Episode Transcript
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Derek Smith (00:00):
Hey everyone, and
welcome back to another podcast
(00:09):
episode. This is episode number50. And for number 50, I wanted
to do something a little bitdifferent. And so I've invited
back guest artists, AngieMontgomery, and Angie is going
to be asking me questions for 50episodes. So if you have ever
wondered anything about me orwhat I do, you're this is it. So
(00:32):
Angie, welcome. And thank youfor coming in and doing this.
Angee Montgomery (00:35):
Hey, Derek,
thanks for having me back. I'm
really excited to do the table'sturned because I'd much rather
listen to somebody else's storythan tell my own. Plus, I think
that yours is gonna be reallyinteresting. So Well, I hope so.
Well, so, for starters, I seethat you've renamed the podcast,
(01:01):
so it's not spotlight onanymore, is it?
Derek Smith (01:03):
It's now, it's
Mississippi artists, to artists,
now. Mississippi artists toartists,
Angee Montgomery (01:08):
I like it. And
then I also saw that you have a
hotline happening.
Derek Smith (01:15):
Yeah, call and ask
questions. I'm hoping it kicks
off. It's one of those thingsthat you know, you throw it out
there. And I don't know what'sgonna happen with it. So far,
you know, we haven't had anycallers. But I don't know, you
never know. So it's just beenthe first couple of weeks that
we've had that going. And itjust reminds me of when I was
(01:36):
growing up. And in the 90s, itwas a fun thing that you could
call into, like TRL, or anythinglike that, and leaving messages.
And I thought that that would befun. If other artists and art
lovers in Mississippi, were ableto find out who was coming up.
And if they had any questionsabout their artwork, or lives,
they'd be able to call in aheadof time, and leave their message
(01:59):
and we would be able to ask iton the podcast.
Angee Montgomery (02:02):
I really liked
that. I like it a lot. So I
didn't call and put in anyquestions. But I did ask other
people around me. And I thinkthat, you know, to start it off,
we've all been dying to knowDerek. What's your favorite
paint color?
Derek Smith (02:19):
My favorite paint
color. That's really difficult.
Angee Montgomery (02:25):
To put it this
way, if you were locked inside a
room, so you couldn't gooutside, you didn't have access
to Earth pigments. You're lockedinside a room, you can only have
one tube of paint, what would itbe?
Derek Smith (02:38):
Paynes Grey. That's
been the only like, I'm not a
I'm not a fan of black becauseI'm not very good at using grey
is on this, this really superdark, beautiful blue level. And
it just, it matches in with mypaintings perfectly. And I'm
(03:00):
able to go in and do likewonderful under paintings, and
I'm able to take it super thin.
And if nobody's are, if you'renot familiar with my artwork, I
paint in really, really thinlayers in acrylic. So it's
almost like doing a watercolor,but every layer needs to dry.
And you know, and then I'll goover it again. And it's super
(03:20):
transparent. And I like the waythat the light goes through the
entire painting bounces off thecanvas and it almost looks like
each paintings lit up frominside.
Angee Montgomery (03:32):
I thought they
were watercolors I saw I thought
some of them were watercolors
Derek Smith (03:37):
It comes from being
cheap, you know, when I was in
college, and they give you thishuge list of stuff you have to
buy to go into all of thesepainting courses. And, you know,
that's $500 worth of artsupplies, and I can't afford
that every time and the tubes ofpaint they wanted me to purchase
were, you know, 30 or $40 to buyand, and yeah, I've still got
(04:00):
some of those tubes because Ilearned to thin it out and be
really cheap. And I guess that'sreally how my method developed
was from from a necessity ofhaving to make things last a lot
longer.
Angee Montgomery (04:12):
Okay, all
right. So paint is great. I love
Payne's Gray, that's one of myfavorites as well. So, you know,
throughout history, our it'sbeen a lot of things like it's
been about communication, it'sbeen based around religion,
(04:32):
objects as rituals used astherapy. So I'm interested, you
know, way back when, how did youdevelop a relationship with art?
Where did it all start for you?
Derek Smith (04:47):
Well, art
originally came into my life, I
think as a way to keep me quiet.
We traveled a lot when I wasyounger, my parents print t
shirts, their screen printersand they were really involved In
the car show circuit pre 49. So,every weekend, we were traveling
to a different location, andthey would set up and do their
screen printing operations. AndI always had paper and pencil,
(05:08):
and my parents noticed that Iwas good at that. And I was
quiet when I did that, you know,that kind of became a thing. And
then I discovered comic books,in particular, Stan Lee, the
second, the second one, and XMen in the 90s. And I loved the
way they looked. And I justthought it was the coolest thing
(05:32):
ever. So I started, you know,copying his work and eventually
learning, you know, figuresthrough that. And fell in love
with kind of people. And that'skind of where that's developed
from.
Angee Montgomery (05:49):
That's really
interesting. So, so one of the
the next questions I was goingto ask you as what what did your
art look like when you were anolder kid and a teenager? And
not only that, but when youshowed it to people, what was
the response?
Derek Smith (06:05):
So when I was a
teenager, I and I teach against
this now I teach my kids youknow, the power of having your
own ideas and being proud ofwhat you produce all by
yourself. But when I was ateenager, my artwork was all
reproductions, it was all copiesof comic books, it was little
(06:28):
Grateful Dead bears oneverybody's bookbag. And, you
know, I'm, I really wanted to beliked. And so I would do
anybody's artwork on anything,just in order to have a friend.
So that was really everythingthat my art looked like, in the
past gonna be in the 90s. Yeah.
Angee Montgomery (06:49):
So use art to
gain friendships.
Derek Smith (06:52):
Yeah, pretty much
didn't always work. I was a
weird little kid and in adifferent environment. So it
didn't always play out to myadvantage. But I learned how
useful art can be in that way.
