Daily Inspiration: Meet Dina Lockridge

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dina Lockridge.

Hi Dina, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
My love of art began when I was a little girl. I remember being quite young and going to art museums and was in awe of the colors and creations I saw. I would spend hours doing art on my own. It was insatiable for me. One of the most vivid memories I have is was when my grandmother let me use her camera to take pictures of the flowers in our garden. I remember it was the first time I felt power and empowerment with a form of art. And I was and still am mesmerized by photography, it’s truly magical to me. Soon after, when my grandmother saw how much I loved it she bought me my first camera and I would photograph everyone and everything. Even today at 45 years old my friends joke, ‘oh Dina will take pictures and just one more, as they like to tease me. I continued to paint for years as well. I was mostly self-taught with some amazing opportunities to study in New York City where I was living at the time. I took fine art and photography courses and with that knowledge, I developed my own craft and style. I started doing headshots in NYC and had some gallery showings with my large abstract colorful paintings. Cut to moving to Los Angeles in 2005 and it’s been full-time for me. I now have an aesthetic I’m known for – large-scale, colorful, dreamy-like — after years of learning the language of my art. I recently described to a friend it’s like breathing for me, I need to do it. It is my passion, joy, and healing.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Art is beautiful chaos. It is enlightening, maddening, uplifting, and uncomfortable at times. There are moments when it flows and the muse is blessing you with inspiration and there are times when you’ve tried to capture something and it just isn’t what you imagined in your minds eye. I know I’m not alone in this. From artists, I’ve studied and friends I know whether it’s photography, fine art, music or dance, self-expression is a journey. Since it stems from within our souls, moods, emotions, and life circumstances all influence the outcome in some way shape or form. It is us in every brush stroke, click of a shutter, chord, or plié. Art just like life can be complicated but what I find so beautiful about it is the dance of it and that like life you direct your energy in the direction you seek it to go. Once I acquiesced to the joy of the journey and eliminating this idea of perfection or comparison, I was set free in a new way through my art. It’s like surfing, you ride the waves that come, you choose which wave to take but there is a force larger than you at play. You’re an instrument of expression. One of my favorite quotes captures this — agitation creates the pearl.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am an artist, a photographer and painter. I’m most well-known for my large-scale feminine empowered colorful creations, underwater photography, and self-portraits. One of my passions is the marriage of my art and photography, my two first loves into hand-painted photography. I’ll shoot my muse and then large a print to about 36 x 48” in black and white and that I hand paint that image. My images are captures of what I admire most – strong, beautiful, empowered women. They are daughters, sisters, lovers, matriarchs, and mothers. They are courageous and vulnerable and wise and hopeful and I love capturing who they are at that time of our collaborative creative time together. Every photo shoot of mine has a story — a psychological or philosophical concept or component. My photography is moving poetry, telling a story about the human experience, the feminine experience.

Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
I’m a pretty open book. There aren’t many if any surprises—maybe that I love fly fishing and snowboarding, but other than that I live my life in a way that when I connect, I connect with deep heart and soul and I seek the reciprocity of that. I don’t have time for bullshit, dishonesty, disloyalty, or drama. I’m a 45 years old woman, married to the love of my life with two beautiful daughters and there’s just no space for it. I live by the motto ‘Do no harm but take no shit.’ Let’s just say I’ve never been called shy or meek regarding my voice or ability to stand up for myself, injustice, my family or friends. Speaking of friends, I have the best fucking tribe out there. They know who they are. And oh, I guess that I curse a lot — hahahaha.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://dinalockridge.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dinalockridge/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dinalockridge