Artist Survey #19: Chelsea Wilde

Better late than never I always say! This artist survey features the responses of my dear friend and collaborator, Chelsea Wilde. I met her and her husband, Joel, when he requested a pin for the Alley Art show. From then on the three of us became fast friends, collaborators and conspirators. Take a look at the images and words below then take a look at Chelsea’s site and studio in downtown. There has been a lot of collaboration going on between us, or at least us talking about collaboration, so expect to see a lot more of her work in future posts.

{Medusa : Photograph}

{Picasso : Hand Beaded Cuff}

{Honey Bee : Photograph}

{Finch : Pen, Sharpie, Colored Pencil}


Name: Chelsea Wilde

Location: Twain Harte, CA

Medium(s): Film, digital, & Polaroid photographs. Pen & Ink. Needle & Thread. Piano keys & vocal chords.

What do you consider yourself (artist/designer/other)? An old soul. A make-believer. A fort builder. A Photographer. A musician.

Where can we see your work (place/publications/url)? Various blogs & a few online shops,  www.etsy.com/shop/liftedindustries , on Courtney Love’s neck,  www.newresolutionphoto.com, and my studio in downtown Sonora, CA.

When did you start gaining interest in artistic forms of expression? I most likely made cave paintings in the womb.

Who/What inspired your interest? Being an only child in a mixed-up family of artists and musicians.

Where do you first remember being exposed to art? Home, for sure.

What is your day job? Photographer.

Why do you create? To keep my brain from exploding. The ideas have to go somewhere.

Is there any recurring theme in your work? Whimsy, conflict, and wicked fashion sense.

What do you want from your work? Satisfaction & growth.

What do you want viewers to take from your work? Inspiration & unanswered questions.

How often do you work on personal projects? I make all my work personal.  If I can’t, I don’t do it.

How often do you work on commissions or commercial work? Not as often as I’d like.

Does your art support you financially? It’s getting there.

Do you feel preoccupied with your art, do you think about it often during the day and night and do you anticipate your next session? I don’t think of much else.

What do you do in your spare time besides your art? Cook, kayak, discover delicious pairings of beer & tobacco, build forts, explore forests, and hang out with a bunch of animals.

Which musicians are you currently interested in? Peter Wolf Crier, BRMC, Mumford & Sons,  David Bazan, Maps & Atlases, Meursault, Born Ruffians, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Pelican, etc. etc. etc.

Are there any events you are looking forward to attending? Local art shows & musical fantastic-ness!

How long do you generally take on a piece? Planning & creating for a conceptual shoot typically takes me a few weeks, at most.  If I create the wardrobe, it can take a week to several months.

Have you jeopardized or risked the loss of a significant relationship, job, educational or career opportunity because of your art? Nothing important, that’s for sure.

Do you work on multiple projects at once? Guilty. I prioritize, though. Secondary projects take up my free/break time from primary ones.

Do you have trouble parting with your finished work? Polaroids and OOAK pieces, yes. Everything else makes my heart dance a bit.

UTL at KVIE

Yesterday was the KVIE Preview Party for their televised art auction, so my posse and I jumped in the car and headed up to Sacramento to represent Sonora’s budding “youth” art scene. Two other Sonora artists, Travis Logan and Chelsea Wilde, were featured in the auction as well as the framing work of All That Matters, a Twain Harte based framing shop which KVIE coincedentally had frame my piece. For those of you who haven’t seen the piece yet it is titled M’boi Tui v Tatzelwurm and depicts the Paraguyan parrott-snake god M’boi Tui engauged in mortal combat with the Swiss cat-snake cryptid known as a tatzelwurm.

I was very excited to be a part of this event as it meant that I was able to get my piece in front of SKINNER, the jurror of my category. The good news is that he thought it was good enough to make money for a non-profit organization. The bad news is that he didn’t show at the preview party so I will have to meet him later in life. I am able to gloat a little as during the event my piece received a starting bid before it will be aired on KVIE this Sunday. My piece is #44A and will be aired at 9:30PM. Chelsea’s is #46E and will be aired between 10:30 and 11PM. Travis’ is #47A and will be aired at 11PM. Remember the money goes to KVIE. You can always buy stuff from us if you want to.

Check out photos of all of the art here, because I can’t steal the images off the KVIE site and post them for you.

Sightings

This morning was the time for Yeti screwing. We went out into the forest and mounted a yeti… to a tree. We hope that it will be around for years to come so that all who come upon it can enjoy and interact with. We may have mounted it a little too high, but we expect the region to get a  lot of snow fall. I will definitely be checking up on it as soon as weather hits to make sure that it will survive. We came across a couple of possible issues, but I think it will hold until we get some better hardware.

Good hunting.