We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Cassandra Crawley a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Cassandra , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I knew I had wanted to be an artist ever since I was a child. I had entered into many coloring competitions as a child, took as many art classes as I could, and did as much art as I could at home.

I went to a career center for graphic design and print, had an opportunity to paint a family tree in my teachers house, dual enrolled in the community college for photoshop and typography. I had an internship at a screen printing business doing some design work and printing. I had sold a few designs in high school, but it wasn’t until I got to college that I knew I could actually pursue my creative/artistic path professionally.

I went to Ferris State University where I received my Associate’s in Graphic Communications. My time at Ferris was once that I strived to build my art career. It first started with me creating my own designs in the print lab and then printing on posters, apparel and stickers. I then started working for an office on campus that was in charge of a lot of the main activities on campus – like homecoming. I had created posters, advertisement, and even a logo for the university. I remember getting so much love from the people in the office – I had decided to ask if anyone would buy a shirt with my design on it. To my surprise everyone wanted one! I sold them for only $5, but remember being so excited that people actually wanted to buy my art.

I then started creating more design and had people tell me that I should start to vend at festivals. It was an idea in my head that I thought was amazing, but didn’t know how to get there. In that time, I started to paint. I first was painting with my friends on pieces of paper – but then would have people say, “I would buy that if it was on canvas.” So then, I started painting on flat canvas. Once I was more established with canvas, people would say to me, ” I would buy that, but it would be hard to hang up.” So then I moved to stretched canvas and fell in love. When covid hit in 2020, I got into my creative zone and produced some of my most proud pieces.

I remember the first festival I was invited to vend at. The nervousness of setting up a space that is exciting and inviting, but mostly – showing my art off at a more extreme level. I was nervous people weren’t going to like what I had created, and I was intimidated by all of the other talent that was around. That festival was life changing though. I sold some art, met amazing people and was able to network with others to get me to where I am now. Since the end of 2020, I’ve been selling my art at shows and festivals, and now making appearance in galleries.

This journey has been a tough one, filled with lots of ups and downs. It’s one I wouldn’t trade for the world, and hope to do it for the rest of my life.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Hi everyone,

I’m Cassandra, but I usually go by Cassie!

Art has been something that I have been doing for as long as I can remember. The first memory I have of art being in my life is watching my real mom draw Fred Flintstone when I was really young. I remember being so amazed at how real it had looked like him. I turned to my mom and said, “I want to be an artist like you one day.” Since then, I had entered into as many coloring and drawing contests as I could. As I got older, I pursued my passion of art in high school – taking as many art classes as I could, and going to a career center for graphic design and print. Through the career center – I had an internship at a screen printing business, and dual enrolled through the community college for design. After I had graduated high school, I attended Ferris State University – where I received my Associate’s in Graphic Communication, and where my art career really took off.

Once I had left Ferris State University in 2020 after covid, I moved to Grand Rapids and dove into the art community there. My first appearance selling my art, was at a small music festival that ended up being the best decision ever. There I had gained the confidence to sell my art and show the world what I can do. Through that festival – I had found a supportive community, learned how important networking is, and learned that I should always stay consistent with my own unique style.

I’ve accomplished several things that I am proud of: I have created billboards and package designs for a dispensary in Grand Rapids, I was in ArtPrize in 2021, and I can officially say that I’ve had my art up in galleries in Grand Rapids and can say that I’m starting to get recognized for my art. None of this has came easy, or has ever been handed to me. I’ve spent so many nights (and still d0) staying up until 4am-5am working on art – trying to make deadlines. I’ve lived the literal “starving artist” life, and have lost friends because I wouldn’t go out. The self discipline it takes to become a recognized artist is insane and full of sacrifices and lonely nights. It’s one that is so beyond worth it though.

I have found a style that I enjoy creating effortlessly, one that is always adapting and changing – but one that I have established and have become proud of. I would say I’ve got a vibrant psychedelic/abstract style. I specialize in acrylic paintings on stretched canvas, usually black light reactive. I love to paint on anything nature related: rocks, shells, mushrooms, and logs. I also create love to tie dye and bleach dye apparel, create resin jewelry, and paint on lighters. I also create digital art – some of it I get into prints or stickers, some printed on apparel. I have also done digital work for business’ such as: logos, business cards, flyers, stickers, billboards, and package design. Each piece is unique and created once, but with aspects that are recognizable to my style. I love to include black light reactive paint, glow paint, glitter paint and more to give my pieces depth. Each piece is signed and dated to mark that piece into history.