Angee Montgomery (07:09):
Right? I think
a lot of kids do that. Now. You
know, they're all copying theirfavorite anime characters. And
now, you have Anime Comics havemoved to TV. So they're all
copying their characters on TV.
So yeah, I feel like I've beentrying to find a way around, but
(07:32):
still nurturing they're like,need to do that. So So you
copied a lot of reproductions.
Did you have any art trainingwhen you were younger, or in
high school?
Derek Smith (07:46):
In high school in
late high school, there was a
teacher that taught at thepublic school here, and she
started teaching privateclasses. Her name was Vicki
land. And she actually passedaway last year. But she, I was I
was lucky enough to get into oneof her classes. And through
(08:08):
junior junior and senior year,she kind of caught me up on
everything else. You know,here's painting, here's
watercolor, here's actualdrawing and pastels and pencils,
and you know, all of the stuffthat I hadn't been exposed to,
and for in these books stillexist out there. But there's the
draw long books, you know, learnhow to draw books, and they show
(08:29):
you okay, here's the basicshape. Now, here's the next
step. Now, here's the next step.
And here's the next step. And ifyou don't know anything about
drawing, or going from step tostep to step, it looks foreign,
like completely foreign. So Ican go in and copy. But I
couldn't look at something andstructure it in order to
reproduce it down in your brain.
(08:52):
Yeah, I couldn't break it downin my brain the way that the
book would show you too. And,and she was able to go in and,
and show me how to do that. Youknow, she already knew that I
could see everything that wasthere, but I couldn't make my
hands do it. And she was able tokind of connect all those dots
and, and got me far enough alongwhere I was able to go to Koh
(09:14):
Lanta, local community college,and, and get in and do things
there.
Angee Montgomery (09:21):
Okay, so I
want to know about what you did
at the community college andyour training there. Because I
learned that a reallyinteresting thing that you
actually have to doublevocations. But before we leave
your childhood, were there anyother forms of expression that
you're interested in? Did youget into like music or dance or
(09:43):
writing?
Derek Smith (09:45):
No, not really.
Angee Montgomery (09:48):
Or sports?
Derek Smith (09:50):
No, not at all
sports. I tried sports. When I
was when I was really young. Youknow, the old T ball and
basketball and all that stuffthat you go through. That kids
put Another I mean, adults putall their kids in, you know,
just I need time to go groceryshopping here and go to all
this. And it just, I was nevergood at them, I didn't care. I
(10:15):
want to sit over here and lookat flowers and draw stuff, I
don't know. I wouldn't go playsuperheroes was most likely what
it was. But then there's a wholeother part, I don't talk a whole
lot about the negative parts ofmy childhood. It had nothing to
do really, with with family, butit had everything to do with
(10:38):
where I grew up. And, you know,I love for cavemen and I love
Mississippi, but Mississippidoesn't love things that are
different. And they have a hardtime with it. And at a very
young age, the people around merecognize that I was different.
And I didn't know. And so you,you start getting these
(10:59):
influential pressures,especially when it comes to
organized religion, that shutsyou down. And it took a really,
really long time for me to beokay, with anything that would
be considered sissy. So withdancing, or singing, or any of
(11:21):
that stuff, it that wassomething that I felt that I had
to block out of my life in orderto feel normal or acceptable to
those that are around me. And,yeah, so a lot of that got shut
out, I love doing it, but Iwould do it in private, you
know, I would sing at the top ofmy lungs when nobody was at
(11:43):
home, and then turn beet red,when my brother would walk in,
or, you know, it's just, it wasit was those types of things
that were kind of stopped allthat from happening.
Angee Montgomery (11:56):
So you know,
this plays a very big part in,
in my work, and I think in yoursas well. But there is a
detriment to, to loneliness. Andyou know, I kind of wanted to
(12:17):
flow through the timeline of, ofyour life and your college and
where it all led to, but youknow, you're having, you know,
certain internal conflicts froma young age like, you know, I
know that you're a man of faith.
Right? Yeah. Grew up in church,probably just like me, and, and,
in that a, you know, we're told,from a young age that there are
(12:45):
proper roles for a man and awoman. And anything that doesn't
fit inside those roles is, is asin. Right? But it's just not
true. And I think, I think overtime, like over history, a lot
of people secrets and desireshave been hidden from the
(13:06):
timeline. Like, my, my uncle, mydad's brother, who's not living
anymore, you know, he eventuallycame out to the family that he
was a gay man, and mygrandmother would joke to the
stage, she was like, Oh, David,he's just over in the corner
playing with jazz dolls. Again,he just does that it's fine. So,
(13:28):
you know, he might have gotten alittle bit of kickback from,
from some of his brothers or themen, but at the same time, you
know, it was just, it was justwho it was. And it was kind of
recognized within the familythat some families aren't as
(13:48):
accepting. So you don't have togo into too much detail about
your personal life, but, but Iwould be interested in knowing
like, how, how does faith andthen you know, your your
personal expression play intothe work, the beginning work
(14:11):
that you created.
Derek Smith (14:16):
So I would have to
say that the the work that I
create, even now it stems backto trying to figure myself out,
trying to give myself anacceptable form of expression.
(14:38):
The, and it took me a long tofigure a long time to figure out
what I was doing. You know,because it's hard to start out
and say, oh, yeah, I'm gonnaaccomplish this. This is what I
want to do is what my brain issaying. For me, it took a long
time of acting on passion andinstinct and saying, I need to
paint this I need to paint thisI need to paint this and then
(14:59):
having 30 or 40 paintings infront of me, and looking at them
all and being like, Oh crap,this is what I'm talking about.
