Sweet Surrender

SWEET SURRENDER

Elaine Dennis

From my conversations with Photographer Frank Bruynbroek  

You take such incredible black and white photographs, which truly capture the soul of "man’s best friend.” Was there a pivotal experience that inspired you?

When my dog Rosalie died I promised her that I would use my talent to contribute to the welfare of animals. I developed a concept for a book that would feature portraits of rescued dogs.

Having always done so many things in my life, I came to a crossroad where, for my sanity, I needed to choose one thing to focus on and pursue.

 I wanted to make a difference with my photography, I wanted to inspire. I had no idea that my dog images were so powerful.

I did one exhibit to help a foundation and the response was so overwhelming, that it opened my eyes. I knew that my pictures went further than just dog pictures. I touched a very sensitive cord, almost as if it was a reflection of us, of our society.

Where did you develop and hone your visual and photographic skills or did it come more naturally to you?

I ‘m self-taught. I think that the emotions behind an image are way more powerful than a beautiful technically produced photo.  I just saw an exhibit in NYC of a man (Morislav Tichy)  who dedicated his life to shoot 3 rolls a day with cameras that he built with cardboard boxes and plastic lenses. Everything is out of focus, under or over exposed and yet so powerful. 

I still shoot film; I like the magic of it. There's an element of surprise when you look at your proof sheets. I see three aspects in my photographic approach. When I take a portrait, it's like a romantic affair. When I know that the subject in front of my lens has total trust.

It's a high to know that I create a climate where the truth can’t hide. That's when the image is haunting and mesmerizing.

 I never crop my pictures.  I'm always framing even when I don't have a camera around my neck. Finally, the tremendous joy is to develop perfect timing because unconsciously you know exactly what you want, when you want it. You learn to own it.

What was one of your most memorable photo sessions?

I was at a calendar signing session at Whole Foods when a woman walks in and bursts into tears as soon as she sees the two big pictures on display. She proceeds to tell me that her old dog is about to die any minute. She wanted to go to the vet that same day to put him to sleep, but in the morning the dog looked better. 

For many years, as an art collector, she had been looking for a photographer to capture the dog's essence and never clicked with anyone. She asked me to come and take her dog's photo before it was too late. I promised her that I would show up the next day. I went - her adorable black curly dog was barely moving and it was raining. Since I use natural light it would not be simple.

I lifted the dog to where I thought I could possibly take his picture. As soon as I was all set up, an unexplainable thing happened:  it stopped raining, the clouds parted and the sun shone directly on us. The dog got up, his weak legs were struggling and he sat for me. He gave me all kinds of great expressions, played with me, teased me and after 45 minutes he went back to a lethargic mode and lay down. The sun went away, the clouds closed and it started raining again. A few days later I showed up at her office with the proof sheets. Everybody was in tears; the dog had just died that morning.

Tell us about your recent project with Cesar Millan (the Dog Whisperer).

I have a lot of respect for Cesar. The first time I met him, even though he wasn't as popular as he is today, I knew that he was very special. It takes a teacher to know one. He's a very gifted, idealistic,
down to earth human being. I think that he raised the bar for all of us. He touched people and created a ripple effect in order to give a lot of dogs a second chance.

He makes us feel that any issue can be worked on especially if we are willing to admit that we, the owners, have a lot to do with the dog's behavior. We change, our dog changes. I love the fact that he roots for the breeds with a bad rap.

The calendar was a beautiful collaboration with the Cesar and Ilusion Millan Foundation, especially with Sean Hawkins, the Director of the Foundation. He is such a gentleman and was a pleasure to work with.
The result is a beautiful, classy calendar that I'm very proud of.

All Photos courtesy of Frank Bruynbroek, all rights reserved.

Art the Ignites (reposted from archives)

Art that Ignites

(repost from 2008 blog entry in ViewFinders)

My foray into the mysteriously fascinating world of fire kinetic sculpture performance art.

Like a hummingbird in flight backwards, this art form ignites audiences with a special sense of wonder from deep within.
With moving parts and fire in the night sky they are like harnesses of life’s ever-changing flames, ushering in the light and dark that we must all move through in life.

My first real experience with this art form was as an observer on the city streets in San Francisco circa early1990s. The underground group Survival Research Labs was demonstrating an enormous Tesla Coil and other odd fire and metal creations.
They performed at undisclosed locations throughout the city, and it was then and there that I first caught the bug of fire kinetic arts.

