Arts organization Create:Fixate (C:F) presents Branching Out on Saturday, November 7, 2015. C:F will also be branching out into a new location, holding this installment of the highly anticipated ongoing event series at Werkartz, a new multidisciplinary arts complex in LA’s Chinatown. For over a decade, C:F has established its unique signature blend of presenting vibrant visual art and music in an immersive cultural experience. These one-night-only events feature top emerging talent from around the globe, with an emphasis on the local talent of Los Angeles. Find Your Grind Foundation is a major supporter of the event. The excitement begins at 4:00pm with a three-hour gallery preview. The main event starts at 7:00pm and closes at 1:30am.
Saturday, November 7, 2015
LOS ANGELES, CA – October 12, 2015 – Arts organization Create:Fixate (C:F) presents Branching Out on Saturday, November 7, 2015. C:F will also be branching out into a new location, holding this installment of the highly anticipated ongoing event series at Werkartz, a new multidisciplinary arts complex in LA’s Chinatown. For over a decade, C:F has established its unique signature blend of presenting vibrant visual art and music in an immersive cultural experience. These one-night-only events feature top emerging talent from around the globe, with an emphasis on the local talent of Los Angeles. Find Your Grind Foundation is a major supporter of the event. The excitement begins at 4:00pm with a three-hour gallery preview. The main event starts at 7:00pm and closes at 1:30am. Werkartz is located at 198 Wilhardt St., Los Angeles, CA 90012. For more information, including an image gallery of participating artists’ works, please visit www.createfixate.com.
Admission is $5.00 suggested donation until 7:00pm, $20.00 before 9:00pm, and $25.00 for the remainder of the night. A limited number of pre-sale tickets is available online for $15. Parents are encouraged to bring the whole family during the preview hours and take advantage of the Kids Kreativity Zone. Admission is free for kids 12-years-old and younger during the preview hours. Overflowing with art supplies, the Zone provides a supervised space where youth can dive into their own expression while parents explore the exhibit. While all ages are welcome during the preview, attendees must be at least 21-years-old to enter after 7:00pm. Proceeds from the exhibit benefit C:F’s nonprofit programs: Create:Fixate Exhibits, which supports emerging artists, and Young Creatives, which encourages at-risk youth to express themselves through creativity.
Branching Out –
The theme of this Create:Fixate edition, Branching Out, suggests innovation, change, and exploration. Trees, which clean the air as well as provide medicine, food, and homes, are also suggested in the theme. The tree of life, a common motif in religion, mythology, and philosophy, alludes to the interconnection of all life on our planet while representing strength and knowledge. C:F has invited artists from the Los Angeles creative community to share their vision of what trees mean to them as well as embrace the concept of Branching Out.
Optical Lounge highlights include:
Bisco Smith – Smith’s artwork is a blend of graffiti deconstruction, graphic design, and fine art that captures the untamed energy and uncharted environments of street style while expressing a sense of duality, spontaneity, and movement.
Elizabeth Yochim – Yochim’s The Angelbird public performance is a ritual of a mythical winged creature that inspires people – through movement, spoken word, and song – to remember their dreams through the metaphor of flight and freedom.
Zachary Aronson – Aronson’s live pyro portraiture explores relationships between man and nature through the use of natural materials and primal tactics.
The Treeman of Venice Beach – The Treeman creates awareness about how we treat each other, ourselves, and our natural environment, to break negative cycles and take action in order to make the world a better place.
The Audio Lab, otherwise known as the music portion of the event, completes Create:Fixate’s vision. Musical highlights for the evening include:
Sebu Simonian from Capital Cities – Simonian is a recording artist and songwriter whose indie-pop band Capital Cities has toured five continents and earned an MTV Video Music Award as well as a Grammy nomination for the multi-platinum single “Safe and Sound.”
Travis Holcombe from KCRW – Holcombe is a DJ and radio personality who brings the funk to the airwaves every weeknight on 89.9FM KCRW from 10:00pm to midnight.
Ralicke – Ralicke has toured and/or recorded with Beck, Dengue Fever, The Shins, Feist, Neon Trees, Natalie Merchant, Ziggy Marley, Flight of the Conchords, Ozomatli, Cat Power, Blues Traveler, Ben Harper, Macy Gray, Breakestra, and more.
