Art & Life with Elaine Kessler

Today we’d like to introduce you to Elaine Kessler.

Elaine, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
I was raised in a bicultural, biracial and dual religion household. I attribute my passions and dedication to identities that straddle borders to this upbringing. In my second year of college, I read an article by Cherrie Moraga called “A Long Line of Vendidas” which changed my life. I resonate with her passion for liberation and her critique of structural oppression.

My journey as an artist has covered lots of ground and has both gained and lost traction in various times and spaces. I’ve written and produced plays about genocide, suicide, war, and illness. I’ve also sung in weddings and performed in cultural dances. I’ve marbleized paper, made mosaics on table tops, and soldered stained glass. Today, I create portraits of people and tell stories in images. I also construct interactive art exhibits that reveal perspectives, trigger conversation, and elevate ideas to action.

Can you give our readers some background on your art?
I elevate people’s stories. Whether in photographic images or in design thinking based interactive art exhibits, I encourage and lift up the telling of people’s personal and professional aspirations, triumphs, and/or challenges. The message is always about perspective. Perspective as defined as “an understanding of how aspects of a subject relate to each other and to the whole.” I am intrigued by the inter-relational aspects of life and endeavor to connect people to each other and to themselves in new and innovative ways. In the images and exhibits I create, I seek to bridge gaps in understanding and generate new ways of seeing in our world.

In the interactive art exhibits, also called trigger exhibits, I construct an experience that involves artists, design thinking, and social topics designed to illuminate and address injustice or imbalance in society. While many of our exhibits have been geared toward the public, organizations in the midst of transition, trauma or tension can also benefit from participation in a trigger exhibit.

How do you think about success, as an artist, and what do quality do you feel is most helpful?
Success is peacefully sleeping when you need to. The quality that I think is essential to success is maintaining a thought process that is possibility driven.

What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
My photography is on display at my Gilbert based studio and this fall I’ll be debuting work as part of a collaborative project with painter Joan Collins called “Swing.”

For most up to date info, see Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ElaineKesslerPhotography/
or Instagram @elainekessler.

Websites are: http://www.elainekesslerphotography.com and http://createdequalexhibits.com

Contact Info:

• Address: Gilbert, AZ
• Website: http://www.elainekesslerphotography.com
• Phone: 480-220-6426
• Email: elaine@elainekesslerphotography.com
• Instagram: @elainekessler
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ElaineKesslerPhotography/
• Other: http://createdequalexhibits.com

Image Credit:
Elaine Kessler Photography

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