Surreal and transcendental themes are crucial to my work and my life. I do meditate and tend to my spiritual skillset by expanding my consciousness. I have found my own ways of meditation since high school, to this day keep copious dream journals that inspire me creatively, and consider myself someone as in tune with the forces of the universe as I am with technological workflow. The trajectory of spirituality + technology, often unexplored, can occupy my brain for hours. My senior project at Bard College was a futuristic feature film about a heroine trying to reconcile her spiritual side with her cyber existence. I wish to keep exploring scifi themes throughout my career.
There is no better time for me than now to pursue my dreams of running a business and creating art. It's who I am, who I have always been. I'm literally obsessed with my work; sometimes it feels like play, sometimes it feels like hell, mostly it feels like life.
Intertwining spiritual and psychological techniques in my creative work has long been an interest of mine, producing existential, #fabulous, and highly personal results. Honing this practice in tandem with mastering filmmaking skills like writing, producing, and editing under experienced educators will let my work evolve from "eclectic artist with potential" to "professional visionary".
I graduated from Bard College in 2014, took a year off working in film/video production, and wish to continue my training now: I’m fresh enough out of college that I’ve retained interest in my original filmmaking, and I’m not far enough career~wise to leave my life in LA if an opportunity to relocate arises.
At Bard, I studied Music and Film, unable to separate one from the other. As a graduate I worked freelance in both fields (among others) before realizing that professionally, I want and need to continue in filmmaking/imaging. Music is the most sacred thing in the world to me, but a creative business career in it not only seems foolish to me, it seems like it would derail my passion.
On my own, it's very difficult to pursue a creative project from start to finish at a professional level. I have the determination and skillset to do so, but not the resources and professional guidance (much less one that is low-stress and meditational). That is why I applied to grad school: the David Lynch MA in Film at Maharishi University, a production program with a heavy focus on meditation and consciousness-based learning (I'll write more about this in a future post). I was accepted for the 2016 year, visited the school, and absolutely loved it and everyone involved! Unfortunately I had to defer my studies until 2017 for personal medical reasons. Until then, I will be in LA working on creative projects of my own, as well as those of my peers and clients.
Currently, I am an LA-based artist and CEO of interdisciplinary creative conglomerate Valentine Enterprises LLC. I started this company after a year of freelance work in many mediums including cinematography, web development, and sound design. Since I'm active in many different creative forms, a fitting solution for my clients and brand was to blanket all my work under a single entity. Whether I decide down the line that I don't want to make films anymore, I want to build clothes, that's fine -- you will always be able to stylistically recognize a Valentine Enterprises piece of work. (PS. however, I doubt I will want to stop making films ever, the magic of the motion picture is the closest thing we have to literal magic and wizardry).
The primary goal of Valentine Enterprises is to offer artists, particularly young women, a platform for collaborative and vibrant original content in a non-judgmental and non-manipulative way. In an industry where young artists are an easy target to be taken advantage of, my company will help young artists accomplish their professional goals without compromising integrity and creativity.
The secondary goal of Valentine Enterprises is to create accessible psychedelic art and regularly release content.
The tertiary goal of Valentine Enterprises is to raise funds to expand our current studio space into a gallery mansion that will host resident artists, exhibit their work, and have fabulous parties.
Those are my professional goals. Valentine Enterprises is in its starting stages and will keep expanding as I continue to take on unique projects.
My personal goal is to settle my focus into a main creative medium. I love being involved in many fields, but a lack of center can sometimes be discouraging. Meditation helps me channel my energy into a single project instead of being "all over the place". Now that I have learned the Transcendental Meditation (TM) technique, I feel good about having a method and daily routine for relaxation.
Creative projects are often cerebral in nature, and the more enriched the mind, the more enlightening the outcome of the project. I believe in a distraction-free, highly focused environment for someone like me who makes cerebral and cosmic, but also deeply personal, art. For these type of projects to be impacting, it must read as the artist fully understands themselves and trusts in their work.
I'm especially interested in the mind's capacity to realize a vision with clarity and precision, as well as the use of meditation techniques to unlock visionary tools within the consciousness and alleviate any quotidian anxieties.
Perception is all we have!
That's probably why I'm so interested in the psychedelic narrative, the history of mind-manifesting, mind-bending "trippy content" throughout recorded time, and the artwork that follows.
My favorite film/TV works are vibrant, esoteric, dramatic, funny, character-driven, story-driven, rich in symbolism, masterfully art directed, hard to categorize, and intriguing for the viewer to immerse themselves in.
(disclaimer: the images below are not my work, they are reblogged from tumblr)
What I aim to master in my own work is this kaleidoscopic list of qualities.
However, a kaleidoscopic breadth does not sit well with 'specialization', and I would like to pursue in particular storytelling, and the creation of a narrative. Symbols, colors, characters, and words all combine together to create a little piece of life behind the screen. How that all happens, I want to delve into wholeheartedly and realize a full story from start to finish.
From 2014 I have been developing a project called Divine Intervention (because I need one!) as a sequel / companion piece to my senior thesis. Set to debut in 2017, it will be very similar in its predecessor's multidisciplinary style and organized in groups of three (my power number). Three albums featuring three different concepts, three narratives corresponding to each album also corresponding to The Past, The Present, and The Future. Most of it will take place in the future universe from my senior thesis, and it will follow a single female protagonist. When I know more about it, I will share its progression.
The visionary elements are all here; what puts the most fire under my ass is the entrepreneurial aspect. How am I going to sell the damn thing? How do I sell anything? Business is something I'm learning more about every day and am very cautious not to fæck up. Business operates under a different set of physics than art does. It's like a flower that's bloomed very recently in my financial grove, only instead of cells and greens it's made of dark, dank rock material, and instead of chlorophyll and photosynthesis it transforms with dents, tension, and pressure. Hey, you know what they say........PRESSURE MAKES DIAMONDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 💎