Create:Fixate –
Create:Fixate, serving the emerging art and music community of Los Angeles for over a decade, is best know for its signature blend of art and music, along with thousands of art lovers and partygoers in massive, and, at times, intimate warehouse locations and alternative spaces on an ongoing basis. Founder Michelle Berc curates, produces, and hosts these ambitious group art shows that present creative beings from around the globe, with an emphasis on the local talent of Los Angeles. The production team also includes Music Coordinator Andrea Giardina Graham, a core team of volunteers, and dedicated advisory board members. Awe-inspiring painters, photographers, sculptors, and multi-media artists exhibit alongside an equally impressive array of DJs and musicians. Each event’s aural artists are poised to create a soundtrack for the night that transforms the proceedings from a simple art show into one of the city’s most anticipated art events.
Event Partners –
Branching Out event partners are Find Your Grind Foundation, TreePeople, A Place Called Home, and Werkartz.
Find Your Grind Foundation – The Fall 2015 season of Young Creatives was underwritten by Find Your Grind Foundation, an organization that is dedicated to empowering youth with the tools they need to become future leaders. http://fygfoundation.com
TreePeople – TreePeople is a nonprofit organization that’s growing a green and climate-resilient Los Angeles. They work with communities to transform LA’s landscapes into new green and viable infrastructure solutions for a sustainable city. In support of this show’s theme, students enrolled in the current session of C:F’s Young Creatives Program were taken on a field trip to the TreePeople Park to learn more about trees and create art in nature during their visit. https://www.treepeople.org
A Place Called Home – As part of Create:Fixate’s community outreach efforts, the organization partners with afterschool programs to empower youth through art with its Young Creatives program. C:F has now been working with A Place Called Home (APCH) for two years. The organization serves at-risk youth through after school activities. Branching Out will feature student artwork from this program. APCH is a safe haven in South Los Angeles where underserved youth are empowered to take ownership of the quality and direction of their lives through programs in education, arts, and well being; they are inspired to make a meaningful difference in their community and the world. http://www.apch.org
Werkartz – Werkartz is reimagining the way creative space should function. The multidisciplinary arts complex caters to contemporary artists, photographers, and filmmakers by offering vertically integrated amenities and services in breathtaking settings. The boutique locations are characteristically unique, but share in the common goal of bringing an art-conscious aesthetic to production-world needs. http://www.werkartz.com
Featured Visual Artists –
Amelia Swaggert & Jon Mackey
Amelia Swaggert and Jon Mackey began the Tree Of Light project after a trip to the mountains. They created their first piece for their home and received interest from friends, encouraging them to continue creating these unique pieces. Tree Of Light combines art, nature, love, and light into one cohesive piece, bringing an element of nature indoors.
Benedigital
Ben Encarnacion, aka Benedigital, is a visionary mixed media artist from Los Angeles. He transcended the adversities of South Central Los Angeles to become a successful artist, graphic designer, and interactive art director. He channels his vision through a mixture of drawing, painting, and digital graphics. The evolutionary digital vision quest that Benedigital has created is a fusion of ancient revelations, spirituality, and electronic dance music. Embracing these energies, Benedigital is becoming a vital component in the global visionary arts movement and a mainstay in the live painting community in Los Angeles.
Bisco Smith
Bisco Smith’s artwork is a blend of graffiti deconstruction, graphic design, and fine art that captures the untamed energy and uncharted environments of street style while expressing a sense of duality, spontaneity, and movement. He is an artist steadily in search of personal truth and raw expression. Smith’s aim is to blend his experiences in life with the energy in the moment and create work that moves, questions, and inspires.
Colleen Sandland
Colleen Sandland’s interest in plants and flowers has always been a source of inspiration. Exposure to details in nature has given her the visual ornaments that reveal a secret language in her paintings. Sandland uses balanced color trios to draw the viewer in. She applies intricate layers of acrylic paint and resin with sophisticated details to give the viewer a lasting experience. Her artworks highlight a cognitive shift and the perspective of an open mind. Sandland categorizes her work as Neo Impressionistic Florals.
