We recently connected with Christine Lee Smith and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Christine Lee, thanks for joining us today. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?

Being an artist is a complicated thing. A mentor of mine, Beth Pickens, says that artists are the only people who work a job, so that they can do their (art)work. This has absolutely been my experience.

When I was first on my path as an artist I thought my day-job was my artwork. While there were moments where that felt true, over time I realized that my work was not scratching my internal drive to make artwork through my photography. I needed something to change so that I could make time and space to make my artwork.

Ever since I’ve tried to keep my day jobs in creative fields, but at times I wonder what it would be like to have a day job that wasn’t in a creative field.

What I’ve landed on, for now, is that it really doesn’t matter much what my day job is or how creative it is, as long as it’s creating money, time, and space for me to not only live and pay my bills, but also to make my artwork — which is my truest calling.

Christine Lee, 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 am an artist and a spiritual director, and I make photographic artwork on themes around embodiment and identity. I got into photography when I got my first camera as a child (a pink FF-10 Kalimar 110mm camera). As someone with Dyslexia I found photography was a great way to help me communicate ideas and questions and observations I had about the world. Photography has continued to be a way I process my experience of living, and a vehicle for asking complex questions about life.

I found spiritual direction was a helpful practice for me to sit with the questions in my life and discern pathways forward. Essentially, it’s a 1:1 session for about an hour where a person sits with a director, and through questions and conversation discovers where God is inviting them in the context of their life. I received my training as a spiritual director in 2013 and have had a private practice ever since. Currently I work primarily with other artists and creatives.

Whether in my artwork or in my work as a spiritual director, I’m tapping into the deep questions of life. I am particularly skilled at holding complexity and helping others do the same – it’s one of my favorite things to do.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

When I was getting ready to graduate from high school the question of the day was: Where are you going to college? Even though I struggled academically college was not a question in my family, it was a requirement. So I sought out some advice from my favorite teacher in high school, Mrs. Luketic, and she told me to choose a major I wouldn’t mind spending a lot of time in. I immediately thought of art! I loved art. Artists were in my family. I thought it was my perfect path forward to get a BFA, and I wanted to do so at the University of San Francisco. My parents told me flat out no, that they would not pay for my college if I went to San Francisco and studied art. I felt defeated and tried to find a different path that would not be soul crushing. I ended up studying Journalism, which looking back gave me the tools to ask and engage with beautifully complex questions.

After college I ended up becoming a wedding photographer when I couldn’t land a career-level job in journalism. I enjoyed so much about this season in my career. But after about 10-years I wound up burning out; and the questions about the stories I needed to tell was getting louder in my soul.

With a very small portfolio, I applied to a local low-residency MFA program at Azusa Pacific University. I was accepted in and had the time of my life. I felt like I was getting the education I wanted to get almost 20-years earlier. I graduated in 2020 and have had amazing opportunities to make my artwork, share it with others, and now I also get to teach photography students at the undergraduate level.

This journey has been proof to me that the things in our lives that are supposed to be may not come when we want or when they could have, but if we stay attended to what we’re being invited to explore even when it’s challenging they will come about eventually. And, it’s never too late to begin.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My goal in my artwork is to offer people mirrors of reflection, and complex questions without easy answers, to help them uncover the deep truth of who they are at their core. The reason I desire to do this through my artwork is because when we have experiences of deep knowing of our truest selves, we are often more willing to offer compassion and have empathy for people who’s lives or experiences are different from our own. We cannot get to empathy for others if we don’t first have it for ourselves.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.christineleesmith.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christineleesmithphoto/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christineleesmith/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyoXYoCpLQJ2IOXsIvr0e7A
• Other: https://spiritualdirection.christineleesmith.com