Sylvia Toy St. Louis

For about 13 months in 2017-2018 I was trying to reverse early diabetes, without medication. I was nauseated 24/7 (ie even in my sleep) but I’m very fortunate to have eventually succeeded in remitting to normal blood sugar.

All that struggle and the depression it caused was really good for my art, however, because I followed the advice they give actors: “Use that.” In this case, that meant navigating the murky viscousness of myself to find what I really wanted to say. I might not be able to do what I do if not for my bilious 13 months long “Day in the Life of a Soul” explorations. .


The still on the left is from DIRT, 2024. The still on the right is from FLIGHT, 2018.

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1 year ago | [YT] | 1

Sylvia Toy St. Louis

DIRT by Sylvia Toy, a performance art movie in-progress production stills.

LOGLINE: After a lifetime of tossing negative thoughts and feelings into the back of her mind like so much trash, a woman trudges into her own emotional junkyard to sort it out.

#writersofinstagram #artistsoninstagram #sylviatoystlouis

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1 year ago | [YT] | 3

Sylvia Toy St. Louis

2014.

If my parents had never made me leave my room, I’d still be there, endlessly drawing or reading way above my grade level — i.e. I would have read through Encyclopedia Brittanica 10,000 times by now; and I’d be covered in cobwebs like Miss Havisham. Instead, I succeeded in organizing my life well enough to have a dignified, uncomplicated, well-enough paid but not overly time-consuming profession as a paralegal that allowed me time for (as well as paid for) afterhours careers as a theater artist/playwright for 17 years; and as a professionally represented sculptor for 25 years. By 2014, when I was a year from being old enough to be able to stay in my room again, I had also been exhibiting internationally as a filmmaker for 5 years.

#writersofinstagram #artistsoninstagram #videoart #performanceart #sylviatoystlouis

1 year ago | [YT] | 0

Sylvia Toy St. Louis

Thanks so much for stopping at my channel. I'm delighted to share a bit of my slow but sure progress in developing my "movie after next," DIRT by Sylvia Toy – LOGLINE: After a lifetime of tossing negative thoughts and feelings into the back of her mind like so much trash, a woman trudges into her own emotional junkyard to sort it out. I am working on a new chapter, "Osmosis." DIRT is based on my lifelong inner narrative, which I visualize as emanating from a garden in the back of my mind.

I love the concept of osmosis because of the 'tendency to equalize' between two sides. As a lifelong bipolar, I instinctively have tried to equalize the parts of myself – my physical, intellectual and emotional energies. There have been many times that I set those parts for and against each other as a means of equalizing myself.

#writersofinstagram #artistsoninstagram #femalefilmmakers #filmmakersofinstagram #performanceart #bipolarartist #sylviatoystlouis

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1 year ago | [YT] | 0

Sylvia Toy St. Louis

Thank you so much for stopping at my channel. I'm delighted in my first YouTube blogpost to share a sample page from my shooting script for MOTHER by Sylvia Toy. This summer has been my best ever experience doing a rewrite. Usually, rewriting for me feels like slogging through a swamp. But I learned so much and had so much fun working on the script for the past two months.

MOTHER by Sylvia Toy, a performance art movie (Production in Fall 2024).

LOGLINE: After her estranged mother suddenly dies, a hoarder is under suicide watch by two friends from her professional women’s mentally ill support group.

MOTHER is a nonlinear narrative in which the central characters are high-functioning mentally ill housemates; and though the story is not autobio, over the 50 years since my first therapist at college, I’ve had diagnoses of Bipolar 1, Schizoaffective Disorder, Major Depression, General Anxiety Disorder, Phobia, Eating Disorder.

#writersofinstagram #filmmaker #artistsoninstagram #performanceartist #acting #themethod #experimentalart #bipolarartist #mentalillness #sylviatoystlouis

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1 year ago | [YT] | 1