Eoin Colgan
Eoin Colgan was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland. He has worked in the entertainment industry for the past 15 years as a conceptual artist and art director. Colgan’s work is a celebration of the wonder of being and he creates to express as well as kindle the inner knowledge that resides within us all: the glimmering fires of our personal truth. Colgan currently resides in Los Angeles as a fine art painter and art director.
Erin Ferro
Erin Ferro is a designer from Los Angeles working in fabric art, jewelry design, graphic design, and painting. Since 2014, wall decor and macramé have become the main focus of her creative process. The Driftwood String Dyes come to life after Ferro blends colors and hand dyes the cotton. After the string dries out in the sun, the magic of marrying the driftwood and cotton (some with semi-precious stones or crystals) makes each piece unequivocally unique.
Eva Ryan
Eva Ryan is a self-taught mixed media artist primarily working with pen and ink. Ryan is a resident artist at the HUD Gallery, in Ventura, California, and a member of the Buenaventura Art Association. Greatly influenced by her affinity for birds, her excess emotional baggage, and past existential crisis, she poignantly observes and openly questions moral, societal norms, and big picture ideas that chokehold modern day society.
K Shoa
A self-taught artist highly influenced by late 19th century/early 20th century masters, K Shoa’s highly graphic depictions of eucalyptus tree trunks, her signature line, are inspired by regular hikes in Los Angeles parks. She often highlights her acrylic paintings with ink, oil pastels, and other media. She has created a 10-step process to depict the depth of imagery in her artwork.
Michelle Armitage
Michelle Armitage is a Los Angeles native, multi-media artist. She describes her work as fine art: an eclectic collection of original and specified art forms. Armitage utilizes all mediums. Every idea explores new possibilities through both visceral and technical processes. Much of her inspiration stems from her heart, the quest to evoke vitality, to instill a sense of movement, celebrate spirit, beauty and form. Her recent work, The “illustrated steel” series, is a collection of steel sculptures in which the composition is based on an intuitive approach to capture the dynamic essence, as in the spontaneity of rendering a gesture drawing. Much of this metal would be discarded, although, Armitage ‘up-cycles’ materials and gives them a unique ‘second-life’ completely out-of-context from their original purpose. These one-of-a-kind structures are developed as each line connects and creates a rhythm. One line dictates the next and the next, none of which is pre-designed.
Naira Hart
Naira Hart is an artist born in Armenia, who is now based in Venice, CA. She specializes in fine, detailed ink and watercolor illustrations of women, digital art, and large-scale murals. Hart studied digital illustration, animation, and figure drawing while in college. Since receiving her degree in 2011, she has been freelancing in the animation industry throughout Los Angeles for series television and shorts. Hart is also a muralist and participant of Beautify Earth, a non-profit organization focused on the beautification of walls, fences, and other urban elements. She is the founder of Beautify Pacific, which focuses on bringing murals and artwork to Venice.
Rita Lux
Rita Lichtwardt, aka Rita Lux, is an art director/illustrator from Los Angeles. Her paintings on archival recycled wood panels are mostly inspired by nature and fantasy landscapes. Currently, Lux is a senior designer/illustrator for Mattel Inc. Her background in animation, video games, and film have led her creatively into abstract space. Lux’s intention, with each panel, is to create eye candy imagery that provides a calming visual experience.
Rohitash Rao
Rohitash Rao was born in Hyderabad, India, and raised in Cucamonga, California. He has been drawing since he could hold a pencil and now makes a living as a children’s book illustrator, animation director, and painter. He primarily paints on trash that he finds in the streets, which, since he lives in Venice, works out pretty well for him. His work has been shown at the TAG Gallery, Giant Robot, and the Santa Monica Museum of Art.
Samira Idroos
Samira Idroos was born in Los Angeles and, in 1983, studied painting and drawing at the California College of Arts in San Francisco and Oakland. Idroos explores the line between abstract and reality through a process of covering and revealing the subject.
Tony Hong
Tony Hong began making art while earning a degree in psychology from UCLA. There, he honed his self-taught skills, found his voice, and began to make his work public. With his first showing, in 2008, and his first solo show two years later, he has been active in sharing his art in projects for permanent public installations, commercial projects, and funding for non-profit arts groups.
