Gary Bukovnik: A Life in Art

Back in October, we were pleased to learn of progress on the documentary film about Gary, his artwork, and his life. Gary's full letter, along with a letter from filmmaker Grant Thompson, is below. This week, we learned that final filming for the documentary is scheduled for June 2026. Stay tuned for more updates!

20 October 2025

Dear Friends,

It has been on my mind to write to you and report on our progress with the documentary.  We have just returned from a rather long trip to Europe where I had a residency in Ljubljana, Slovenia for a month which was followed by two weeks travel in France and Germany.  In March and April we had been in both Seoul, Korea and  then a month in China which started in Shanghai for Exhibition and lectures.   Both these trips have proved eye opening and emotional for various reasons [all good].

At the conclusion of  the European trip the director Grant Thompson and I have separately come to similar conclusion that this film is bigger than just about my life and career path.  I am simply a story/canvas upon which a much bigger, and we think, more important story is emerging.  What an enormous privilege it is and has been for me to be part of this.

For the passed forty some years it was my goal to share information about how it is possible for an artist to make a way for themselves as a viable profession.  I know the actual details of ‘how to’ are very obscure and always clothed as a secret [which it is not!] Or at best a mystery.   As you know my life and path are nothing less than a miracle and I have been determined to share what little I know in hopes of helping others if possible find their own way forward in what I think must be the most wonderful possible life - that of an artist. 

While filming and interviewing in China Grant has shown the gift of allowing the interviewee a door to openness and revealing themselves in ways I had never realized.  During these session after session I would sit quietly all the while being deeply moved by what was said and how people were responding to the seeming story of my life and of my art when actually they were talking about themselves.

In Slovenia as there were openings and lectures and interviews with me we always had large [surprisingly large] audiences who would become silent and we could see visibly moved by what amounted to shared experience and commonality.   It’s at this point that a fuller realization began about the meaningfulness of this documentary venture.   I hesitate to ever say anything about me is important but I can see that , not me, but this film and documentary  have a purpose it seems much beyond what the initial motivation has been.   The fulfillment of this is directly attributable to your generosity towards this  undertaking.  I am deeply grateful beyond words. 

We have been working on this well over a year now and soon the material will be in the hands of editing and also possible inclusion of  animating the many stories through which I often speak.  This is all not up to me but for Grant Thompson to determine.  It is his vision and genius [my words not his!] That  gives life to all of this.  As I said, I am simply grateful to be part of something indescribable at the moment but wonderful beyond my hopes.

I will keep you informed of more progress as time moves forward.

How can I say thank you for your belief in me and my art/life more than those two small words?

Thank you, 

— Gary

From Grant Thompson, Director:

The longer I have been involved with this project, the more I sense that the soul of this story carries a restorative, healing quality within it. I feel this working on my own life—benefiting me, changing me. I hope this means it could be useful for others as well. Thank you, thank you, thank you for believing in this. I am so grateful to all of you for giving us the opportunity to go on this journey. You made this possible.

I’m writing to share some of the most salient reflections this process has stirred up within me, to bring you into how I am approaching the film. I hope it complements Gary’s update well.

So many of us live lives that we sense are dissonant from our vital, natural way of being. Sometimes the disconnect is small and discrete; sometimes it’s massive. “I wish I had had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me” was the most common regret writer Bronnie Ware encountered after years working in hospice. The disconnect between who we are and how we live is our greatest and most widespread regret at the end of our lives. What ideas and attitudes propitiate and perpetuate this state of being, where it is commonplace to live out of sync with one’s true nature? Can they be shifted—or outright removed—so that our authentic nature can be welcomed into our lives and into the world?

The single purpose of this film is to create an invitation for others to explore this—to invite them to reclaim their own nature from the limiting beliefs and accumulated negativity that hijack our ability to express ourselves from our most authentic ground.

I believe Gary’s story encourages us to extend a hand toward what is vital, true, and alive in our own selves, no matter how “weird,” “simple,” unconventional, or outright neglected it may be. We have filmed with Gary in California, China, Slovenia, and France. In these countries, we met people who follow Gary’s work, and I have seen how the task of allowing what is real in oneself to emerge unimpeded is a fundamental human struggle regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, or age.

As children, we do this naturally. But once we are hurt or shamed, we can close off. Then our relationship to our actual tastes and interests can change. We may try to shape who we are to fit in or advance ourselves, rather than accept who we are and live from that place.

How do we keep the doorway to our genuine nature open throughout our whole lives? I think of Gary as a 78-year-old man dedicated to an art form he first loved as a four-year-old. That initial love is carried into a mature, disciplined life. It’s too easy to feel like “work” and “growing up” involve abandoning the simple things that first opened our hearts in favor of a loveless discipline. I think what we—or I—actually long for is a gentle discipline dedicated to the heart’s authenticity.

In China, I saw how people we met throughout the country connected with and loved Gary’s work, saying that it “carried the spirit of life.” I could see how much bigger his gift has become than he ever could have imagined. I thought of the moments when Gary, as a younger man, allowed himself to accept this path—a path that seemed so mockable, so easy to write off. That voice or calling that once seemed so small or fragile has touched hearts around the world. I felt like there was a force of life that wanted to express itself through Gary in order to reach these people.

I found myself brought to tears, in awe of the possibility that the small voice inside us—encouraging us toward our path—could be connected to something so much bigger than we can imagine. Following it selfishly and privately in our own lives can somehow enrich the lives of people who are to be born decades later on the other side of the earth. Unbelievable.

How many of us deny that voice within ourselves and never allow it to be expressed? Or judge it out of existence before it has a chance to breathe through us? I am beginning to believe that our purpose as human beings may be to listen to that voice and find vehicles to follow, express, and live it.

I see this film as playing one small part in clearing the cultural cobwebs that have accumulated and hinder us from “living a life true to ourselves, not the lives others expected of us.” Seamus writes that one purpose of poetry is to create “a fluid and restorative relationship between the mind’s center and its circumference.” I hope this film can do that—to help, in a small way, restore the lives we outwardly live to resonance with what resides at the center of our being.

My main focus now is how to construct the film in a way that lives up to this intention. Example films I’m holding close in mind are Stutz and the series Shangri-La about Rick Rubin. Both works explore individuals through themes and principles, with biographical elements featured lightly. It’s not about them so much as it is about how the ideas and principles within their stories can be helpful for others. One way this will play out is through Gary’s conversations about these principles with people around the world—and with myself—as he encourages us toward our own authentic ground.

I don’t want the film to be platitudinal or naive. It’s about making space to be who we are, even if our art is not our work. For example, my wife, a marine ecologist who minored in art, hadn’t been making art for years. She started painting again after painting with Gary in Slovenia, and it brings her a calmness and joy that I can see radiating through our home. Spreading that atmosphere of peace—which we cultivate when we focus on things we love—is what this is about: spreading it throughout ourselves, our families, and our communities.

Thank you for your collective generosity. I am immensely grateful, and I have learned that working from a place of gratitude is the best place for me to work.

Warmly,
Grant Thompson