HeArtEyeFacts

Dr. Joshua S. Levin, Doc. Shua, is an artist, poet, musician and professor of anthropology at the College of Southern Nevada. He is also an unapologetic flow addict. On Mondays and Wednesdays he can be found in the laboratory or on top of a lecture hall desk, getting his science on. Tuesdays and Thursdays are for work and travel in "Discovery," his jewel toned imagination powered dirigible. The airship studio and cloud lounge has great lighting, a superb sound system, and provides much needed perspective in a city known for all that never leaves it. Fridays are generally reserved for picking cabbages and servicing the machine. Saturdays are decidedly mysterious, and of course, Sunday is the restoration.

Shua is beloved by most of his students, reviled by some, affably tolerated by his 19 year old son, and kept aloft by his long time wife and creative partner, Deborah. His art and life are informed by a rich diet of science and art, travel, deep play, ritual theater, crazy wisdom, and comedic desserts. With his wife and other collaborators, he spent two decades developing and facilitating community based transformational art experiences. His work is devoted to celebrating and nurturing life. It is also designed to help him to polish his heart and be a more caring representative of his species.

Note: I was instructed to tell you that he did not write this, and that he feels uncertain and vulnerable about some of the ambiguously revealing words that were used to make inferences about how he should be pigeon-holed in relation to other authors and creatives. "For example," he said, "is the wisdom really crazy, or is it just conventionally challenged?" Or, to directly address the personal aspect, "is it affability, or is my son actually amused by one out of ten of my jokes?" In any case, I have not spoken for him, just about him. He's a handful and the book is a treasure.