Today we’d like to introduce you to Carin Reich.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Carin. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I am originally from New York and have over 30 years experience as a graphic designer and creative director working with brands and businesses, in-house, at an agency, as well as freelance and consulting. I started my career working in corporate, fashion and children’s media. I have worked with large companies, start-ups and non-profits and am also an entrepreneur.
In 2005, I had four children’s books, which I illustrated and co-wrote, published under the brand “Space Craze.” I moved to Colorado in 2006 and had to redefine since there were not much fashion or children’s media here. I co-founded a tech start-up called Local Bunny, which ended up not being creative enough for me. I got back to graphic design and branding and worked with renewable energy, non-profit and food companies, which are more indicative of Colorado businesses. I also worked for two years as a creative director at the shoe company Crocs.
I’ve always led a creative life but thought, somehow, “one day,” I would be an artist. About four years ago, I shared a studio with my friend, who is a painter and was super inspired and created a series of giclee prints. I had never considered my “computer work” as “art.” It was very strange and I was grounded in my own dogma of what I believed real art was. I started to look on Etsy and Minted and other online art sites and realized that there was a lot of digital art being sold and started to sell my prints. This ignited my passion to own being an artist and explore other mediums. I am now a full-time artist.
Has it been a smooth road?
As a kid, I loved art but did not like my high school art teacher so I would make posters for pep rallies but had no formal classes. In tenth grade, I did sell my first piece of art to my social studies teacher and that could have been a sign but I went to college at Boston University for liberal arts and was a tennis player.
After freshman year, I quit tennis and transferred to art school. This was a moment of divine intervention since I had no formal experience. My art program was two years of traditional painting, sculpture and drawing, which was very challenging and then two years of graphic design, photography and printmaking, which came more naturally. I think I was one of the last graduating classes to NOT use computers in school so when my first job in NYC was at a management consulting firm creating presentations on a Mac, the corporate world took over and I found myself disconnected from other artists and the idea of being an artist. As I moved into fashion and retail as a designer and an art director, I thought of this work as “commercial,” so even though I was “creative,” I never viewed myself as an artist.
In the late 90s, I left the corporate world. I felt like there had to be more to life, it was a soul awakening. I connected with other artists and felt part of a creative community. As I was freelancing to pay the bills, an artist friend asked me to co-develop an animated TV series. I almost felt like an artist during this period but it was his original character so he was “the artist,” and I was also responsible for pitching the series and handling the business side so that put me in the commercial zone once again.
A few years later, I co-wrote and illustrated four children’s books that were eventually published in 2005. The process to get them published and the industry, in general, was filled with so much dogma and driven by profit that by the end of the process, the commercialization did not feel like art. Graphic design is about making art for commercial purpose so when I realized I was making art for my personal expression, that was a turning point.
At this point in my life, making art is not a choice. I feel my most authentic self when I am creating and it is the path I must take. It is not easy as there is an inner battle that I think most artists can relate to. I am also an over-thinker. Sometimes I just want to make beautiful things, but then there is this little voice inside that is spinning thoughts and ideas and I realize I have things I want to express and say. And so I realize that art gives me a voice.
We’d love to hear more about your art.
My work is influenced by pop art and spirituality and is vibrant, colorful and energetic, fusing geometric forms and elements of the natural world exploring their connection. But really, my work is about healing, mostly for myself but also to inspire others. I am also interested in creating a platform of expression and communication so I have a lot of different things going on in my work.
Crystal “Love” is a heart which, in a way, has become a cornerstone to my brand. I consider it a portal of love and healing. The Crystal Constellations are based on the astrological constellations and is a series of twelve prints connecting star points and transforming them into origami-like, geometric forms. I also work in large scale printmaking. I love carving wood and printing with ink. I managed printing throughout my career and so it is not a surprise that I would be drawn to this medium. The process has a more organic result. I am exploring new processes and mixed media and recently received my first commission so it is an exciting time.
There is also FLIP, a pop-art-infused political call to action. It is my belief that to express is to heal, and this interactive art installation is designed to bring communities together by expressing What Flips You Off? Participants anonymously write and draw on copies of an extraction of the original work F-U-Red Blue, mounted on a wall. F-U Red Blue, a red and blue middle finger, expresses my sadness and anger toward our fractured democracy and the toxic polarization going on in our country today. It is a call to activate public consciousness around coming together for the greater good of the people, despite our divergent political views. Once completed, individuals mount their “F-U” on the wall, which quickly fills with everyone’s individual piece, generating a wall of community expression.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
I think art is more important than ever. Art identifies what is happening in culture. It moves us to places in which we are not necessarily comfortable, and therefore open us up to possibilities. Art informs and engages. It can also provide joy and levity in dark times. Art can heal.
Thinking about our world today, I love this quote by Toni Morrison, “This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.”
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.carinreich.com/
- Email: carinreich@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carinreichstudio/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carinreichstudio/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/carinreich
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