Ty Bennett
Ty Bennett was born in Long Beach in 1968. He is a self-taught artist working primarily in painting and drawing. Influenced at a young age to become a surrealist, he found inspiration in the magic hidden within the subconscious and the transformation of the mundane into magic. He has done solo shows in San Diego, Los Angeles, and Arizona. His aim, as an artist, is to bring compassion, love, and creativity into the world. He lives and works in Superior, Colorado.
Zachary Aronson
Aronson’s live pyro portraiture explores relationships between man and nature through the use of natural materials and primal tactics. Aronson, a Los Angeles-based artist, focuses on pyrography and stone carving. He uses torches to effectively draw with fire in creating what he refers to as pyrographs. Implementing this drawing technique creates a connection between nature and the human hand by utilizing all of the earthly properties involved: the natural texture and color of wood, fire, and ash.
Performance Artists –
Elizabeth Yochim as The Angelbird
Elizabeth Yochim’s The Angelbird public performance is a ritual of a mythical winged creature that inspires people – through movement, spoken word, and song – to remember their dreams through the metaphor of flight and freedom. The Angelbird has shown up on streets from Los Angeles to Berlin, including many cities throughout Italy, Croatia, and Poland, distributing messages from a birdcage inviting people to remember their wings and to fly. Most recently, The Angelbird finished a two-month residency in Berlin, where she made appearances within the Syrian refugee housing community, instigating a conversation regarding the refugees’ new dreams. Yochim, a dancing art historian and art world professional, is the head of Yochim Arts as well as the founder of Participlay. Participlay is a Los Angeles-based creativity training and development company that leverages whimsical movement experiences to stimulate innovation, creation, and collaboration – fundamentally using dance and movement as a catalyst for social development and change. www.participlay.com / www.theangelbird.com
The Treeman of Venice Beach
The Treeman of Venice Beach creates awareness about how we treat each other, ourselves, and our natural environment, to break negative cycles and take action in order to make the world a better place. He was sent on a mission by Mother Nature to create awareness among our species. He reminds us that we are not part of nature, we are nature. The Treeman visits with various organizations, non-profits, government agencies, schools, and individuals who are working toward positive social change. Learn more about the Treeman and his mission via his documentary film website: www.adocumentree.com
Branching Out Themed Artists –
In addition to our featured talent, the following artists are also creating tree-themed artwork which will be on display at the show: Andrea Bogdan, Baha Danesh, Bernyce Talley, Betsy Enzensberger, Christopher Alvarez, Craig Cartwright, Garret Suhrie, Klara Soukalova, Lori Dorn, Luis Sanchez, Mark Dugally, Michael Hayden, Michelle Berc, Natasha June, Ngene Mwaura, Outi Harma, Owen Maigret, Patrick Haemmerlein, Roger Webb, Rosana Aziernicki, Stephan Canthal, and Stephanie Han.
Installation Artists –
Richard Busby
Richard Busby, trained in math and the sciences, is currently working as a software developer in Los Angeles. His pieces attempt to use simple dynamics to instill wonder and stir curiosity. An element of randomness makes them transient and different in each iteration.
Mechanical FlipBook
Venice Beach artists Wendy Marvel and Mark Arnon Rosen have been collaborating together since 2008 and making flipbooks since 2010. Their greatest satisfaction lies in watching wonder and joy overtake people when they crank a handle or watch a motorized narrative flutter to life.
Rachel Kaster
Rachel Lauren Kaster is an LA-based multimedia artist, performer, and educator. She earned her B.F.A. at Massachusetts College of Art and holds an M.F.A. from Rochester Institute of Technology. She was born and raised in New York City and is currently a resident artist of the 1019West arts building in Inglewood, CA.
Sean Sobczak
LA-based sculptor Sean Sobczak began his journey in the art world after attending Burning Man for the first time in 2001. Working primarily with steel wire, his exploration of the alien worlds of plant, insect, and ocean life has been the primary focus of his work to date. Known mostly for his illuminated sculptures, he has also done many pieces incorporating repurposed materials, including electronic circuit boards, audio speakers, and keys. His sculptures have been shown at many West Coast festivals, corporate and benefit events, traditional art venues, and in the pages of the Los Angeles Times.