After multiple attendances at the Burning Man Arts Festival in the ‘90s, I became a very active participant: a member of an exclusively small entourage that escorted a 150-foot flame throwing modified v-8 engine vehicle to light the man ablaze. That year, as I recall, I also experienced laying on a very large bed of nails, perhaps 9 inch, delivered in a tiny red wagon - in this get-up.
Happy to report that I survived that experience unscathed.
Photographer: Scott Kildall

Some years later, again on the Playa for Burning Man ‘06, I experienced the Flaming Lotus Girls installation “The Serpent Mother”. This mesmerizing steel mother of fiery artistry was created by a female-driven welding fire-art collective group of over 100 volunteers.

The Serpent Mother
(excerpted from Flaminglotus.com)

There has never been a sculpture like the Serpent Mother.

168' long sculpture of a skeletal serpent, coiled around her egg. Propane fire runs down her spine, with 41 "poofers," or flame-throwers, that erupt from the top of her vertebrae. Reaching 20 feet in the air, her head and jaws are hydraulically operated.

Video (Embed)


A highly kinetic, participant controlled installation. Fire effects are a major interactive, sculptural element of the piece. The audience helps to direct her movements, using controls that move the head and jaws and pushing buttons located on the ribs that set off flame effects, effectively making each show a unique event created by the participants.

The Serpent Mother challenges the traditional art perspective by creating an interactive experience which is the opposite of passive viewing. Unlike an unapproachable painting in a prestigious museum which invites only an intellectual admiration, the Serpent Mother invites viewers to physically engage in her art.

This talented group of artists’ works have been exhibited at events and festivals including Burning Man, Coachella and internationally in Toronto and Australia. FLG have a show April 9th at NASA Ames Research Center in conjunction with Yuri’s Night, April 9-10th.

Today, the Black Rock Arts Foundation supports the public display of large scale installations, such as Ecstasy, in urban settings through various grant programs.


The Black Rock Arts Foundation is proud to support the installation of Dan Das Mann and Karen Cusolito's sculpture Ecstasy at Patricia’s Green in the Hayes Valley neighborhood of San Francisco, Ca. This hopeful, figurative work will be on display, free to the public, from February 7, 2010 till June 18, 2010.

Esctasy is made from salvaged and recycled steel, this six ton, 30 foot tall work retains its’ environmental message. Through much of their work, artists Dan Das Mann and Karen Cusolito resolve to use reclaimed materials, exemplifying resourcefulness as part of the creative process and challenging our cultures consumerist tendencies. Found objects, structural steel scrap, and old machine and car parts comprise Exctasy’s body; the strands of her hair are retired lifting chains.

Silent Explosion

Meditation Center

Inspire the World

Inspire the World....
An Installation Art "Peace"

Ink Studios artists Sandra and Sara adorned the studios walls with colourful positive affirmations...





We incorporated requests from FaceBook friends for the project which included such themes as - love, hope, peace, wonder, kindness and perseverence.

There is a saying that the earth upon which we fall is the same ground which enables us to push ourselves up again. There's another which maintains that barley grows better after it has been trampled on. Human relationships are sometimes painful, but there is no such pain from which we cannot recover. It is up to us to decide to live a life free from self-doubt and despair in spite of our failures. Indeed, it is during our most humbling moments that we should show greatest poise and grace. Then the dignity of our lives will truly shine.


Wisdom for Modern Life - Daisaku Ikeda

The Higher Foolishness

Q & A with Mixed Media-Combines Artist Tim Weldon

How did your work evolve into what we see today as Combines?
When I returned to painting after a fifteen year hiatus from the art world I started with these combination painting/assemblages of found objects. After a few years, I got away from that and focused primarily on mixed media paintings on canvas using vibrant colors, texture and poetry, which I have exhibited over the last 13 years nationally as well as, internationally in cities including NYC, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Santa Fe, Chicago, Montreal, Mexico, Italy and France.

Over the years, I would experiment with many different surfaces such as plywood, burlap, collage, galvanized steel – which ultimately evolved into my current body of work which includes rescued objects, old toys and pieces of Americana. I now paint with the natural ingredients I find and put them together like puzzles over a period of time. When they feel like they need a visitor, I call on my old friend, “El” or “Whistle-Man” as I call him. He is the central figure of these creative wanderings and is a traveler or an adventurer that appears in these pages of a life-size journal. He is presented as the tenant in these Combines, always evolving. My themes include folklore, dance, music, theatre and multi-cultural expressions.


(Weldons Collage “Womb Stereo” was featured recently on hit TV show ‘Californication’)






You’re currently working on a museum installation with several other artists, can you elaborate on the experience and the show?

