We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Casey De Bie. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Casey below.

Hi Casey, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

My friend and I have recently started an artist collective. Born out of our post-art school experiences, Jess Peters and I struggled with a lack of immediate community and consistent guidance sparking creativity. Therefore we started Car Crash Collective, creating a purpose-driven artist collective that embraces the transformative power of calamitous events, symbolized by the metaphorical “car crash.” Fueled by the fear of losing our creative community and having to forge our paths alone, we wanted to create something that brought us and our work together.

Casey, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I explore identity through experimentation and focus on materials. I make work that discusses and deconstructs gender, sexuality, and personal identity, along with the expression and perception of these signifiers within society. My work is process-based, learning about mediums and how to manipulate them with new techniques. I focus my attention on the meaning and opposition of the materials. How can brick be something so opposite? How can concrete show a soft, fragile side?

Jess Peters is a multidisciplinary artist who lives and works in Denver. The main subject of her work is the relationship between light, color, space, and material while drawing inspiration from music, stage design, performance, and emotional turmoil. By challenging human perception and controlling light and space with material, she can create new environments and experiences that change how we see our natural surroundings. Her art-making process consists of sketching and 3-D rendering, experimenting with material and technology, creating, then problem-solving until she has reached the vision she desires.

Car Crash Collective is rooted in dedication, ambition, regular collaboration, and the relentless pursuit of creative potential; our core values foster a vibrant and nurturing environment where artists find encouragement, inspiration, and practical support on their artistic journeys. Through a collaborative effort, resource-sharing, and constructive critique, we strive to cultivate an atmosphere of growth and artistic expression. Beyond the artistic realm, CCC serves as a community that extends support and encouragement to its members through all the car crashes of life.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

With Jess and I both being multidisciplinary, 3d focused, artists the most rewarding aspect of being an artist is being able to have an idea or emotion or memory and work through it until you have something physically be there and come to fruition. Through the making of a piece, especially with your hands, it’s a sort of cathartic process of emotion literally building something from and internal feeling.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I think a main goal for both of us is trying to expand our scope and reach within the art world, while simultaneously creating community for others all over the world with similar goals.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.caseydebie.art/ and www.jesspetersfineart.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/casey.debie.art and instagram.com/jesspetersfineart and instagram.com/carcrash.collective