Gunner Johnson
Gunner Johnson is an artist of great instincts when it comes to finding beauty in the dark, ugly, and strange. This natural talent has led him to his passion of creating metal sculptures, jewelry, and leatherwork that achieves outstanding depth and character. Johnson’s portfolio consists of pieces conjured in his imagination with inspirations ranging from mystical creatures to a beloved old friend, a dog named Charlee. Many of his intricate works are produced from reused materials that he has collected, directed into their destined forms, and brought to life. Johnson’s work reflects a spiritual intensity that often makes people stop and wonder.
Live Painters –
Cecilia Paints
Cecilia Paints is a passionate, self taught artist who has been exploring drawing and painting since childhood. She loves to capture the life, authenticity, and raw emotions that are hidden inside people. Her paintings often explore the theme of freedom. This Los Angeles native artist finds inspiration everywhere – from urban landscapes, to nature, travel, people, and music.
Maritza Torres
Born in Utah in 1983, as the eldest daughter in a large Mexican-American family, Martiza Torres has been given a very unique view of life, seeing the different ways one can be included and excluded by their community. These social structures fascinate her and strongly influence her art. Torres’ work is meant to be inclusive, focusing on female and mother cultures. Color and bold lines create a psychotropic world of feminine heroes. Her intentions are to go deeper than sexuality to represent the female sex in a more complete way. Using the motifs and patterns of other cultures, including the Aztecs, Torres wants to reveal to the viewer a new perspective, where the distant past is as amazing as what lies in our future.
Fashion / Jewelry Designers –
Delevo
After graduating from Columbia College, Deborah Vogt became a founding member of The Conjugate Projekt, Transamoeba Studios, and The Chicago Art Department, participating in the creation of many collectives, multitudes of events, and performance art installations throughout Chicago. She began creating her line of jewelry, Delevo Designs, in the year 2000, while traveling from Bali to Teacppowntown. She now divides her time between curating and singing in her band, Early Bird Circus. Her jewelry is handcrafted, elegant, and simple, using fine woods, sterling silver and gold, precious and semi-precious stones, and recycled materials, to create universal and distinctive designs.
Dressed by Dutchess
Dressed by Dutchess was founded by Cerraeh Laykin. She began her professional career as a fashion designer after graduating from FIDM almost 20 years ago. She quickly moved beyond fashion and also developed herself as a graphic designer, a professional photographer, and artist. She creates sexy, comfortable hooded and cowl dresses, as well as tops that look flattering on everyone.
MAES Jewelry & Accessories
MAES Jewelry & Accessories present new ways to experience jewelry design. Wrought from carved cuttlebone, sculpted wax, and repurposed found objects, MAES’ handcrafted lines of gold and silver rings, necklaces, earrings, bangles, belt buckles, and even cuff links are innovative and beautifully textured.
Moon Temple Dreaming by Jason Levitt
Jason Levitt, a recent transplant to LA’s Westside, is the owner and CDO (Chief Dreaming Officer) of Moon Temple Dreaming. For more than 20 years, he has shared a passion for teaching dreaming as a skill set with friends, family, and clients alike. The benefits, blooming from a renewed relationship with dreaming, run the gamut from vastly improved dream recall, nightmare resolution, unleashed intuition, and physical world results. Through coaching (personal and business), workshops, and a herbal blend of his own design sold as Dream Tea and Dream Eye Pillows, he seeks to help people dream it real. Where night dreams meet life dreams: Moon Temple Dreaming.
Sacred Projections
Sacred Projection Lanterns are a direct side effect of David Cedeño’s residency at Idea Fab Labs. Cedeño originally intended to use the laser cutter to make stencils, but experimentation with wood and then incorporating Arduino technology, the lanterns were manifested. Laser cutting has become a new obsession for Cedeño. His heart and passion goes into each new project, each new lantern.
