Meet Raeven Smith | All Around Artist & Visionary

We had the good fortune of connecting with Raeven Smith and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Raeven, what’s the end goal, career-wise?
I honestly have no true end goal. I believe there is always work to be done and things that can be approved upon. I will say there is a legacy I want to leave behind. I want to have my art, business, and intellectual property lead to something bigger than just that. I want to create a community/ culture that supports itself. Everyone helps everyone, no questions asked and no expectation of reciprocity. Of course within reason. I think that mindset would not only be great for creative communities but for our country and even our world. There are so many things I want to do professionally like creating more businesses, training more in other avenues of artistry, helping those in need, but if I had to choose, I would say creating a culture and community that is self sustaining and supportive would be the most important and most impactful. It would also probably take the longest because it would take the combination of all the other things I have done to make that one thing to be successful.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Growing up I didn’t see many people who look like me in historical forms of art. The goal of my art is to show people of color in different aspects of life expressing themselves in many different forms. My preferred form is showing thicker women in a more romantic and sensual way to express there is true beauty to behold. I also enjoy recreating moments of intimacy and love in a more fantastical and soft way to convey the message that black love can too be dreamy and out of this world. I think what sets me apart from others is my variety in mediums. I am not afraid to switch it up and try a medium of art that I may not be completely comfortable with but feel like best serves the message better. I consistently find new forms of artistry and try my hand at them to best express myself and the feeling/story I want to convey to my audience. It took alot to get to that point of experimentation. I think going to through different art schools and programs with different instructors their own expertise in specific areas really pushed me to exploring in every aspect of art. Along the way I have learned that every piece is its own experience but can also help serve another in its creation and as a finished product as well as to use continue to use your full scope and spand of knowledge and creativity in every piece to m make it the best you’ve ever created. When people look at my work as a whole, I want people to know that I am more than just a painter, or a photographer, or a graphic designer, or an editor, or an illustrator, or a designer, etc but I am all of those things and more.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Hey friend this what we doing this week.

Clayton County Park to take a nice little walk and maybe even take a little splash at the Spivey Splash that’s inside the park then to Fit Nutrition 4 U in Morrow after a nice workout to re-up on energy with the different juices and the protein shakes there. We would then get lunch at Nouveau bar and grill. Its a nice black owned lounge with amazing food, music, and hookah if you’re into that. We’re going to then head downtown to the Coca-cola factory and see all the artifacts and taste all the flavors of soda from different countries. We’ll then end the night riding the Ferris wheel and watching the stars.

We are going to have a nice breakfast/brunch at Rosie’s Cafe. She has the best flavored waffles. Then we are going to take a visit to Piedmont Park. At least twice a month there is some sort of event or festival going on, and if not, it is always a nice place to meet creatives and new people in general. Then we can head over to little 5 points and have lunch at the Vortex. Sometimes they have performance there so that’s nice. We can walk over to the pavilion and do a bit of thrifting at Junk Man’s Daughter and finish the day off walking around the area admiring the amazing graffiti.

Today we can spend the entire day at Atlantic Station. There are plenty of places to eat and go shipping all day. There is also a movie theatre there to relax our feet at some point and my favorite part is the candy store , It’Sugar.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
There are so many people, places, organizations, and things that supported me along the way and continue to support me. I would say my family always support me. My mother shows up to literally everything that I do and refuses to get anything for free. She always wants to pay FULL PRICE and will make sure I don’t lower my prices for her. Antonio, my current partner, is also the exact same way. He is always the first one to purchase and offer his help to help me succeed in whatever I set my mind to. I think he has almost every hat I’ve made in every color. My dad and brother are also always pushing me mentally to try new things. What really made me take my artistic journey seriously was my high school, Martha Ellen Stilwell School of the Arts. Before art was just something I did and there it was becoming less of that and more of who I was. There are so many others to thank and just know if you have ever come into contact with me in any way, shape, or form even if it was just for a second, your presence was enough to give inspiration (good or bad) and push me to keep going. Major thank you to Dream Girls for being on of the first visually representations to me that I can be something more and for inspiring little me to get into fashion and designing.

Website: https://www.raeven.art

Instagram: https://instagram.com/artby_rae?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raeven-smith-11351b178