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

Raeven, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. 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?

Yea I think I was sitting at home on my day off from my slightly above minimum wage job. I hadn’t touched a paint brush in weeks. I hadn’t stepped in a dance class in days. I hadn’t looked at my sewing machine in almost a month. My heart was heavy with grief of the loss of family members and my body struggling with a few health problems of my own. I was just laying in bed, counting the little white bubbles on my ceiling and going through the list of people who were having some show that weekend, booked a dance gig, had an audition, getting new headshots, working on commissions, receiving awards, just basically living out their dreams. Some of the same dreams I have. I thought I had been progressing in the many crafts I was pursuing. “I was finally getting recognition” I thought. Why doesn’t it feel like I it? When would it all mean something? When would I be able to move out? When could I stop struggling? Why wasn’t I getting things other people were getting? I was working just as hard if not harder. I had been at it a lot longer than they have. I’m just as talented. Everyone says so. Everyone sees all these big places I can go and great things I can do. At every audition and job interview and pitch I hear the same thing. “You are so talented.” and “Keep going.” and let’s not forget “You’re going to change the world.” Yet here I remain with rejection letters, broke, unsold art, unbooked, living at home, little sleep, and heartache. I started to think that maybe I needed to start taking the hints the universe was giving me. If people really wanted my talents, skills, knowledge, etc. then they would use it. I mean people would ask me if I knew someone who does the same things I do. There’s direct access to everything I offer and I get looked over like the fruit on the front row at the grocery store. Maybe I’m not as talented as I thought I was. Maybe everyone was just trying to make me feel good. Maybe I was just delusional and wasting my time chasing something that wasn’t meant for me. But with all of those negative thoughts swarming through my head I thought back to my first painting and how proud I was of that, my first dance recital and how excited I was to be front and center, my scholarship gifted to me personally from one of my professors that only one person receives a year. For so long I was always trying to make everyone proud and live up to the things they said. I sat up and started to remember how uncontrollably free I feel while dancing, how wonderfully quiet my mind is when painting, and how extremely happy I am behind the sewing machine and though I might never get to the places I would like to be and receive the awards and recognitions I might deserve, at least my mind, heart, and body will be at peace and feel loved because I decided to do it. I realized that sometimes its ok to do things for me instead of for other people or the world. Just do it for the simple fact that it makes me feel good.

Raeven, 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 all around artist. I specialize and train in multiple disciplines such as fashion design, graphic design/branding, painting, film/acting, dance, tattoo, photography, etc. I currently have a fashion brand called Ray Pinkney that focuses on mental health and how it affects different people in different communities. Recently I have been trying to pull that concept into my work a bit more to full cohesive story. I think what sets me apart is the fact that I have various mediums I can work in and I enjoy creating a meaningful story that can be received in multiple ways through multiple outlets. I am always looking to find meaning in the small things and connect them to create an overall bigger picture that can hopefully create some conversation and understanding.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

Art is subjective. Whether it is considered good art or bad art is based on personal preference, opinions, feelings, and points of view. With that being said there is no right or wrong answer to a creative idea. Whether you like a song, a color, or even someone random person’s makeup look is all based on personal preference. Of course there are artists of all kinds that cater to a specific opinion, point of view, or preference. That’s the reason we have categories and genres of things so people with set preferences, opinions, and points of view can feel heard and catered to. With that being said, this isn’t an easy thing to do. With math 2+2 always equals 4. With science H2O is always two hydrogens and one oxygen. With social studies, the order of our presidents will always stay the same. The list goes on. Art takes more than just finding the right answer because there never is one. You create what you feel, experience, or think and its up to the audience to perceive it how they will. You set your intentions and hope that it is perceived the way you intend but also be aware enough to realize it might not and you are expected to deal with the consequences of that. You must also be aware of the other things that “non-creatives” do think you escaped like math, science, history, etc because without psychology, you wouldn’t know what color does to the eye and brain and what emotions that can stir with different cultures and genders. Without history, you wouldn’t know how certain symbols and typefaces helped oppress certain groups and religions. Without math, proportions and grids wouldn’t make sense to create the “clean” aesthetic. Without chemistry, would paint even exist. And don’t forget about the healing nature of music and various sound frequencies. The list goes on and on. I think it is important for the world to know that art is not as easy as a lot of people make it seem. There is a lot of hard work taking place not just creatively but in every other aspect as well.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I think almost everyone in life has gone through some sort of identity crisis. For one reason or another, people tend to look at others as an opportunity, what they can get out of people, or what they can do for them. As an artist, a lot of the world tends to want our products and services for free or low cost. Its also hard to make friends because people just look at you and see someone to do all the creative things they can’t or a talent to exploit and feed on. At a very low moment that I mentioned before, I realized I am more than a painter or a photographer or a designer. I am also a person with feelings that has ‘normal’ goals like having food on the table, a roof over my head, a family. Just because the world treats you like a machine, doesn’t mean you have to operate as one. Human beings are allowed to be just that no matter the career, abundance or lack of money, religion, etc.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.raeven.art
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/raevbxbe/
• Other: www.raypinkney.com