CURRENT MISSION

To make sense of different ways of knowing. To understand and express through gesture and material into image (I'm a painter/photographer). To build, find, and keep community. To understand plant medicine and connect with nature as I did as a child. To live moments of being completely in love with the world and everything in it.

ABOUT ME

An artist, a herbalist, a caregiver to my wonderful father, and sometimes graduate student in Landscape Architecture at Harvard Graduate School of Design. I meditate, I read, I go to museums, I take things slow, I like to get outside in nature as much as I can.

Circa 2008 but still true:
tea and summer thunderstorms
barefeet in the grass
whiskey on the rocks or a dark beer
art and music = life!
undercover missions
strive to be good, strive to be honorable

grew up outside of philadelphia, went to school in los angeles...quit and joined the peace movement in DC, then went backpacking europe and tried to finish my (philosophy) degree at University of Michigan but it became too expensive and I couchsurfed it back to los angeles. Studied visual and sound arts in Oakland, CA, watched the city flourish and then fall to gentrification. Spent a few years in Los Angeles focusing on my art work and my creative and emotional growth. Since then have traveled to Mexico and Iceland, and am now on a 5 month art focused and volunteer work tour in China and New Zealand with some countries in between. I like writing and taking film photographs. I tell great stories! but sometimes I'm quiet, and I like to listen. I'm a sort of I talk if you talk kinda person. I love talking to strangers and experiencing new things but I'm also a little traditional. I grew up with that good old southern hospitality and I bring no judgements with me : )

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I've met some of my greatest friends through couch surfing and have had some wonderful adventures, and was financially able to do them, because of couch surfing. I am very grateful. However, I do have to say that since 2009 or 2010 the couch surfing platform has been a lot more difficult to use, and using it in Italy in 2023 has made me very cautious about posting public trips and men who reach out.

Interests

people.the universe.love.art.friends.vegan pizza. living in a building from the 1800s. painting.writing.awkward public dancing.the idea of freedom.live shows.dive bars.laugh riots.napping on city parkbenches.playing pretend.deep eye contact with passersby.photography.the ocean.typewriters and rotary phones.drunken bikeriding/riding on the back of a bike or the handlebars.camping (ex-camp counselor). art theory.climbing through friend's windows.making noises with things that make noise.surprises.

Still things like that, but perhaps in a quieter, more mature way as I'm now in my late twenties. I think I wrote that at 20 years old? : )

• arts
• writing
• photography
• dancing
• cooking
• beer
• vegan
• painting
• music
• guitar
• cycling
• backpacking
• camping
• surfing
• rock climbing
• law
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies: Call Me By Your Name, Almost Famous, Studio Ghibli, everything is illuminated, ingmar bergman films, wristcutters, squid and the whale, garden state, Jean-Luc Godard films, indies and foreigns mostly. And I Believe in Unicorns, a film I just worked on to be released 2014!

Music: Anything but top 40. Particularly a fan of rock n roll, garage rock, psych rock, blues, folk, bluegrass, surf pop of the 60's, IDM, and definitely lots of groovin world music; Tinariwen, Polo + Pan, Bela Fleck projects . Not too much into R&B or modern country.

Books: Simone de Beauvoir, Herman Hesse, Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, Isabel Allende, Jack Kerouac, Ayn Rand, Ken Casey, the Electric Kool-Aid Acid test, Hunter S Thompson, Art Theory books, Philosophical Essays esp. Nietzche because he makes me laugh. Kant make me think. Spinoza makes me fall in love with the universe. Proust's Swann's Way is the most beautifully written book I've just read but Narcissus and Goldmund by Herman Hesse changed my life, Tolstoy, Camus, Sartre, Greek Tragedies. And fantasy books: The Abhorsen Trilogy, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, the Narnia chronicles, ....and all the other good ones I haven't read yet. Call me by Your Name narrated by Armie Hammer= so dreamy.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

healing of the world, and of each other. I've recently learned something from someone I originally met through couch surfing that has changed my life, for now. It's more of a re-learning. But it's just that the remedy for most things is to love more. Just love. The people I've met and seen how they interact with each other and the relationships that go from strangers to best friends is simply an amazing feat.

I also like the kind of horizon lines that your eyes make. The kind that the land just goes on and on and there are no tall buildings or hills or mountains that define the point where the land meets the sky. It's simply that you cannot see any further. This excites me.

Circa 2016. I hand-make candles. I study herbs and make medicinal teas. I paint. I take film photographs. My fine art practice can be seen here: rheacutillo.info

Circa 2018: I officially ride a motorcycle, officially have been to the other side of the world and the southern hemisphere, and I officially suck at Mandarin Chinese.

Circa 2019: Heading to graduate school, somewhere. Still painting, still studying plant medicine. Plans for a travel blog out soon.

Circa 2023: After becoming a caregiver to my wonderful father, I am healing and finding a new path. In 2024 I will begin graduate school at the Harvard Graduate School of Design in Landscape Architecture studies

What I Can Share with Hosts

Tarot readings, herbalist lessons, fresh ginger tea and whiskey. Polaroid photos. Cook, clean, possibly fix things. Unobstrusive energy. An ear to listen.

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Switzerland, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Iceland, United States

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