Meditation Center
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
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.
Friday, February 5, 2010
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
Sunday, January 31, 2010
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.
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.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
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.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
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
(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
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