Because you get to you get to goback and read your body of work,
you're the only person that canactually read it, like
literature, like, you are goingto be able to figure out what
you need to talk about, and howyou're talking about it. And for
(15:21):
me, I use a lot of singlesubject matter. Mostly, I think
it comes to that point ofisolation and feeling alone for
a long time. And then I also dugdeep into finding emotions that
I wasn't comfortable withexpressing, as a Southern, even
(15:43):
though they wouldn't beexpressed, especially as a
child, you know, I'm gonnaboohoo, I'm going to do
everything like that. And thennow, I'm an extremely sensitive
guy, like there's a Charmincommercial, where a baby, your
dad teaches the baby dad how towipe his butt, and it makes me
cry, it's just as I have thosetypes of emotional reactions to
(16:04):
things, and I was, I hatedmyself for it for a really long
time, because that was a keyindicator, you know, that's
going to be a big flashing lightbulb above you, for everybody
else to automatically hate you,because you're different. And
it's just how I felt. So Istarted creating all of these
portraits of women displayingdifferent emotions, you know,
(16:27):
through their face, and, andtheir, their body language that
reflected the ways that I felton the inside, especially after
different experiences. And nowthat's grown, I don't, I don't
really share a lot of my work.
Now I focus on promoting otherpeople's work. But, but the
workout produced now is stillthe single subject matter. But
(16:51):
it's surprisingly, it's changedinto the male figure, which I've
never expected for me to be forme to want to pay. And now
they're starting to tell morepersonal narratives, you know,
personal experiences that I'vehad. So it's just it's always
been about trying to find a wayto connect my internal emotions
to an image to hopefully connectwith somebody else's emotions
(17:16):
are their internal conflicts, somaybe I don't feel so alone in
the world, and they don't feelso alone.
Angee Montgomery (17:26):
That makes
perfect sense. No, it does to
me, because I think my art isvery similar in that way. So, so
you mentioned painting a lot ofwomen. And when I looked through
your work, I noticed that therewas four main buckets of
subjects that you have explored,or at least the ones that you've
(17:49):
shared publicly, women being oneof them, icons, or maybe people
you look up to, and inside ofpop culture misses Mississippi,
so your, your connection to yourhomelands. And then the fourth
one is collaborations, but notonly collaborations, like, like
(18:13):
you said, you're trying toconnect on an emotional level,
but I think the collaborationsare collaborating when people's
darker sides. So I just want tounpack these, these buckets for
a second. So you talked a littlebit about the women, but I want
to know, why women? Why did youstart with women,
Derek Smith (18:38):
there has been one
constant in my life. And it has
been that women bond with Mefaster. They do not. They're
less judgmental, about me ingeneral. And they tend to take
me as a personality and a personfirst, and not necessarily care
(19:00):
about anything that the personabove and beyond who did that
was, you know, my grandmother,my, she, she had my back no
matter what, from the day I wasborn. And it didn't matter who
anybody was, what they had donein their life, or what they
(19:20):
looked like. She loved themfirst. And if I go back and
think about all of the people inmy life, the women have been the
strongest people. And they'vealso been, you know, in the
other side of that, you know, Isee I I'm able to find the
emotions in women because it's alittle bit more acceptable for
(19:44):
them to show or at least bephotographed with the emotions
that that I want to portray. Andit really is, you know, I like
stock photography, but I alsohave, you know, like deviant art
because they have thesetelephoto ographers that wants
you to work with their photos.
And so I'll, you know, I'llspend months and months just
(20:05):
collecting all of theseinteresting photos of women and
portraits and stuff like that,and then I'll get in my fields.
I'll get anxious one day, and Iknow that I have something that
I need to figure out how to whatI'm feeling. And so I play
flashcards, and I go throughthem until I find the one that
(20:26):
it's there. That's exactly whatI'm feeling right now. And I
need to get it out of me. And Ineed to put it into this
portrait. And so I feel likethat's
Angee Montgomery (20:38):
like emotion,
emotional Rolodex,
Derek Smith (20:41):
yeah. It really is.
I wasn't taught growing up, andI don't need it as much. Now,
I've gone through enoughemotions and finding them and
identifying them to be able towork with them easier. But in
the beginning, you I couldn'tidentify what emotions that
(21:03):
we're feeling our I was feeling,you know, it just you weren't
supposed to, as you just, youignore it, and buckle up and get
on with it. So it took me awhile to kind of figure that
out. And that's a lot where thewomen came from.
Angee Montgomery (21:19):
Okay. So what
about Mississippi, you have
quite a few, you know, subjectsthat are very reminiscent of the
south and this place that welive, which is, you know, I
think very beautiful in its ownway. And even now, you're
(21:41):
starting to kind of meld yourMississippi with, with these
figures, which is reallyinteresting. So, and I think,
too, you know, we just, we, wepaint or we create our lives and
what we know. So it's inevitablethat it's going to come through
(22:01):
a little bit, but how do youfeel like this place the land or
whatever it is that so connectedto your memories, and all of
that feed, feed into your work,past and present.
Derek Smith (22:19):
I think Mississippi
is a difficult place. I love
Mississippi, it's gorgeous. Andmy family's here and people like
honestly, people love eachother. But Mississippi has a lot
of issues, and it's verycomplex. And it's it's history
(22:40):
is complex and difficult. Andyou know, and when you dive into
it, it's it shouldn't be a placethat I enjoy being. But you
know, that being said, with allthe child stuff, your childhood
stuff I went through, at thesame time I was surrounded by
people that loved me. You know,and, and you being famous, you
(23:04):
understand this too, you know,you go into a church or organize
and it's it's encapsulating withlove, they make sure that you
feel the love. At the same time,they make sure that you feel you
know, the pressure to change.