Art has filled my life for as long as I can remember. It’s been something that I have use to get my emotions out, get through tough times, and kept me motivated with big dreams. It’s something that I strive off of and enjoy doing. My goal with my art is to be able to share it with the world and to end the stigma behind psychedelic/abstract art. I want to share my love, passion and perspective of art with the world. Seeing the reaction of people lighting up when they find a painting of mine that they want to take home – is a feeling that I’ll never get use to, in the best way possible.

My favorite quote every stated was from Demetri Martin, he said “Earth without art is just ‘eh”. That quote has stuck with me forever, and has allowed me to appreciate how much art is really around us. I am beyond proud to say that I am one of those individuals making the world less “eh” with my art.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

My life has been a journey full of consistent push and pull and me having to fight for what I want – which for the longest time, was just to survive. For as long as I can remember, I was just trying to stay alive.

I knew at a very young age, that we were poor. We had jumped house to house, living in homeless shelters, and sometimes on the street. We barely ever had food – and when we did, it wasn’t much. I remember my 7th birthday, having to give it up because we needed money for food. I remember taking care of my three younger siblings, while my mom was out. I was bottle feeding my infant sister when I was just five years old.

I was taken away from my mother when I was 7 years old, and my dad wasn’t really around before I was taken away. I went through seven foster homes before I was adopted. In that time, I had went through several abusive foster homes, and lost my parents. I was 9 years old when I lost my dad to a tragic cat accident and 10 years old when I lost my mom to a drug overdose. This was probably the biggest challenge I had ever gone through (still to this day). Those two days, will forever be engraved in my memory, and I will always have that piece of me that feels like it was taken away. When I did finally get adopted, I thought I had my forever home. A family that was going to love me and cherish me. Boy was I wrong. The struggles I went through with this family alone – I could write a book. I moved out when I was 17 years old from the abusive family, and have been on my own since.

The mental, physical, emotional, and sexual abuse that I had gone through as a child is unbelievable. I never gave up though. Although there have been times when I wanted to, I knew that I was meant for so much more. I pushed through all of the trauma, abuse, and neglect and now I feel like I can do and accomplish anything. I don’t wish any of this on any one – but I can say I am thankful because I am the strong and resilient person I am today.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

I like this question a lot because there are so many things I struggle with as a creative that I don’t think non-creatives even think about.

The biggest struggle is getting the recognition and respect for my art that I deserve. I remember when I first started selling art – I was designing, printing, buying shirts, and selling them for $5. I’ve had people tell me that I sell my art for too much, and people tell me that I won’t make it because of the style of art that I make. The amount of times that I have been told that I am not good enough to be an artist, or that I won’t make it as an artist, or artist never get recognized until they are dead. Hearing all of this is a constant battle of “am I doing the right thing? Am I actually good enough? To get people to recognize the value of my art, I had to recognize it myself and stay strong on that value. It’s not just painting a picture – it’s coming up with a concept, taking it from your mind and putting it on a substrate. It’s buying the substrate and the materials needed to create it (stretched canvas, brushes and acrylic paint add up so quickly). It’s the hours upon hours of perfecting brush strokes and making sure everything looks smooth. Then, you have to post and share the piece, and then ship it out. To get that acknowledgement and respect as an artist isn’t easy, and it’s a challenge that artist and creatives face every day.

The second biggest struggle I have found as a creative is marketing. Marketing is a creative in itself, and finding the energy to create a piece, but then post it everywhere in a way that is exciting and draws people in – is exhausting and becomes a lot. Marketing and social media are huge for creatives, that one share could be the one that goes viral. A lot of people think that supporting is just buying, but liking a post and sharing it goes so far. If one person shares it, and then one of their friends share it, and so on – that reaches a group of people that I may not originally have. Social media can be a great tool, but with everyone else doing the same thing – you can’t get noticed without that support and consistency.

Although there are consistent battles creatives face all of the time – it becomes so worth it when I see people’s reaction when they find a piece that speaks to them.

Contact Info:

• Website: linktr.ee/justcassie
• Instagram: @Celestialauracreations
• Facebook: @celestialauracreations