Check Out Kevyn Bashore’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Kevyn Bashore.

Hi Kevyn, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I cut my teeth on stories when I was a country boy living in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in south-central Pennsylvania. We’d share spooky stories, my older sisters, cousins, and me, as kids do, while roasting marshmallows, making s’mores, huddling in the glow and safety of our woodland campfire. Mystery, intrigue, and suspense were part of everyday life: eerie hisses wisped from the woods at night through my bedroom window, strange and quirky neighbours intrigued me, unexplained sightings kept me off balance, and my seemingly haunted home frightened me. Frankly, I believed I was living in The Lord of the Rings with an Evil force lurking in our woods. With my spiritually sensitive soul bent toward the Arts, I was destined to become a storyteller, and I did.

My work, both professionally and as volunteer work, has led me around the world, engaging in various Art forms and gaining life experience along the way. Between the ages of 18 to 22 I traveled three times across the U.S., Europe, and the South Pacific, as a singer. And like most creative spirits I worked in multiple Art forms as an artist, photographer, sculptor, graphic designer, writer, singer, songwriter, pianist, composer, theater actor, choreographer, and director. I could never choose one specific Art form, which is why in my younger years many concerned family members urged me to make a choice so I wouldn’t become “a jack-of-all-trades and master-of-none.”

When I was 22 years old I had an epiphany: I was flooded with a deep sense of meaning, purpose, and God’s love for me at a very personal level. At that moment it all became clear to me: I was given abilities in the Arts because I was created to be a Filmmaker — and “Film is the Synthesis of all the Arts.” The people who meant well when they called me “a jack of all trades and master of none” were looking at the situation the wrong way. My “jack-of-all-trades dilemma” was actually pointing me to my life mission: Filmmaking. I think many people are confused about their life assignments and mission until they realize who they are born to be and what they are born to do. Love and clarity change everything.

To train to be a Filmmaker I attended five colleges and universities. After college I honed my skills by working in various departments on set: production assistant, construction, props, set dressing, set design, cinematography, editing, music scoring, writing, directing, and producing. I’ve worked in various formats: commercials, shorts, features, and pilots, gaining some awards and recognition along the way.

For eleven years I was honored to be the head judge for an annual Arts, Media, and Video Production Competition for young writers and filmmakers, which gave me the privilege of learning how to train, encourage, and guide artists and writers of all ages. I also worked as an adjunct instructor for a college Humanities class, an instructor for professional screenwriting and Arts workshops, and an adjunct instructor for the Georgia Film Academy.

Lastly, in 2011 I spent an entire year experimenting with the early iPhone and photo apps, blogging my journal along the way, which resulted in invitations to two large exhibitions featuring my writings and artography reproduced up to 9’x10’ in the Clyde Stacks Visual Arts Center and The State Museum of Pennsylvania.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
In the summer of my fourteenth year I started working hard labor at a local orchard with migrant workers for ten hours a day, six days a week. It was backbreaking work, on your knees crawling in the dirt hard work, hauling, heaving, foisting, enduring heat, rain, flood, snow, drought, isolation in endless fields picking eggplants, cucumbers, green peppers, zucchini, and corn to the point of near heat stroke, blurry vision, and a loss of sanity, sometimes enduring bullying by teenage workers older than me, insects, poison ivy, groundhogs, snakes, pesticides, and even sun poison. I’d return home by bicycle exhausted from those labors to work on my three-thousand-square-foot vegetable garden, 50 rose bushes, mini-orchard, and grape vines. I was compelled towards nature and beauty, wherever I could find it, by the Hand of God, or by the hand of “man.” I was initially taught by my father at an early age how to plant a garden and his instruction took root in me like he never imagined. For that, I am forever grateful to him. A parent has no idea which seed they plant in their child may actually be the one that taps into the wellspring of their destiny.

I learned early on what hard work is, but for some reason I believed that the hard work of becoming an adult would somehow lead to a plateau of ease, a place of simplicity and success. Maybe every child believes that. Maybe it’s tied to a core, innate hope that can only be fulfilled by the place we call Heaven. Either way, I now see that the plateau I was hoping for does not exist this side of Heaven, because an easy life, like an easy exercise routine, produces no emotional, intellectual, social, or spiritual muscle. Currently, instead of hoping or praying for an easy life without obstacles, I ask for the tenacity to face whatever obstacles are in front of me.

My journey has been anything but a straight line. Or easy. As I’ve mentioned, I’ve worked in multiple levels and arenas of the Arts. I went to five colleges and universities, garnered an A.A., B.A. and M.A. in Communications, with a minor in English/Creative Writing, and after winning seventeen international awards for my graduate school 33-minute dramatic film I wrote, directed, composed the music for, co-edited, and co-produced, instead of answering the call to move to Hollywood — I chose to abandon everything to live in a log home for two years in the wooded hills of Pennsylvania, working as an apprentice/grunt “boy” for Amish and Mennonite carpenters. At the time I was referred to as being a DOMO: a downwardly mobile professional. I didn’t want to move to this place in lieu of moving to Hollywood, but I felt strongly it was where I was meant to be. I learned much about tenacity, pressing through drudgery and suffering, building community, and about silence, service, prayer, faith, and trusting in God’s goodness. That’s where I began teaching my first writing workshop to village children and adults, which was quite a challenge attempting to teach a writing class with a nine-year-old and a 35-year-old man. After that I had the privilege of working near Oxford, England, as the head landscaper for a renovation crew on the home of the famous, deceased author C. S. Lewis. That was an experience filled with wonder, mystery, and supernatural suspense, but that’s a story for another day. And one that will be produced into a book and movie down the road.