But, you know, it's it's asouthern thing that people
around here we make you feelseen and loved. So I I
(23:24):
appreciate that. I appreciatethe beauty that Mississippi has
to offer. But it's it's arosebush. You know, you can
smell the roses. But as soon asyou start to grab in there,
you're going to reach back abloody paw. It's just it's, it's
not always the most fun place tobe. I think that the paintings
I'm creating now celebrate thebeauty, but talk a lot about the
(23:50):
complexity of diversity and thelack of acknowledgement of
diversity. Mississippi is anextremely diverse place, but
everybody just can scream whothey are. It's not a place where
everybody gets to wear, youknow, their badge on their
sleeve with honor. You know,it's, it's a hard place to do
(24:12):
that. So I think that my art nowis starting to meld those two
concepts together, at leastwhere I can deal with it.
Angee Montgomery (24:23):
Yeah, I can
see that I can see I have a few
things to say about your art nowbut all that for just a little
bit. But I think it's reallyinteresting. I think it's going
to a very interesting place. Sothe last few bucket's was icons,
(24:47):
people that you've looked up toand the collaborations that
you've done, or, you know,collecting from others to then
start sharing, you know, maybeSome of their, you know, where I
was pushed towards
Derek Smith (25:10):
Pop culture has
always been really important to
me. You know, going back to,again, childhood that you had
the weekends where I traveled,and I was encased in 1940s and
50s pop culture, and I loved it,you know, the James Dean and
Marilyn Monroe, and thebeautiful cars and the neon pink
(25:31):
and, you know, in jukeboxes, andrecords and all of that stuff,
you know, dice dominoes,checkered floors, like dance
halls, it was great, I loved it.
And then as I started to getolder, I found John Waters, who
loves pop culture, especiallyfrom that era as much as I do.
(25:53):
But he puts a ton of messagesinto his movies and his
productions, his plays, youknow, you look at the original
hairspray that he created. Andit was, it was deeply about, you
know, not only class warfarewithin the white community, but
also how the black community wasbeing completely alienated and
(26:14):
wouldn't be allowed intoanything. And how in the end,
you know, he brought the storyaround and showed segregation in
a way that could happen but alsoshowed segregation in the way
that it nor the deconstructionof segregation, in the way that
it normally has to happen iswith an explosion. And then
you've got movies that, that Ifell in love with, like, cry
(26:37):
baby that celebrated that thatera, and just all of this
culture that came out in the mid90s, that was wonky and
reflective, and I love that. SoI I fell hard for for
entertainment like that. Also,my grandmother, she used to do
tickets at the movie theater.
(27:02):
And so after school, we wouldget dropped off at her house,
and my parents worked until lateand so I would always go to work
with her and get set into amovie until my parents got off
work and come pick me up. Sofrom like 1987 until 1997, all I
did was every day go and watch adifferent movie. And it was fast
(27:27):
forward that a little bit whenI'm in my teenage years. And I
find things like the GoldenGirls on Nick at Night, and got
to start seeing and designingwomen. And those were two shows
that were extremely influentialto me because both of them had
queer characters and acceptingstorylines. And that was, but
(27:51):
but controversial, acceptingstorylines, you know, you had
in, in Golden Girls, you know,the Blanche had rejected her gay
brother. And it took the rest ofthem explaining the situation to
her to kind of get her to comearound. And it helped me cope a
lot with myself, you know,having them explain it to
(28:13):
somebody who was rejecting thatwhole aspect of life was them
explaining to me how I couldstart to kind of cope with
accepting that aspect of mylife, it was the little bit of
visibility that I got to see. SoI got to see how pop culture
could really change the world.
And I paid attention and when itcame time to, to kind of start
(28:35):
honing your skills as an artist,everybody goes through it,
they're like, you just have tostart banging out and get your
1000 hours, right, get your10,000 hours, just keep going.
Painting. I'm not as good atdoing that without a goal. And
so my goal was to go backthrough and find people in pop
culture that I admired, I feltlike their lives really
(28:58):
mattered, that they changedsomething for the positive when
they came through the world. AndI started creating series based
on that just so I could, youknow, bang out the paintings,
and I love these people anyway.
And also gave me an opportunitybecause every one of those
portraits that I did, I didn'tjust sit down with a picture, I
(29:20):
would play their music, or Iwould have their movies on or I
would have their interviews onor I would just I would have all
aspects of their life kind ofsurrounding me. So hopefully I
would be able to get aninflection of their spirit.
something in there that was alittle spark of their, what they
actually accomplished in theirlife. I wanted to honor it. So
that's kind of where the popculture stuff came on. It was
(29:42):
melding what I knew was easy forme to come up with quick and
then I loved and then fillingthat need of having to pay and
get my hours in.
Angee Montgomery (29:55):
well it sounds
like to the these people that
you painted. were, you know,even if you didn't know them
personally, they were hugementors in your life. And they
were, you know, someone that youcan look to and find a
commonality with your storylineand their storyline. That was
(30:16):
positive. Right? Instead of, youknow, here Mississippi, I can
only imagine like, it's hard tofind a kindred soul.
Derek Smith (30:25):
You know, they move
Angee Montgomery (30:29):
in many ways,
but you know, along the way,
like, I have to imagine thatthis whole series because you
did a ton of them. I mean, Idon't know how many hundreds,
maybe not hundreds, but itseemed like a whole bunch. I
might have done. You said, andhow long does it take to make a
(30:49):
painting, you know, at least?
Derek Smith (30:51):
Well, those were
small. So I did an eight by 10s,
and nine by twelves, for thoseand so it was a painting a day
challenge. Probably this was2015, I think I was listening to
Lesley Stata. And she was doingthe 30 days and the 30 paintings
(31:13):
and 30 days challenge. And shewas doing it in January and in
September. And so that's when Ijumped on. And I was like, Okay,
let's, let's do this with her.
And so that's why that happenedthat way. That's where the all
of those came from was me tryingto get as many done in a month
that I could.
Angee Montgomery (31:35):
Do you think
that that was life changing,
like spinning day after day withthese mentors that were so
positive?
