Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kip $mithers. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Kip, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

During the summer of 2016, I had nothing but time to think about my future and what I wanted to do with my life before starting my first year at university college. Art had been the most consistent thing in my life up until that point and I knew that I had to make a decision on whether or not I wanted to pursue it as a career. I never told anybody I wanted to be an artist, I just created. I took a lot of art classes during high school, at the time I was heavy into pencil drawing but with the classes I was able to experiment with a lot of different mediums. By the end of the summer the decision on whether or not to go full throttle with art was weighing on me heavily. Looking back now, I know it was the fear of actually trying something and being scared to fail that was holding me back. When it came time to buy my necessities for school, I added a canvas and paint brush to the list, and the rest is history.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I go by Kip $mithers. In the 2nd grade I moved to a new neighborhood in Takoma Park, Maryland. That’s my earliest memory of drawing. Being the new kid on the block was something I had to get used to but in the meantime I remember coming back home from school and drawing whatever cartoon show was on at the time. That passion for art has stayed with me throughout my entire life.

I work with Acrylic paint, usually on canvases but I’ve dabbled on other surfaces such as, shoes, purses, dressers and even skateboard decks. Last year I put my artwork on clothing. Although it’s not a main focus for me, I hope to be able to continue incorporating my artwork into fashion. My work is inspired by the things that go on around me. Whether it be what I see on my day to day, the music I listen to or even the conversations I have. When I’m not working on personal pieces I’m working on pieces for clients. I’ll be honest, when I first started doing them it was a bad experience. My head wasn’t in the right place. It was a weird feeling having people want my work…Since then tho, I’ve come to look at it as an honor to make pieces for those who find value in what I do as an artist.

I’ve been blessed to be able to check off a couple things on my career “to-do list” but what I’m most proud of is the fact that I haven’t lost touch with who I am. I think with anything in life, you finna be tested on who you are and what you will and won’t do for success. I’m learning more and more that, the only way to truly succeed is to be yourself and be proud of who you are and where you come from.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

At the end of 2019 I had the chance to be a part of an art showcase. This was one of my first opportunities to really put myself out there and have some exposure on my work. I was told that there would be hundreds of people in attendance, so just like any young adolescent would do, I started thinking about how much profit I would make from selling prints and stickers. During this time I was still attending university, so financially, things were tight. With the money from a few commissions/help from relatives, I was able to scrape just enough money together to order stickers and have prints made in preparation for the show. That was only half the battle. I still had to find a way to get to the print shop and secure the package. The shop was close to 10 minutes away (driving) from where I was staying at but I didn’t have a ride, and Uber prices were out of my budget. When I checked how long it would take to walk, my maps app said it would take 45 minutes, there and back. I didn’t really have a choice at that point, the showcase was in a few days and I desperately needed the prints. After moments of contemplation, I grabbed my keys, put my headphones on and headed towards my journey. It was a long walk, I remember thinking on the way there, “Am I really doing this?”, “Will this even be worth it?”. After I secured the package and was back at my place, I couldn’t stop thinking about what would come from the showcase. Around this time, my art was starting to pick up a buzz on social media but it wasn’t enough to translate in real life. I wanted the showcase to be a stamp of approval that I was meant to be there as an artist.

On the day of the showcase I arrived with nothing but nerves and butterflies. Setting up my table around the other artists was overwhelming but I did a great job of putting up a poker face. Once I finished getting my things settled/together it was time for the doors to open. My table was set next to an artist whose work was much different than mine. I watched as countless people walked past me and my work to get to the other artist, and the more people that walked by the more my confidence depleted. The showcase was supposed to last 2 hours but it felt like an eternity the way things were going. I ended the night selling no more than 3 prints and only a few stickers. If it wasn’t for my friends coming out to support that night, I probably would’ve considered the whole thing as a waste of time. As I was packing up my things to leave, I felt a feeling of numbness. “How could I have been so dumb?”, kept playing over and over in my head. I started to discredit everything I had done in preparation for the showcase and by this point I started contemplating whether or not I was suited for this life of art. I remember in the Uber on my way home I was fighting back tears talking to my driver. Up until that moment I had never felt like such a failure.

Days after the showcase it was exam season, so thankfully I had something to occupy my mind. At this point I was very close to hanging in the towel as far as still pursuing art. After telling a few people close to me how I felt, the majority of them told me I was crazy to consider something like that. I knew ultimately that, if I did call it quits, it would be a feeling of regret that would stay with me forever. With 2019 coming to a close, I told myself that going into 2020 I would be a better artist and that I’d redeem myself and rise from the ashes of self-doubt. Although 2020 went nothing like I imagined it to be, I was still able to make some of my best pieces, some of which are still popular to this day.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

When I first started taking art seriously, I never really had a goal in mind as far as what I wanted to accomplish. I figured it was something that I enjoyed and was decent at. It wasn’t until recently, that I seriously started to think about, why I do what I do and what do I want to leave behind when it’s all said and done.

Growing up I didn’t really have any active role models in my life. The only person that comes to mind is my older cousin, but the large age gap between us made it hard to relate to things. He was my introduction into the world of art. I remember going to his house over summer vacation and being amazed at all of his artwork. He didn’t end up pursuing a career in art, but for some reason I felt as though I had to carry the torch.

Over the course of time I’ve encountered a few people who’ve told me that my work inspires them. It was hard at first to accept the fact that people resonated with my work, only because I was so used to creating for myself. Since then, I’ve made it a mission to try and be a source of inspiration for those who want to pursue their own endeavors. Where I come from things like art and being creative aren’t really praised as much compared to sports and music. I hope that with what I do in my art career, I’ll be able to inspire the generation that comes after me, to dream big and not be limited by their environment.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://cson.bigcartel.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kipsmithers301/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Kipsmithers301

Image Credits
Yeabsira Mezgebe