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Meet Kristina Lloyd of Gallery Studio in Studio City

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Kristina Lloyd.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Kristina. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
As a third-generation Los Angeles native, it seemed logical that I would find myself in the entertainment business, and my early career aspirations included modeling, acting, and dance. Educated at UCLA’s School of Theatre, Film and Television and graduating summa cum laude in 1999, I have performed on many stages across Los Angeles as an actor and dancer, directed over 30 plays, and have a Best Director award for my internationally-distributed feature film, DRIVING BY BRAILLE. But after working in these fields for many years without complete satisfaction, even becoming a teacher of dance, I turned to more personal creative pursuits, deciding to put my lifelong skills as a photographer to use.

An unusually prolific photographer since the age of 5, taught by my father, and having shot hundreds of thousands of images over my lifetime with my first professional job at age 17, I decided to shift my focus in late 2011 to shooting dance, specifically pole dance, when I started photographing my students in the dance studio. The use of low-light photography coupled with the movement of dance created a very unique mixture of motion and stillness infused with sensuality and emotion, which became very in-demand with my clients. This turned eventually into a business, and ultimately became the genesis for my Gallery Studio last year when I decided to hold an exhibition of the sexy photographic art created over a five-year period.

Initially conceived as an art gallery and photo studio, the Gallery Studio has hosted local artist’s exhibitions as well as editorial photoshoots for fashion magazines and plenty of boudoir and dance. My personal style leans toward the sexy, and most of my photoshoots reflect this aesthetic. Since opening the Gallery Studio in April 2017, the focus of the creative space has increased to being more than either an art gallery or a photo studio, and I have expanded to facilitating Women’s Creativity Workshops focusing on Eroticism and Desire, teaching women to express themselves thru artistic mediums such as writing, drawing, painting, movement, and photography. It is also my art studio where I create fine art erotic paintings in watercolor and acrylic.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
One of my biggest motivators has been working with women, and the drive to make art for and about women in all my mediums has led me on an unexpected path. With my other main motivator of love and sexuality, I’ve tried to take my widely different skills and focus them into making art that pushes people into a new way of thinking, of inspiring them to open their minds to greater sensuality and more authentic sexuality. Sometimes this makes people uncomfortable, but it won’t deter me. I realize that I have to be open about it to effect change. I believe that I have to be a pioneer for other women, and continually push my students and the women in my life to expand their ideas of themselves.

I feel more than ever that there needs to be a forum for women to talk about the things that aren’t openly spoken of, to bond with each other, and to create art that speaks to them, and I am actively trying to foster this space for women with my workshops. Eventually I’d like to hold Women’s Creativity Workshops in retreat settings in exotic locales.

Please tell us about Gallery Studio.
The Gallery Studio in the heart of Tujunga Village is a creative space that houses temporary art installations by local artists and permanent art installations by myself as resident artist. It is also my photography studio/art space where I shoot clients, produce my own art, have art parties to create art for special events like birthday parties and girl’s nights, as well as facilitate Women’s Creativity Workshops focusing on Eroticism and Desire utilizing writing, drawing, painting, movement and photography as mediums to explore personal desires and jumpstart creativity for women with no artistic experience. For the public, there are monthly life drawing events where local artists can attend to draw some of the best Los Angeles art models for a very low price. There isn’t any space in Los Angeles that offers all of this.

As an artist, I specialize in creating sensual art, both in my photographs and in my fine art, focusing mainly on women and the beauty of women’s bodies and souls. It is my intention to be unafraid to address the true sensuality and sexuality of the female nature in the way I portray women in art. I love to take risks in my art and welcome clients who are bold and unafraid to let me see them in this way. As a photographer, I strive to make images that are gorgeous coming out of the camera, rather than rely on post-production effects to make the images beautiful. In this way, each woman can see the truth of her own beauty immediately.

I’m most proud of the way I work with my students and clients, creating a very safe space in any environment to allow for women to be their most authentic selves, working collaboratively to create beautiful and amazing art that has personal meaning to each woman. I have many loyal and returning clients because of this, and it’s the number one comment I receive about my business.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I actually wouldn’t want to start over. Every turn of this business has evolved organically and with each new level of expression there has been a learning curve that I’m so grateful for, as it has pushed me and helped me further develop my own artistic expression.

Pricing:

  • Photo Sessions personalized for each individual, free consultation.
  • Women’s Creativity Workshop: Eroticism and Desire $395 for 5 weeks
  • Art Parties starting at $350

Contact Info:


Image Credit:
Nicholas Leland
Erin Adams
Kristina Lloyd

Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.

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