Derek Smith (31:42):
yeah, the
experience of them. And like
just getting to sit with theirlives every day was special. It
really was. I knew a good amountabout these people in general,
because they're people that I'mslightly obsessed with. But this
was the chance for the deep diveon every one of them.
Angee Montgomery (32:04):
Right? Yeah,
that's wonderful. I recently
painted a picture of mygrandparents and the whole time
I was listening to music theyplayed in the kitchen. And it
was crazy. Because, you know,when you're painting, at some
point in the process, it comesto life. Like it all just comes
to life. And you know, I cry, Iwas like, Ah, it's just
(32:24):
beautiful. I feel like I'm withthem. So I can only imagine
that, you know, painting thesementors, the process of getting
to know them being surrounded,and all your senses, being
surrounded with them, and thenwatching them come to life
before your eyes. Yeah, it'sreally special. So I think
(32:45):
that's beautiful.
Derek Smith (32:46):
It's humbling.
Like, it really is humbling,because it's, it's taking in an
example of what a life can be.
Right? No, how world changingthat one life can be. And there
were many that I tried to dothat I couldn't make it through,
(33:07):
I would get like too emotionallyupset over, you know, this
person, because there's so many,so many. Just people that have
changed the world that weretaken out in the middle of their
lives are you know, andsomething tragic happened to
them. And you, I would start apainting thinking I could make
it through it. And then it wouldget to that part of their lives.
(33:28):
And I'm in the middle ofpainting it and it's just a
whole mental breakdown and theother spirits not even on the
earth anymore. And then and itwas just too hard to take. So
some of them would get shutdown. But but for the most part,
it's it's been, it was a reallygood experience.
Angee Montgomery (33:47):
And I don't
know how many people out there
listening are painters, butpainting is a mind app. Really,
that's the whole process. So,you know, when, like, very
recently, I started being justdead honest with, with a
(34:11):
workout, create one creating it.
And it's crazy, but when it whenI started being honest, it
seemed like the world startedlistening to what I was trying
to say. And I started making,you know, really sincere
connections with people inbeautiful ways. So I'm
wondering, do you have amemorable connection that you've
(34:34):
made through your work?
Derek Smith (34:39):
I think the more
memorable connections I'm making
are the ones I'm making now. Andit's not necessarily through the
work I'm doing as a painter butthe work I'm doing as a creative
and getting to, I mean gettingto do things like this, this
this means the world to me,getting to sit down and talk
(35:00):
Walk with another person that isgoing through the something
similar as to what I'm goingthrough that that special
painting is painting, you know,painting always be painting,
that's fine, I can do that.
That's a, that's a technicalaspect. But the any, any type of
relationship that I can get fromcreating is what I really,
(35:22):
really like, enjoy and thriveon. And you had mentioned
collaborations earlier. And Ithink, I think the collaboration
you're you were starting to getat was the
Angee Montgomery (35:36):
baggage.
Derek Smith (35:38):
Yeah, leave your
baggage.
Angee Montgomery (35:41):
Okay, let's
talk about that.
Derek Smith (35:43):
Yeah, that was
rough, that shut me down
completely. So leave yourbaggage. Trying to figure out
who I am as an artist, what I'msupposed to be doing just in
general on Earth, I figured outthat my, some of my strength
(36:05):
lies in being in service, I wasa phenomenal waiter, like,
amazing waiter, I cared when yousat down, I wanted your food to
be right, I was there on a bank.
And all of these roles I've hadwhere I've been in service to
other people, I just excelled.
(36:25):
And they made me happy. So Ineeded to figure out a way to do
it with my art too. And I hadgone through and done the
project with the women, and kindof discovered that that
emotional connection is what Ireally wanted with my art. And
in that process, I was having todig through a lot of things from
(36:49):
my past or my emotions that Ifelt lonely with. And I didn't
want others to feel lonely. AndI also again, I needed that
something that I could take fromsomebody else and translate so I
could better understand myself.
If that makes sense. You know,I, I needed their experience. So
I could bond with theirexperience and identify it and
(37:12):
place my own empathy with it. Sothat could pull out something.
So what I did was I createdthese plaster hands that were
outstretched, and I took themaround to places and I had all
these little luggage tags. Andit was titled leave your
baggage. And so what peoplewould do is they would write
(37:34):
down the things that they carryaround with them every day, and
get rid of them, throw themaway, you know, give them to me.
And then I would take that andit was all anonymous, then I
would take all those luggagetags, and go through one by one
and sit with it. And let it kindof soak into me and figure out
(37:55):
how I relate to this. Why thiscame to me Why was this
particular thing written on thistag and handed to me, it had to
be a reason, right? We believein faith, there had to be some
kind of reason. So I would do mybest to go in and create imagery
that I connected with thatconnected with their story that
(38:16):
hopefully the next person thatviews it, would be able to
connect with it and again, notfeel so alone in the world. And
they gave me some rough stuff.
You know, we talked about eatingdisorders, we talked about drug
abuse, we talked aboutparenting, neglect, we talked
about abortion, we talked aboutyou know, there, there's just a
(38:40):
subject matter after subjectmatter after subject matter that
these people were dropping inthere. And I felt honored. You
know, it broke me mentallybecause you have to dig up all
these memories out of my life toYou know, like the growing up in
the place that I grew up.
surprising enough in high schoolsupplies, I developed an eating
(39:01):
disorder, you know, betweenfinding like getting, getting my
driver's license and being ableto travel to the town next to us
to GNC and get a veteran when itwas still legal. You know, I was
popping those pills and noteating for weeks and vomiting
when I did eat, you know, inorder to fit in with those
people that I was around at thetime because the high school
that I went to I don't know whathappened there was something in
(39:24):
the water but they were allmodels like everybody was that
you had to live up to that wasridiculous. So I was able to
take in that in the time when Iyou know somebody. One of the
things that was written in wasthat I wish I wasn't addicted to
(39:45):
pills anymore. And so myimmediate reaction was the time
that I dropped a whole bottle ofephedrine on the floor and like
scrambled to get them back inthe bottle to you so they
wouldn't get wet the casingwouldn't get wet and they
wouldn't have that pill anymore.