Back to your question about obstacles: the past eleven years have been a whirlwind of obstacles, leading me to juggle my career in the entertainment industry on both coasts as I was pressed to move from Pennsylvania to California to the Atlanta region. It all began in the winter of 2012 when the perfect storm hit my life. I had a rapid-fire succession of five great losses within a month of each other, any one of which was worthy of deep grief. My first loss was on March 3, 2012: I found my father dead in his woods at night. The same woods that had terrified me as a child. I was part of a search party, but alone, when I came upon his body. The light from my flashlight penetrated the darkness and when it landed on my father’s lifeless body, lying still on the cold earth… Nothing can prepare you for that moment. I wailed like a wounded animal while attempting to revive him. If that wasn’t painful enough, that same month my on-line web-server accidentally erased my entire business website hosting my entire life’s work portfolio in every Art form: songwriting, poetry, writing, art, photography, design, and commercial/TV/Film work. Furthermore, soon after this my informal business partner of five years made a secret tactical move to seal the company and profits under his ownership. I lost everything. Then within days I had a vaccine-induced heart-attack that landed me in the ER. To top it all off, these four devastating blows led to my business bankruptcy.

I didn’t think I could ever recover my passion or unction after those years of loss, or regain my momentum for work, business, or life. Somehow I survived, but I wanted more than to be a survivor: I wanted to thrive.

Fast-forward ten years to 2020. I was on the verge of entering my next level of success in Hollywood when COVID hit. Everything came to a halt in the entertainment industry. And then my mother fell prey to the awful venom of pancreatic cancer. By 2022, I faced monumental changes: the death of my mother, selling our family estate in Pennsylvania, moving from L.A. to restart life in Atlanta, teaching film production at the Georgia Film Academy at Trilith Studios, facing relational upheaval, and finally moving to Serenbe, southwest of Atlanta. After all that, eleven years after finding my father dead in the woods and being forced into bankruptcy, as of January 2023 I am only now beginning to sense rebirth and restoration of all things lost, an authentic rising from the ashes, experiencing an increase in my emotional, spiritual, relational, and professional momentum once again. I know more than ever that all the pain we suffer can produce good in us. And I believe there is more good yet to come.

As a personal note, I believe only God knows why we experience such pain and suffering in this world, but somehow it’s part of our growth, if we allow it to be. Yet it’s astounding to witness how deep we must continue to dig into whatever pain we face to find the will and stamina to fight for hope and truth and life and love. If we don’t, the only choice we have is to cover our pain with material possessions, fame, and addictions, none of which truly make us healthy or happy. I believe that facing pain connects us to God’s heart of compassion and to the hearts of the community around us.

I also know that I wouldn’t have made it through my trials and challenges without the compassion and support of family and friends who stood in the gap for me when I couldn’t stand, who believed for me when I couldn’t believe for myself, who wept for me when words could do no justice, and who loved me even when I was loveless. I believe that life is only worth living because of the relationships we build with other people and with God. And that those relationships, along with our character, are the treasures and joy we take with us beyond this life into the next.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
2023 is my year of rebirth and rebuilding: I’m excited to be premiering two businesses in January and February 2023:

STORY CORE by ATOMIC FIREFLY LLC, my story and screenwriting consulting company at:www.MyStoryCore.com

My niche as a story and script consultant is to help screenwriters identify and distinguish their Forest (overarching concept and story) from their Trees (story details), to elevate their scripts while equipping them to become better storytellers.

I am also launching my website:

ARTOGRAPHY by KEVYN, selling my unique synthesis of Fine Art/Photography at:

www.ArtographyByKevyn.com

My work, honored to be exhibited in galleries and The State Museum of Pennsylvania, is centered on finding beauty in everyday life, the search for the sacred amidst the temporal. My current series “Yucaipa Mountains Blue Series” and “Chattahoochee Hills Mystique Series” are available for purchase as originals, numbered prints, and custom size prints through Kelly Hunt at District Market, Serenbe, and at my website. Or for more information contact me at: kevyn@atomicfirefly.co

I also plan to publish the first book of my family fable series The Seeds of Elderon.

And I continue to write screenplays, produce/direct on desired projects, and teach production at the Georgia Film Academy.

Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
I moved from L.A. to Atlanta at a point when I was ready to leave urban congestion for woods and open spaces. I love to visit places in the inner city of Atlanta, like Ponce and Piedmont Park, high-end restaurants, and Jeni’s Ice Cream. I also enjoy visiting areas surrounding the city, including the Avalon Mall, Kennesaw, Stone Mountain, Trilith Village, Senoia, and Newnan Square. I run on mountains as “barefoot” as possible (Vibram five-finger shoes), so nature is an important part of my everyday life. I prefer the forests and beauty surrounding Atlanta, which is why I settled 45 minutes southwest in Serenbe, a beautiful, cloistered village of hamlets, woods, community, and open space.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.MyStoryCore.com
• Other: www.artographybykevyn.com
• Other: www.kevyn-bashore.pixels.com
• Other: www.pilgrimintheshadowlands.com
• Instagram: @kevynbashorejourney

Image Credits
All photos, images, and web design copyright by Kevyn Bashore.