Audio Lab –
Carmen Rizzo
LA-based, two-time GRAMMY nominated producer, artist, electronic musician/composer, and AR Manager at Native Instruments, Carmen Rizzo has had an eclectic career – from writing, engineering, and programming on Seal’s classic Seal 2 album to producing and writing for Paul Oakenfold’s Bunkka album, remixing BT and Tiesto, collaborating with Tuvan throat singers Huun Huur Tu, to co-founding and being a member the ground-breaking world music act Niyaz. Rizzo is also a frequent fixture on album credits working with artists such as Coldplay, Alanis Morissette, Dido, AR Rahman, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Pete Townshend. He also contributed original music to a David Lynch Foundation album alongside Moby and Peter Gabriel. www.carmenrizzo.com
Travis Holcombe (KCRW)
Travis Holcombe is a DJ and radio personality who can be found bringing the funk to the airwaves every weeknight on 89.9FM KCRW from 10:00pm to midnight. Inspired by Atlanta’s burgeoning regional rap scene and the underground hip-hop sound championed by student-run college radio stations in Atlanta, Holcombe invested in his first DJ set-up. While attending school, in Athens, GA, he got his first taste of radio at student-run WUOG. For the past several years, Holcombe has been a steady presence in LA’s Eastside music scene and can often be seen DJing and attending shows in the area. www.kcrw.com/travisholcombe
Sebu of Capital Cities
Sebu Simonian is a recording artist and songwriter whose indie-pop band Capital Cities has toured five continents and earned an MTV Video Music Award as well as a Grammy nomination for the multi-platinum single “Safe and Sound.” Simonian turned down an opera scholarship to pursue rock ’n’ roll while writing commercial jingles to pay the bills. Rolling Stone praised his formidable beard. Born to Armenian parents, he calls Southern California home. www.sebu.us / www.capitalcitiesmusic.com
Ralicke
Made in New York City, Ralicke lost his first set of teeth in the Midwest, then grew hair in California. After that, the music began and he has toured and/or recorded with Beck, Dengue Fever, The Shins, Feist, Neon Trees, Natalie Merchant, Ziggy Marley, Flight Of The Conchords, Ozomatli, Cat Power, Blues Traveler, Ben Harper, Macy Gray, Breakestra, and more. www.ralicke.com
Hoseh (Dublab, Headspace)
DJ Hoseh (born Jose C. Salguero) is a Los Angeles native who has been a part of the city’s music fabric for 20 years. He hosts Headspace on KXLU 88.9 FM and is a founding member of Dublab.com where he hosts Version Sounds. His mix CD, Poppy Sol, was the first release as part of the Dublab Future Roots series, and it garnered much praise and recognition. He has opened for such diverse acts as Lee Perry and The Orb. www.dublab.com/labrat/labrat-hoseh
Torkom
Torkom is a sound designer and electronic music producer from Los Angeles. He has been facilitating group sound healing experiences since the summer of 2012 and has provided deep meditation and rejuvenation for thousands of people using his unique and powerful modality. Birthed from his studies in music, vibration, energy, the practice of meditation, and martial arts, Torkom has mastered and perfected a system that is known to put people into very deep states of consciousness with little to no effort. His instrumentation is tuned to 432Hz, which has been known to have profound effects of one’s mind and biology. Through the natural movement of these sounds, deep rest is achieved and the body’s own intelligence facilitates an elevated level of healing. www.torkomji.com
DJ Dave Dolphin (Distinct Vibrations, Hakkasan)
DJ Dave is recognized as one of LA and Orange County’s top Club DJs. He has been essential in the underground dance music scene since 1989. He has released 17 promotional mix CDs with great praise. www.davedolphin.com
Links –
Create:Fixate – http://createfixate.com
Branching Out Image Gallery – http://createfixate.com/gallery-2/branching-out-november-2015-featured-artists
Branching Out Tickets – http://www.eventbee.com/event?eid=176031924
Branching Out Facebook Event Page – https://www.facebook.com/events/1107686652577431
Create:Fixate on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/create.fixate
Create:Fixate on Twitter – https://twitter.com/CreateFixate
For more information, photos, or to schedule an interview, please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Tejada at 213-840-1201 or lynn@greengalactic.com.
Create:Fixate Founder Michelle Berc introduces the new class assignment to the students at A Place Called Home.Along with the program coordinator, Winston Seacrest (not shown), together they explain the “Branching Out” theme and inspire the kids with ideas for their art work.
Photo credit: Nicholas Walker.