You know, and it's just thingslike that, that I was able to
(40:07):
relate to. Again, I wasn't soalone in the world, they didn't
feel so alone in the world,hopefully, they were relieved by
at least being able to put itinto words,
Angee Montgomery (40:19):
breathe out,
and let someone else carry their
load for a little bit
Derek Smith (40:22):
let somebody else,
you know, if we hide everything,
and even if you just write itdown, just just put it into
existence, the things thatyou're thinking and the things
that you're going through. Youdon't have to tell anybody, but
you do need to acknowledge itand recognize it and recognize
it's something that you dealwith, it's almost giving respect
(40:43):
to your problems. So you canmove past them.
Angee Montgomery (40:46):
Can I tell you
something crazy?
Derek Smith (40:47):
Yeah.
Angee Montgomery (40:52):
I did a
project eerily similar to that.
Where I collected secrets frompeople, I was working at a bar,
I collect the secrets frompeople that came into the bar.
And then I took the messages.
And I opened up fortune cookiesin the microwave, and took the,
the, you know, the fortune outand inserted the secrets into
(41:13):
the cookie. Right? So I took allthese fortune cookies to school,
I was in college and on critiqueday, I made the whole class
choose their fortune, right. Butinstead of a fortune, they got
someone else's secret. But thestrangest thing was, they all
related? Like, they picked upthese cookies. And they felt
(41:36):
like, the secret is, for me,because, you know, the essence
of a fortune cookie is it'sabout your life. Right? So when
they opened the secrets, theyall found something relatable to
what it said. Even though it wasall, you know, random, like who
knew whose secret you would get?
(41:58):
Who is we don't I don't evenknow whose secret that was. But
we're all just walking aroundwith a bunch of secrets and
pain. And you know, and we hideit a lot. And I'm not saying
that we should all be, you know,like you worse and depressed and
be woeful about all of our painall the time. But at the same
(42:20):
point, you got to have abalance, right? Got to have a
balance to what you're carryingaround. And, and then just
knowing that everyone else iswalking around, carrying the
same things. Yeah. So I thinkthat projects really, really
cool and crazy that I stumbledupon it. I was like, it's the
(42:45):
fortune cookies.
Derek Smith (42:48):
Well, I remember
talking to you in your
interview, and you as youstarted to talk about that. And
I almost was like, no. Yeah, itwas. I I was watching, I was
looking at your project, becauseyou had listed somewhere. I
don't know if it was on yourwebsite, but you had talked
about it somewhere else. And Ihad gone in and stalked it.
Angee Montgomery (43:12):
So you saw
some I don't have a lot of
pictures from it. Oh, youremember what all the messages
were. But there was a couplecaught it, spill it.
Derek Smith (43:22):
That's a good
title.
Angee Montgomery (43:26):
Okay, so I
know you said painting's,
painting, painting's painting,but I love the howl of painting.
So can we talk for a minuteabout your technique? And
specifically, you know, you haveso much to express right?
(43:47):
You're, you experienced theworld pretty deeply I can
imagine. As, as well as manyother artists do. I think we all
are maybe a tad bit moresensitive than the most people.
But you have a lot to say.
Right? So I'm interested in howdo you take this feeling this
emotion, this thoughts? And whatis the next step from this stage
(44:12):
into a painting? So yeah, so howdoes how does the idea start for
you? And then what is the verynext step you take?
Derek Smith (44:23):
It's different now
than it used to be, you know,
used to, like with the women, Iwould just I would get in the
mode, I would go in and startdrawing or whatnot. And then I
would have something that Iwould need to express and I
would go through all my stockand find something that related
to me at that moment and just goto town, right and start
(44:45):
painting. Now, you know, yearslater after you figured out kind
of what you're doing and whatyou're talking about, at least
what inspires you to create. Ihave a binder and every time I
have Have an idea of just arandom show, like, because I
think now I think in terms ofalmost a grand scale of, okay,
(45:11):
if I want to talk aboutsomething, what do I need to
talk about? How would I make itinto a full series, but these
are all things that are just inmy brain, you know, I would be
thinking about them anyway. Andso now I write it down, and I
put it in a binder. And so Ihave a binder of exhibition
ideas. And they'll they'll comeback up everything cycles with
(45:34):
me, I like to say I have thememory of a peanut, because I
don't remember, I can rememberyears ago, but I can't remember
two days ago. And then yearsfrom now, I'll remember two days
ago, it's really, but I'll leavemyself. I'll leave myself tons
of notes. And I'll start toexperience something again. And
(45:57):
I'll find a note that says, Oh,you have this, and I'll go and
pull. And it's just a wholebunch of inspiration I've
already pulled for that idea, itjust now happens to be time that
I need to execute it. And thethings before I used to, like I
said, I would get a photo thatreminded me of something I
needed to express and I wouldpaint from that photo changing
(46:18):
at how I needed to, to be mywork instead of their work. But
now I take and I do a lot ofcollage and Photoshop, and, you
know, a lot of changing of theenvironments and stuff like that
before I go in and paint it. SoI go in and try to build in a
story before I do that. But theother, I think another important
(46:39):
part of my work to realize isthat I paint in extremely
vibrant, bold colors, a lot ofthe subject matter, like if you
look at my subject matter, it'sa lot of fun. I like I like
having people look at it andsmile, even though they might be
looking at a painting that isheartbreaking. Once you learn
(47:02):
all of the story behind it,you're not gonna know it just
right off the bat, you're gonnayou're gonna see something
that's a little bit joyful. AndI almost feel like that's the
way that that that I presentmyself in my life. You know,
we've got this joyful side thatI love of myself where I get to
interact and be happy. But thenif you dig to two inches back,
(47:24):
you're gonna start hitting somereally, really deep, emotional
stuff. And that's kind of how Ipresent my art.
