchard.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I was a young, teen, single mom. I’ve been the caregiver for multiple people in my extended family. I’ve been the only or first African American woman in a few roles within the institutions in my community. I’ve been the inaugural artist for a few artist residencies in the area. I’ve experienced racism, sexism, classism and ageism in professional settings. However, I can not allow these challenges to distract me from the joy of creating art, wellness and opportunity in my daily life.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
The artist, as a civil conduit, works as a guide for society. Chambers’ practice embodies this role by providing motivational support, intergenerational public education and sustainable living assistance to historically impoverished urban spaces in the Upper South and Mid South of America. When using an inquiry-based, public engagement model, inspiration is found in spaces of community, preventative healthcare, Black History, Women’s movement, labor movement, and cultural art space.
The art studio practice responds to genealogy, folklore and social issues in an ekphrastic attempt to continue the lineage of spirituality and mythology in art. There are iterations of genealogical quests in the American Black Migration that also address ecological and social justice issues. In the mythology of Itshanapa, a published account of expressive inspiration flows through short poems, art and writing. The book is a bio-mythological manual of basic healing.
How do you think about luck?
I do not believe in luck. I believe in Joy.
Contact Info:
- Email: houseoflifedevelopment@gmail.com
- Website: www.dailchambers.life
- Instagram: dailchambers
- Facebook: facebook.com/numobilehealing
