An Inspired Chat with Garrett Larribas

We recently had the chance to connect with Garrett Larribas and have shared our conversation below.

Good morning Garrett, we’re so happy to have you here with us and we’d love to explore your story and how you think about life and legacy and so much more. So let’s start with a question we often ask: Have any recent moments made you laugh or feel proud?
Yes, I had a recent experience that made me laugh and fee proud (also frustrated at times). I do not consider myself a very “handy” person when it comes to building things, but I have been wanting to change that. While my wife was out of town, I decided to surprise her by making a raised garden bed out of wooden pallets. So I looked up some instructional videos online, gathered some pallets, and borrowed some power tools. I ventured into my workspace, aka the side yard, and began this project. There were a lot of frustrations when I first started, and some sideways looks from our dogs when I cursed pieces of wood or random screws for being uncooperative. In the end, I had created a functional garden bed for our home, even if it was not pretty. I get to look at this garden bed from our office window and still have a great sense of pride and accomplishment, also a huge sense of gratitude for all the blessings in life.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Garrett Larribas, a Tucson-native, who enjoys creative expression through theatre, dance, movement, and just all-around silliness. I have spent a good portion of my life as and educator and advocate for children and adults of “all-abilities”, a population of people who for one reason or another are labeled as having a “disability”. A little over a year ago, I began to be aware of the blessings that art-based activities (theatre, dance, movement, etc) play in my life and how those in the “all-abled” community do not necessarily have access to these activities. I began to blend my work as a practitioner of the arts and advocate for this sect of the community. I started to teach classes in my spare time, while working full-time for a Tucson non-profit. Slowly I began to teach more classes, and then decided to make teaching theatre and movement classes to “all-abled” children and adults a full-time endeavor. With the great support and encouragement of my wife and family, I opened Creative Expressions Fine Arts, LLC, a company dedicated to inclusive arts-based classes and activities for all.

Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. What breaks the bonds between people—and what restores them?
What breaks the bonds between most people is evaluating each other based upon our differences. When we look at those differences and interact based on what is “different” between each other, we tend to lose the simplicity of what makes us collectively human. What restores those bonds are the simple, but sometimes not so apparent, similarities. We all get our feelings hurt, we all feel the need to be in the company of other, and we all laugh. I find that laughter is especially restorative to those bonds between us.

What did suffering teach you that success never could?
Suffering taught me that no amount of intensity, good, or in this case bad, can last forever. Eventually suffering lessens. I am still susceptible to feel some sort of suffering on a daily basis, even if it’s just being uncomfortable, but knowing that it will eventually pass helps me to get through it.

I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. What would your closest friends say really matters to you?
I would hope that my closest friends would say that “they (his friends and family) are what really matters to me.” I love the people I choose to surround myself with. They are my biggest supporters and the ones who help me grow. They also show me the areas of my life that I need to grow and nurture.

Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. If immortality were real, what would you build?
It isn’t? That changes everything then. Seriously, though, I would build a legacy based on laughter and silliness. I would love to take time to cultivate a communal art space where all absurd, positive ideas could grow and be nourished. Ideally, a place where artist of all shapes, sizes, ages, and abilities could gather to be in continual rehearsal, where no piece of art is ever truly finished, but instead reworked and reimagined with child-like wonder.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.creativeexpressionsfinearts.com
• Instagram: creative_expressions_fine_arts
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61564318424663