Angee Montgomery (47:32):
Do you think
that that comes from your your
pop culture love, like all theseglamorous aesthetics that you
are drawn to?
Derek Smith (47:45):
I think that that
can play a part of it. But I
think that the need to be lovedand accepted first plays a
bigger part of it. I've createda couple of pieces that were
hard to look at, and it was hardfor me to put it out in the
world. I think only a couple offriends ended up seeing that at
(48:05):
a very personal show. Yeah, Ijust I think I think it comes
from the need to be justaccepted and loved on site,
instead of you know, and then
Angee Montgomery (48:18):
good first
impression with your colors.
Derek Smith (48:21):
Here, let me let me
surprise you with this. And then
we can talk about addiction.
Angee Montgomery (48:29):
That's funny.
It's terrible, but I'm laughingThat's exactly what you want.
Derek Smith (48:40):
Like I want you to
be I want you to be comfortable
with what you're looking at, atleast at first before I have to
to make you think
Angee Montgomery (48:49):
that's very
hospitable of you. So are there
any artists that you've studiedwhose technique has shaped you
in some way?
Derek Smith (49:02):
John Singer
Sargent,
Angee Montgomery (49:04):
okay.
Derek Smith (49:06):
John Singer
Sargent. It I think it goes to
the way that he captured people.
The end he liked to play hisboundaries to like he liked to
push his levels. Rembrandt hadhad the technique of the super
thin layers and oils and beingable to have the light reflect
off the canvas. I didn't knowthat was what I was doing until
(49:28):
I studied Rembrandt. And then Iwas like, oh, yeah, other people
did this. Okay, now I havesomething to go off of. But I
think the most influence I havenow come from the people that
this is gonna sound so cliche,but I'm gonna say like Andy
Warhol changed the world. Youknow, Andy Warhol had the
(49:53):
factory in New York, and it wasa moment in art that you You can
now look back on look at theBauhaus movement look at I mean,
if you want to go some you'vegot the Impressionist movement,
you know, all of this comes fromartists getting together
themselves and communicating andcreating a moment in time where
(50:14):
it was important. And I thinkthat that's been the most
influential stuff in my study,to see how their lives start,
because if you if you have thechance to read any biographies
on any artists just dive into,it doesn't matter, the artists
(50:35):
you're gonna find an entire lifethere that you can relate to,
and fall in love. Yeah, youknow, it's just, it's all this
information is out there on howart careers and how art
movements and how this entireworld works, even though it's
the most unregulated market.
Angee Montgomery (50:59):
That's true.
Do you? Are you trying to starta movement here?
Derek Smith (51:04):
Yeah, I want to
movement. I want Mississippi to
be important for its artist,like I really, really do. We
have incredibly diverse talentthat, again, we go back to
saying that we're talking aboutthings, it's not just about
creating a pretty pictureanymore, are, you know, a
decorative piece of art, thereare contemporary Mississippi
(51:26):
artists that are saying thingsthat have to be heard. And
Mississippi is not a place wherepeople look. So at least, when
the time comes, and people startlooking, I want these
biographies by podcast outthere, I want these published
shows that we've been doing, Iwant people to be able to find
these moments where we all cametogether and created something.
(51:49):
And then we went our separateways. That's its history, you
have to leave markers for peopleor they're never going to know.
Angee Montgomery (51:58):
So out of all
the Mississippi artists that
you've interviewed so far, andconnected with, what would you
say, is a common thread betweenall of us? Because I'm
interested in know what, whatour movement would be, you know,
what is the commonality? Andwhat does that look like? For
(52:22):
someone who's looking back,
Derek Smith (52:24):
the thing that
everybody as a whole has needed,
has been more opportunity.
That's been a big thing. Youknow, we've got, we've got some
galleries, and we've got someshows, and they're all spread
across the state. But But we,we, it's not enough, it's never
gonna be enough to serviceeverybody that needs to be seen.
(52:48):
Another thing is, and this isnothing that anybody talks to,
but I mean talks about in any ofthe podcasts, but Mississippi is
not well connected with Wi Fi,or internet Are any of that we
have these huge dead spots wheretalented people live and they
(53:09):
don't have access to, to thingsthat could further their career.
They don't even have access toinformation where they can
understand that this is apossible career. And that's a
big dump. I know that they'remaking progress and movement on
on getting broadband out torural areas. But it is it's
something that, I think once ithappens, you're going to see a
(53:34):
ton more extremely talented,diverse artists being able to
show their work again, you know,it's the internet is free, if
you can get to it, but there'sso many people who can't get to
it. And so, I think that that'sanother big common thing.
Angee Montgomery (53:55):
Yeah, it's
true. I come from a place that
didn't have internet for a long,long time. And you know, as I've
gotten older, I just steadilykeep moving further and further
north to the point where I'malmost out of Mississippi,
right? I'm 15 minutes fromMemphis. Where, where there's
opportunity, right,
Derek Smith (54:15):
and we're in the
studio right now, which I have
great Wi Fi on. But if I drivefive minutes down the road to my
house, I can't send a textmessage. And there is no Wi Fi
there is no internet out there.
You have to do it through thanksto laws and regulations and all
that kind of good stuff whenthey were building these
companies in the beginning. Youhave to do it through cellular
(54:36):
Wi Fi. Which sucks so you knowyou there there's no internet
out there. So I you know if Ihave something important I need
to do doesn't matter what timeI'm going to bus back to the
studio and try to get it done soI can actually be connected when
it happens.
Angee Montgomery (54:57):
Yeah, although
I kind of like it sometimes. If
I go visit my mom, it's likeI've dropped off the face of the
earth. Nobody can reach me. AndI can just emerge from her house
like I was in Pleasant Grove.
