Meet Corey Carrington | Creative Director

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

Hi Corey, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
I think I pursued an artistic career because I felt like I always wanted to have a certain kind of freedom over my life. I’ve always been an outside-of-the-box thinker and I think that the freedom being an artist fit the lifestyle that I knew I wanted to live more than being a regular behind the desk 9 to 5 person. I’ve always loved to being creative by taking things that are inside of my head and presenting them for other people to see. For me being an artist is about sharing my ideas and thoughts in order to make the world a better place and to inspire others to follow their dreams.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I always knew where I wanted to be. It just took me to be in the right spaces and places to know where I wanted to go next. Once I understood the kind of environments that I would thrive in I made it a point to immerse myself in those environments. I was first recognized by Carnegie Mellon University for my poetry in 2004. I would go on to do two journalism workshops, 2 summers at the Frank Bolden Urban Journalism Workshop at Point Park University and one summer at Penn State University Main Campus. This developed my writing voice and let me know that I had a talent for story telling. In college I did 2 internships in the same summer. One internship was with 106.7 WAMO and the other was with 1410 KQV. I learned about the ins and outs of radio, marketing, promotion, advertising, news writing, and on-air personality training. During my years at Slippery Rock University I was a photographer for the University Programming Board taking pictures of Drake, Kevin Hart, and Fabolous amongst others. I also wrote a few articles for the University Newspaper and also was a part of a Poetry Club. During my breaks from school I would perform at open mic nights as Grits Capone, my spoken word alter ego. After years of performing I starting to take visual art that I created to my performances to sell. This made me more in demand as a visual artist. In 2016 I was selected as the inaugural Emerging Black Arts Leader Apprentice at Contemporary Craft where I spent a year learning multiple facets of Arts Administration. This led to me becoming a Curator and in March 2020 I curated Tectonic Noise with Patrick Schmidt in New York City. I am most proud of this accomplishment so far.

That my art is multi-sensory and multidisciplinary. I believe that I have gotten training in so many different Arenas of creativity that all of them inform the other process. I think this is what sets me apart from other artists is that I am not just great at one thing I am great at a multitude of things. I choose to Brand myself as a Multidimensional Creative Entrepreneur instead of pigeonholing myself into one field of creativity.

The challenges I faced were more so internal than anything else. It was me believing in myself and believing the best about myself that gave me the confidence to continue to follow my dreams. I overcame these challenges by just believing and knowing that I am going in the right direction. I feel like life can be very heavy and weigh you down and our goal is to release the things that make us feel heavy. My art is about that. Releasing things to make room for new experiences, new journeys.

I want people to know that I put a lot of effort and energy into my brand. By investing in myself, I am investing in the product that I create and for my customers that means I am directly investing in you.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If my best friend was visiting the area for the weekend I would take them to a couple of different places. We would get breakfast from Grandma B’s on Friday, Breakfast at the Grand Concourse on Sunday and Breakfast at Pamela’s on Saturday. On Friday we would hang out Downtown and go to Market Street Grocery for Creative Drink Pop Up. After that we would go to a Hookah Lounge in the Strip and just cool out there. We would visit the Carnegie Museum of Art on Saturday and check out the DJ series they have. We would get wings from William Penn Tavern in Shadyside and go get some drinks at Shady Grove. After that we would go to Butler Street in Lawrenceville and go to different bars and just chill.
We would do Sunday Funday on Carson Street by going to Local, Marios, and Twelve for some drinks and appetizers.

Some of the best things to check out would be the Andy Warhol Museum, the Mt. Washington Overlook, the Strip District, PNC Park, Phipps Conservatory, CMU, the University of Pittsburgh, The Homewood Mural, the East Liberty Busway Mural, The August Wilson African American Cultural Center, amongst other things.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I would like to dedicate my shout-out to my 10th grade English teacher, Mrs. Cleaver who took my poem, Outside The Box, and submitted it to Carnegie Mellon University for the Dr. Martin Luther King Day Writing Contest. I was rewarded with honorable mention and asked to come recite my poem at the university. She also recommended that I go to the Penn State Multicultural Journalism Workshop at Penn State Main Campus. From that moment I knew that I was a writer and that I wanted to replicate these feelings of being recognized by prestigious institutions. The confidence that I gained from being acknowledged for my intelligence by some of the most respected minds in academia lets me know that the doors I walk through and tables I sit at have been divinely placed just for me.

Website: www.DeeperThanGritsStudios.com

Instagram: DeeperThanGrits/DeeperThanGritsStudios

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/coreycarrington

Twitter: DTG_Studios

Facebook: DTGStudios

Image Credits
George Lange – white shirt jean jacket