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Interview with LA Judge
Interviewed by Damien Daville
Over the years VC Magazine has provided a creative outlet for many non-mainstream cultural traditions. Original poetry, literature and art with a Gothic or Dark Culture edge have monthly graced its electronic pages for half a decade. This year the interview section of VC Magazine will be looking at the creative side of its contributors. The focus will be on exploring how their lives intertwine with their art and are influenced by energy. It is our hope that their creativity can inspire yours.
Damien: Greetings LA and thank you once again for allowing VC Magazine
readers to have a look into the life of the Magazine Editor. Many
know you to be the Administrator of the Vampire Church however you
are also a sensitive woman with a creative side. You in our past
interview told me about your career in the art field. What I would
like to focus more here on is your creative side as both a person
and as a career choice.
LA.: Greetings – it is a pleasure to be here.
Damien: LA, could you give us here a little insight into your personal
creative side?
LA.: My personal creative side is very eclectic. My work is very hard to pigeonhole. I have unique perspective all my own. I am hardwired for color and pattern. Both have amazing energy and I find them very seductive. I am very drawn to the marks or glyphs that one finds in nature and an urban setting. I use them both kind of like visual music. My work is all about the energy of a time, a place, a moment and the energy of interaction – all these things coming together at once. I seek to connect with the viewer on a subliminal level. I am looking to create an action, interaction, reaction response on a very base level where both the artist and viewer meet as one. The end result for me hits on many levels. Yes it is visual, but it also is auditory and has a energy of its own.
Damien: I understand that you acquired a new camera last year and have been
active in photography. Would you tell us more about your photography
and what it means to you?
LA.: Lol – oh yes, I am having fun with my new digital “toy”. I have been a professional photographer for over 30 years. It is one of the mediums in which I am very well trained. I had the privilege to study with some of the greats of the last century – Adams – VanderZee and several others. For many years, I worked in strictly black and white. Then I put my camera down and took a long, long break. Just recently, I have started building up several series of work again. And surprise, I found that I am a color photographer! It has taken me a couple of years to make the jump to digital, but I am finally at the point where I can manipulate digital just as well as I can film. See I am bit of a purist when it comes to a photographic image. While I have learned to use such things as Photoshop, etc. I do not use them for my work. What you see of mine image wise, is the same thing that I saw thru the camera lens – no “fixing”. Lol – from what I understand I am a bit “old school” in my photographic approach – but it works for me.
Damien: I have seen many of your photos and I have enjoyed seeing your work.
What inspires you to engage in this creative medium? Would you also
let us know where people can see your work?
LA.: What inspires me is anything and everything. I carry a pro camera with me at all times and have been known to stop in the middle of a street just to take a photograph. I have a way of almost hearing pattern and color so when I see something that literally shouts out at me I translate that into an image to share with others. It is like a unique visual language that I want to show everyone how to speak. I guess though the only way to do that is to show what I am looking at via an image. Where can you see my work? Well I am included in a few major collections and museum archives, but the easiest way to view my work is online. There are a couple of places…my personal website (which is seriously overdue for an update) www.nodecaf.com is my current portfolio. It is where I put those series of photos I am on which I am working. Then there is my photoblog site www.lanodecaf.blogspot.com The blog is more of a visual notebook so it contains very raw images. It is here I kind of do some visual problem solving. It is updated a number of times a month and some of the things you see there are just notes. They will never make it to my portfolio site.
Damien: I remember from our last interview that you spoke about your
educational background in the art field, would you again describe
your educational background in this field?
LA.: Oh my goodness, I am the classic overeducated artist. Funny, I never really liked school, it just kind of happened. I have three and a half degrees…one in graphic design, one in photography, a Masters of Fine Arts in painting (yes, I am known for my painting as well) and I have work towards my PHD in art history. I also have a number of minors in visual arts and music related fields. It sounds like a lot, but not really. In any of the fine arts (music, dance, theater, visual arts, etc) you start training classically very early on, before your teen years. Then you just kind of stay with it. Many years ago, you would have trained as a studio assistant to a master artist. These days there are no such programs. All the training is done at universities. That is what happened to me.
Damien: I also understand that you have been active in the art field as a
career. Would you tell us more about what you have done in the art
field as a career and what plans do you have in the future?
LA.: I have done a number of things in arts over the years, all kind of inner related and many on a larger scale. Currently I am back to where I started out many years ago in the theater - I am working as a large and special events stagehand. That also means I build props and sets for productions. Quiet a lot of work, but also quite fun. But lets see, I have worked as a graphic designer for larger scale works, taught at a university level, worked as a professional photographer, done some interior mural painting for major interior projects and buildings and have worked at a few galleries and museums. Like anyone in the arts, I move around a bit depending on what projects are currently being funded and staffed.
Damien: You have been the Editor and the Graphics person for the VC Magazine
now for over two years. You have put a lot of work into this
Publication, what do want to see the VC Magazine do and what would
you like to see it doing in the future?
LA.: Well to me VC Magazine is kind of the visual heart and soul of the Vampire Church membership – it is all about the people. Each issue is very unique and gives readers a peek into the humanity that is the VC membership. When I joined the VC Magazine staff, it was just as the graphic designer. I was there to give it a visual look all its own and kind of pull things together in that way. I provided the title block and the background. I still do that and more as Editor. What I would like to see VC Magazine become is even more of an arts journal. There is a lot of talent in the VC community – a lot of creative energy. Poetry – creative writing and more. By proving a creative outlet and strong articles on vampirism and energy related topics, I am sure VC Magazine will continue to be a community favorite for many years to come.
Damien: As we get older we all change in some ways. How has your art outlet
changed over the years and where do you see it going from here?
LA.: Change – ah yes. The greatest ways in which my work as changed is that it has softened a bit. I came out of the first generation of Punk / Goth visual artists. I understood that something did not need to be “pretty” in order to be a strong visual artistic statement. As a matter of fact, for a number of years when I was young, I deliberately tried not to make “pretty” art. As a woman, I felt that it compromised and stereotyped any visual statement that I was attempting and diluted its impact. Lol – I have grown WAY beyond that – thank goodness. I am comfortable with myself and my creative cognitive abilities. I make art for the visual message I am expressing and have no worries about style or approach – I know those are uniquely my own. While I have softened my approach quite a bit, you can still see my rough roots and edges in my choice of subject matter and in the ways in which I approach the medium. These days my work has more of a classic timeless feel.
Damien: As an established artist and one who has worked in the field for
many years, what creative advice or suggestions would you give to
others?
LA.: Two things – train your eyes and your brain. We live in a visual world, yet so very few are cognitive about the how and why we see things in certain ways. Do not avoid the science and math that go with that training, they are important to the understanding. Once you get beyond the basics of image construction, you can manipulate images in such a way as to lead the viewer.
The other piece of advice I would offer, is to be yourself. If you are truly an artist, it will show in your own creative approach. You will find a style that is uniquely your own. Do not be afraid of your work not looking like a clone of all others. A unique voice or style in the arts is something to be cherished.
Damien: Thank you again LA for your sincerity and sharing more about your
life here. I have enjoyed again interviewing you.
LA.: Thank you Damien, as always it has been a pleasure.
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