The “ Exquisite Garden” is a sophisticated amalgamation focused primarily on my friend,
Joe Brubaker and his sculptures. He and a cast of characters including myself, Jeff Hvid, Don Guthrie and a host of others got together to build a “Garden” out of junk. Jeff salvaged a good portion of the material that we used. He found the junk in the creeks of Marin County just so he could keep the area clean. The green movement or recycling materials is at the forefront of this multi-artist experience. We had no plan except that the area would be staged with three pieces of driftwood from the creeks that stood about twelve to fifteen feet high. We then built trees and many scenes within scenes from these found objects and created a garden that Joe’s sculptures were looking into as if they were born there. To me, the area looked more like an island or a shipwreck that left these forgotten items and their inhabitants left for a different life. Regardless of its personal appearance, the process in how this “Garden” came to be, is why we do art in the first place.

What are your plans for showing your work in the future?

After working on an installation of such large proportions and my experience with dance, and music, I’d like to incorporate real movement and sound along with these Combines to create video/theater-type backdrops. While this may take some time to evolve, I will continue to experiment with different surfaces and mediums in order to satisfy my thirst for adventure.

More on Tim Weldon’s art.

Weldons’ show “The Higher Foolishness” is currently on exhibition at Ink Studios~ Art Gallery in NoHo. Check http://www.inkit.com/site/Exhibits-Events.html
for events and show details.

Can Big Corporations Really Show They Care?

The answer: Yes, and No. Depends.

I spoke recently with a former employee of the Gap Corporate Headquarters about their art collection and it’s impact on employees. He said that he felt very inspired being around such creative expression and working for a company that valued sharing these works with their employees. He even sent a thank you note to CEO of the Gap expressing this, and ended up getting the gift of an artbook of one of the artists in the collection on his desk the following week with a note that said he was thankful for knowing the art was so inspirational.

The Gap’s collection is a 1,100-piece assortment of works by 185 contemporary artists with many fine pieces from Alexander Calder, Roy Lichtenstein, Chuck Close and Andy Warhol and could be worth nearly $1 billion. A portion of which is now on loan to SF Museum of Modern Art.

I also attended some meetings at the ‘GooglePlex; Google’s sprawling Corporate campus in Northern CA. This company is definitely not conventional – from the gourmet restaurants which serve up free food all day/night and full laundry and dry cleaning facilities to even being able to bring your pet to work! Wow.
In addition, they also have invested in installation art pieces all around the campus. There are some pix of the sculpture garden at one of the campus’ courtyard.


(note: We had to delete the portion about Wells Fargo Bank, for now, but stay tuned. We are not finished with that at all).

I hope the large corporations in the NoHo Arts District in Los Angeles take the lead from the Gap Corporate Headquarters and GooglePlex. Our theatres, galleries, dance complexes and other arts groups make NoHo a very attractive place to live and work. Maybe, our corporations should give a little back to our arts community which is bringing them financial success.

Q & A with Media Artist Scott Kildall

Q & A with NYC-based artist Scott Kildall
(his works are currently on exhibit here in NoHo)

Scott Kildall is a cross-disciplinary artist working with video,
installation, prints, sculpture and performance. He gathers material
from the public realm as the crux of his artwork in the form of
interventions into various concepts of space.

He has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Philosophy from Brown University
and a Master of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of
Chicago through the Art & Technology Studies Department. He has
exhibited his work internationally in galleries and museums. He has
received fellowships and awards from organizations including the Kala
Art Institute, The Banff Centre for the Arts, and Turbulence.org.

http://www.kildall.com

How did you decide to pursue a full-time career as an artist?

I am a true generalist and had been juggling many interests for years:
producing social justice documentaries, engineering software for
educational firms and running a metal sculpture studio. This period
was incredibly active but difficult for me to focus on concepts and
philosophies.

During the terminal illness of my mother, I realized how what seems
certain quickly changes. A constant state of uncertainty was to be
embraced rather than battled. Shifting to full-time work as an artist
was financially risky but I could continually question precepts rather
than close them down. I discovered an integration of ideas, production
and socializing in one career and feel incredibly blessed.

How did this lead you to making conceptual media works such
as Cat Mouse Trio and After Thought?

Both of these works play with performativity and the uncertainty of
meaning.

In Cat Mouse Trio, the viewer watches three videos, each displaying
one cameraperson filming another in urban streets. There is no central
locus and instead the relations between the participants are what
grants meaning to imagery.



After Thought is even more experimental in that I perform personality
tests using flashcards and a brainwave-reading device. From these, I
produce a unique video portrait of people’s emotional state. The
imagery is abstract, comforting and open to interpretation.


In both of these pieces, an active experience of the viewer is central to
making them “work” and what the artwork means is highly subjective.

How do you fund your work given the current economy and the
idea that there isn't an art object?

