Critty Smitty
written BY Kelly Costello / Images by liv Schultheis and COrinne smith
SHACK15 is honored to be partnering with Critty Smitty, aka Corinne Smith, for our first piece of commissioned art within the space, a mural in the SHACK15 lounge.
Critty Smitty is a Black, queer, multimedia artist based out of Oakland, California. Themes of her work revolve around the cultivation and expression of joy, often presented in the context of sadness, grief, and loss. Her passion lies in creating and supporting communities through her work, and partnering with mission-driven and community-based organizations. She has been a contributor to the Paint The Void initiative, delivering multiple murals on the streets of San Francisco and Oakland throughout the past year and quarantine period.
We’re incredibly excited to have Corinne joining us to design a mural that inspires and evokes joy in the exploration of what's possible when unique and different elements come together. Look out for her painting in the SHACK15 lounge, and stay tuned for an interactive event coming in the near future.
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We spoke to Corinne about her inspiration, journey as an artist and what it’s been like to create art during the pandemic.
Tell us about your journey as an artist. Did you always know you would pursue art?
Yes! I was a really shy, quiet kid and would draw all the time. Art was pretty much my safe space, so it’s always been something I’ve been interested in and did all throughout school. I started off doing traditional photography, then fell in love with drawing and focused on more graphic-style illustration, as well as larger screen prints and printmaking.
I only recently got back into painting after taking a decade off from making art. I studied fine art in college and had a pretty poor experience, so it derailed me for a while. I first started doing painting as a way to reintroduce art into my life, because it had been such a safe space for me, and going to school made it feel very unsafe. I just had to confront that beast, and painting has really helped me overcome a lot of the pain that I went through then.
So, I started off doing smaller scale painting and illustration. And then, when George Floyd’s murder happened, unfortunately, due to the protests and displaced businesses there were huge calls for creating art in the city. So, I realized I could do this for a larger cause and help beautify the city, and in turn, feel more connected to the community. So many of us have felt really isolated this past year, and it’s been hard to feel like you’re in a solitary container going through grief when there’s so much grief going on outside that container simultaneously.
So that’s how I got into doing murals. It’s something that is still very new to me, but I immediately fell in love with it. Working on murals has restored my faith in people, honestly. Being in the art world can be very cutthroat. But in the process of making art, especially with murals, I’ve felt a lot of love and support. I'm usually outside, getting to meet so many people, and it’s really special to feel immersed within the community.
What inspires your work?
Most of my work is pretty abstract, besides the portraiture that I do. A lot of it is inspired by a mood or feeling in the moment, and the best way for me to convey things is through art, more so than speaking to it. So the spark might be a color that I feel in the moment, a memory that I have of a certain place, or something that was occurring in the background when something happened. Inspiration is all around, and it just comes out the way it’s going to come out, often in ways that are surprising and unexpected.
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What inspired this piece specifically?
I was really inspired the first time I came to SHACK15, having no idea what to expect of the space. What was especially inspiring to me was the mixture of clean, sharp lines and strong forms mixed with beautiful organic shapes of the couches and muted but rich colors. So I thought a lot about how I could translate all of that to complement the space. In developing the piece, we had a conversation about what the feeling was, what other folx are inspired by and how I can evoke that for them.
One of the biggest things I wanted to do was incorporate a sense of community and joy and feeling uplifted. That was really what I used for inspiration. So it’s these seemingly strange shapes that all come together and harmonize with one another in such a clean space with a bright pop, and I loved how those concepts could blend together.
I don’t have a name for the piece yet, that usually comes at the end. When I have a finished piece, all the colors and shapes come together and the piece then gives me it’s name.
You recently created a mural in the Tenderloin for 826 Valencia and the Paint the Void project. What do you think is the role of public art in creating community?
Art is essential. It’s something that brings me so much joy, and I feel like seeing someone creating something, seeing muralists creating work, or being at the studio, is such an invaluable experience—just to see the joy that comes from artists creating. And as an artist, being able to process an emotion from a certain work and see how other folx connect to it is so special.
Murals are really a way to represent a community and bring a community together. Especially being outside, it’s amazing to see the amount of people that come and tell you about their life, or tell you about what inspired them from a piece that you created that was totally not what you expected. I have tons of people come up to me and show me their own art, and we’ll sit and go through their sketchbook and talk about what they’ve created. It’s just about creating that dialogue.
Especially given the past year, I forgot how special it is to actually be around people and have conversations and not feel so isolated. Similarly, it’s so important for folx to see something beautiful in their community after such a hard year and have it be something that people love and want to see in their home.
What are the people, places or things from which you draw on creatively?
I haven’t been back to a museum yet, which is probably what I am most excited to do post-Covid. I used to refill my tank by going to New York, or a new city at least a few times a year, and spend a day by myself just going to all the museums. I love art, and just being surrounded by it and getting lost in a museum all day makes me feel so good.
I also have an ongoing series called Black21, which is an ongoing celebration of Black folx honored through illustrated portraiture. So I look at Black folx that have been inspirational to me personally and what that inspiration means, and get to celebrate who they are and how they have impacted not only myself but surely tons of people.
Thanks so much Corinne for sharing your story with us! She will be in the space this week creating her piece (name forthcoming!), so be sure to come by and take a look. You can follow Corinne on Instagram and check out her website to see her latest work.
And stay tuned for an upcoming interactive event with Corinne and her new piece at SHACK15!