Interview with Ashley R. Smith

Young Black Artists is an amazing platform that showcases the talents of creatives around the world. What impact did you aim to have when founding this platform?

When I first created Young Black Artists (YBA) it was born out of my own personal desire to get my art out into the world. It was at the very beginning of 2015, and I had just started painting. All I could think about was, “How am I going to get more exposure?”

I started by looking up art feature accounts on Instagram, and I quickly realized that the popular accounts had very little Black art. Plus, there weren’t many accounts for Black artists specifically.

I saw the gap at that time, so I figured why not create one myself? It was a knee-jerk reaction, and something that originally came from a personal desire turned into a platform that was for the Black artist community. I wanted Black artists to have a safe space for their work without it being overshadowed or lost in the sauce of the contemporary art world.

How can we further grow and empower the Black art community?

By creating more avenues for Black artists to showcase and sell their work. Whether that is through creating more events, more Black art-focused galleries, more residencies, or more classes and programs.

The Black art community has been growing so much and even the opportunities are growing exponentially every year, but there are still so many Black artists who are trying to find the time and resources to create, gain exposure, showcase, and connect with other Black artists. I believe we can continue to empower the community by taking the leap and creating these spaces for ourselves.

Ashley R. Smith, Untitled, 2023, Digital Illustration

How do you balance your time and energy while having multiple talents, ambitions, and commitments?

Aw man! The honest answer is that I don’t balance this very well. I am a full-time Product Designer in the tech world, an artist, and a founder, but one area of my life can become more demanding at any given time.

I’ve gone between being consistent and not consistent in every area over and over, but the one thing I’ve accepted is that certain things are for certain seasons. I’ve had some years where I was very consistent with painting, but then the next year I was more consistent with building YBA while I didn’t paint at all.

I basically accept that I cannot put 100% into every ambition at all times, so I lean on giving everything their season. Although I may not have created much balance between all three day-to-day, it has helped me maintain a balance over a longer period of time.

Do you have any advice or insights for artists who may want to apply their creativity to the tech world?

Being creative in the tech world is a lot different from being creative for yourself. For yourself, you are likely either thinking about what fulfills you or a message that you closely identify with. In the tech world, it’s about how to solve problems for a specific type of person, and it’s really easy to get lost in a vision that is not yours. I’ve often fallen victim to using up all of my creativity on something that wasn’t that important to me.

So if I can give any advice, I will say to always seek out opportunities and companies that align with what you care about. Do you want to spend all your creativity on a product that isn’t relevant for someone like you?

Just like any job, a tech job can take up at least 40 hours a week and it usually has very demanding deadlines. This makes it difficult for you to create when you get home at the end of the day because you’re just spent mentally. Burnout can be inevitable, but it’ll have less impact when it’s a mission you are really excited about.

What inspires you?

This is going to sound cliché, but living life is what inspires me the most! I have to travel, spend time with friends and family, go out to eat, clean my house, visit museums, scroll on social media, and even watch YouTube videos to feel inspired to create.

I’m able to see the smallest of things and find inspiration in that—maybe there’s a hotel that has a nice color scheme or someone’s outfit that has a cool pattern! I’ll see something and suddenly I want to pick up a paintbrush. Finding inspiration for me requires a lot of patience and going with the flow.

Ashley R. Smith, A New Direction, 2021, Acrylic on Canvas

In your journey as an artist, what has been the most unexpected experience, realization, or challenge?

This may also sound like a common thing, but the most unexpected moment in my journey was in 2020 during the beginning of the pandemic. Coincidentally, I was the most consistent with building YBA, working full-time, painting, and even creating YouTube content. I really felt like I was finally in a groove and I saw so many awesome results from that moment in my life.

However, that year completely killed my creative flow and drove me (along with many others) into a deep depression. It has been a rocky journey ever since and I fell off in almost every area of my life.

Following that consistent period in 2020, I was commissioned by Hulu and Target, and I believe that was because of how hard I was working at the time. I really wish I could have taken those opportunities and pushed my career further at the time, but my will to create was torn down by being in constant isolation. It was a very lonely time for me.

Although the past few years have been tough creatively, I’m just now getting back into somewhat of a consistent flow. I’ve been learning to fall back in love with the creative process and to have more fun with it. The idea of “pushing my art career forward” set some tough expectations that only resulted in a creative block. I haven’t even been posting much of my painting progress lately, just vibing and getting back into the light-hearted aspect of being an artist.

Is there anything you do today that you wish you had known to do years ago?

I wish I had known that it is okay to make art that is rough and uncertain. It’s okay not to have much of a message and to just take risks. Back in 2014, I thought I needed to become this extremely successful artist, so I focused on trends and I allowed perfectionism to drive my work ethic and creative process.

However, that was only blocking my creativity and natural evolution as an artist. After 10 years, I am just now allowing myself to mess up and take risks with my work. I’ve been buying canvases that are bigger than I’m comfortable with and going in without much of an idea.

I really wish I had done this sooner, but I recently saw a post on social media that said, “It’s never too late to become who you might have been,” and that was just so inspiring! That’s the time I’m on right now.

How do you define success as an artist?

Success as an artist is really based on one’s personal goals. Some artists find success in being able to create without the pressure of making money from it. Others find success in being able to make money from it.

It’s hard to say what specifically makes it successful across the board, but success for me is having optimal time and adequate resources to create. Once I can walk into my personal studio every morning to create without the extreme pressure of needing to figure out how to pay my bills, I’m at the peak of my success as an artist. I’ve had glimpses of that in my journey, so I feel I’ve already experienced small successes. But my goal is to get to that point in my life indefinitely.

What’s next for you and your artistry? What opportunities are you seeking and where do you see your creativity taking you?

I am excited for this one! I’ve been operating as my own “personal agent” and going after opportunities in my local community. Many things are still in the works, but so far I am preparing for a three month showcase in a popular coffee shop in Indianapolis.

Second, my work will be showcased in an exhibition during the Indiana Black Expo at the end of June.

Third, I am in the very early stages of planning a second solo show after the success of my first one last August.

Of course, I am still seeking out more opportunities while still creating connections, but these upcoming opportunities have put a fire under me to paint more and continue to take creative risks!