I have recently embraced an “under $1000 rule.” I keep the
production costs less than this amount unless I have advance funding.
I wrestled with this when making Cat Mouse Trio, which was a
synchronized 3-channel video installation. This would usually be cost-
prohibitive.

After much research, I found three digital picture frames that can
synchronize video channels with a single remote. They draw people in,
are easy to ship and fulfill the concept behind the work.

This case exemplifies possibilities of experimentation in an uncertain
economy — a way to fulfill ideas rather than focus on market sales.

More on Scotts’ projects is available on line
http://eyebeam.org/people/scott-kildall

If you were given complete reign to do a project anywhere in
the world and without any constraints, what would you do?

I would make an installation that is larger than the world itself. This
means finding two points on exact opposite ends of the earth, e.g.
New Zealand and Spain, and setting up enormous receptacles on
either side. The earth itself would be a medium of change where
personal mementos would go through some sort of material
transformation to be received on the other side in an altered form.

Scott Kildall’s ‘Cat Mouse Trio’ is currently on display at Ink Art Gallery
in NoHo. The artists will be attending the Ink Gallery Holiday Artist
Reception, Thurs. Dec. 17th, 7-10pm. For more information visit
http://www.inkit.com

The Art of Fashion

“In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different.”
- coco chanel

Indie- Fever



A few postings ago I proclaimed, “Boutique is Back” – noting the increase in small businesses blooming on Weddington Street here in NoHo. These include a designer, hair salon/gallery, art gallery/event space, dance studio, martial arts and a spa – all small independents.

This past spring I attended Entrepreneur magazine’s annual Growth conference in which magazine editor-in-chief Amy Cosper re-enforced that now is a prime time for small business to start and prosper. Citing many successful companies who started during economic downturns, including UPS and Playboy. Differentiation, timing and market need.

According to Andrew Nachison, CEO of the media think tank iFOCOS, “ Small businesses are definitely going through a time of “high popularity”. It is part of a larger fundamental shift and dissatisfaction with government, big business and the media. My belief is that consumers, with much less disposable income and credit, are giving very careful consideration to where they do spend and will want to patronize the indies’ vs. conglomerates.

Indie-Style:

NoHo-based designer and style maven Harold Fedison has been interested in fashion for as long as he can remember. As a youth he became a formal student of design then fell into retail when he hit the ‘real-world’, managing a number of large national big box retail stores.

Years later he was catapulted into following his passion for design and starting his own business after experiencing the successive loss of some very close friends.
Which had him re-evaluating what was really important in his own life.

Today, I speak with Mr. Fedison while sitting in his design studio on Weddington St. where he creates, produces and sells his garments all under one roof. Sewing machines of all varieties and functions fill the back room of the studio, which overflows with bolts of beautiful fabrics, trims and embellishments. The aesthetic of the boutique is very tasteful and ingeniously neat.




Looks inside Fedison’s storefront boutique














The Art Behind The Style –

Each one of Harold Fedison Designs begin with many sketches, some in pencil, pen, combined with acrylic paint pens. The sketches themselves are pieces of art and show the thought process behind the design of a line.

We discuss how fashion has notoriously been a pretentious field and how the craft of design has largely been lost. His look is one of timeless elegance. Not frivolous skimpy fashion garments but real style additions to a wardrobe that leave much to the imagination. Some of his styles even venture off into a bit of what I call ‘boho-chic’- the perfect attire for the creative woman - a bit of NoHo’s eclectic soul.

As a style designer, Fedison feels his clients want to wear something that reflects their individuality. Emphasizing that authenticity opposed to attitude rules the matter of the day. While the fabrics and styles exude taste and class - the designs are very approachable- practical and affordable.


Upcoming Fashion Show:
Harold Fedison will present a number of ‘looks’ from his resort-collection 2010 on Sept 12th in NoHo. You may end inquiries to: haroldfedison@aol.com



Storefront of Harold Fedison’s Boutique

Our New Space in NoHo

You may now find us in our gallery and event space right on Weddington Street off Lankershim in NoHo Arts District. Parking O Plenty and for all of those savvy urban travelers we know and love, at the last Metro stop on the Red Line. Come visit us, we are open by appt or for events.

Visit our Website www.inkit.com


When we create or appreciate art, we set free the spirit trapped within. That is why art arouses such joy. Art - whether skillfully executed or not - is the emotion, the pleasure of expressing life as it is. Those who see art are moved by its passion and strength, its intensity and beauty. That is why it is impossible to separate life from art. Political and economic developments may seem to dominate the news, but culture and education are the forces that actually shape an age, since they transform the human heart. -Wisdom for Modern Life - Daisaku Ikeda