Sorry, guys. It is.
Derek Smith (55:13):
You can tell the
weekends where I don't come back
to the studio because you don'tsee any social media posts. You
don't see anything.
Angee Montgomery (55:23):
So I want to
get into to what you're doing
because anybody who's seen whatyou've been putting out online
knows that you are very busy upand coming tastemaker, I must
say in Mississippi, you areteaching. You've got this
podcast going? You are doingcurated exhibitions for people.
(55:45):
And I don't know if it's outyet. But the publication the
magazine, right? Yeah. So. Sotell me, tell me a little about
your grants plans, with all ofthese things. And in the future,
like what can we expect fromMississippi artists, the artist
(56:06):
and the magazine and the shows?
It's continually developing,it's continually turning into
something different. It's notanything I ever expected to
happen. It all started in thepandemic. And it used to be you
know, I used to have it whenit's still called Spotlight on
(56:26):
the whole first season, I had,you know why we existed in the
in the opening credits. But itwas created during the pandemic,
because I was lonely. You know,I didn't have any students at
the time, I was working on mywork. But again, I wasn't
running into anybody, I wasn'table to have any conversations.
(56:47):
And while the world wasphysically shut down, I decided
to play to my strengths. And Iknew how to do things online.
And the way it originallystarted was I just sent out
emails of questions. And it wasjust gonna be a blog, I wanted
to promote artists and take downtheir their history through a
(57:07):
blog. So I'd send outquestionnaires and that was kind
of working, they would send themfill them out and send them back
and cut it all up and put it up,but it took too long. So now
that's streamlined into thepodcast. And I think what I
would eventually like to do isto take off, I've got to start
getting them transcribed anyway.
But I would like to take all ofthem and put everybody's
(57:30):
interview into one collectiblebook. You know, just so you
have, again, a documentedhistory of people that are
living and creating art andMississippi right now. Where
else are you gonna find it? Onthese, it has been so personal.
There are artists that have comeon that don't quite understand
(57:51):
themselves yet, you know, and Ilike having that wide variety of
artists. I like having thestudent artists and the recently
graduated artists in the midcareer in the late career. But I
think taking all of it, andeventually putting it together
and just kind of a compendiumwould would make me happy with
the Mississippi artists,artists, I just hope that people
(58:14):
are able to discover it, or todiscover whoever they're going
to love in life. You've got allthese great artists, here's a
ton of different profiles thatyou can go and pick out
something new to enjoy, anddiscover new artists that you
maybe never knew about. And sothat's kind of the goal of that,
(58:38):
Do you think that you would takethis nationally like and try to
show people outside of thestates, what's happening here?
Derek Smith (58:49):
Well, you know, you
can't keep a podcast in borders.
And when I when I switched overin December, I went from one
company that hosted and sent outmy podcast to another company.
And the company I moved tostarted giving me the analytics.
You know, here's where peopleare listening, here's how many
(59:10):
people are listening. We have,you know, the majority of my
listeners are, are fromMississippi or you know, living
here. But then we've gotlisteners in the UK, we've got
listeners in Scotland, there'sone in Brazil, there's several
in California and north in thenorthern United States, like I'm
able to see all of thesedifferent places of people that
are paying attention. And Ithink it goes back to that
(59:35):
greater connection of well iftheir life is like this, maybe
my life can be like that.
Angee Montgomery (59:42):
And maybe they
won't all think that we're just
dumb Mississippians
Derek Smith (59:46):
Yeah, just open up
a different side of our state
because we are on the news a lotthese days for things that I
would really want our state tobe on the news for so I do that
I didn't want to put outdocumentation of these points of
view, you know, we're living inthe state where here were
(01:00:07):
Mississippians, and we don'tnecessarily agree with
everything. And it's tragicsometimes, and we get a bad rap.
But there are a lot of us inhere that try our best to kind
of counteract those things andto show how wonderful
(01:00:28):
Mississippi can actually be.
Angee Montgomery (01:00:31):
Yeah, I
completely agree. I think I
think that might be one of thecommon threads between all of us
have this place. And as artists,we try to find the beauty in it.
And we're all trying to showshow our, our beautiful side to
what we see. I have have twofinal questions for you, Derek.
(01:00:57):
The first is related to yourwork. And the second is related
to your creative work, as youcalled it. So what do you think
is the big vision behind yourpersonal artwork? And how do you
want it to be perceived in theworld?
Derek Smith (01:01:16):
I think my biggest
vision with my artwork almost
goes hand in hand with trying tobe perceived in the world. I
want to get my artwork to apoint where I'm comfortable with
what I'm talking about. And I'mable to share it freely. And as
(01:01:38):
of right now, I'm notcomfortable. You know, there's
lots of things that I'm talkingabout that I don't I don't feel
comfortable sharing. So I thinkthat's, that's what I'm trying
to accomplish. And my art. Andthe overall long term perception
of my art, I hope is just look,here's a person at that point in
(01:02:00):
time that had that point ofview, art that was living here
that was somebody different asit would have been useful for
me, when I was younger, if Iwould have been able to see
somebody besides Ellen gettinglambasted on TV are willing
Grace being you know, torn apartin church, it would have been
(01:02:22):
more useful for me if I couldhave seen a queer artists making
a living are just being heardtalking. Because that wasn't
available when people got ranout of town. So yeah, I think
that's that's what it is. Ithink I just bought some time
(01:02:43):
mark in history that says thatthis person was here and it was
okay.
Angee Montgomery (01:02:49):
I think I
think that's coming. The COVID.
And all the stuff happeningright now with with race
relations and acceptance ingeneral, is, is changing. So
we're going to talk again, in ayear, it's gonna be it'll, it'll
(01:03:11):
take about
Derek Smith (01:03:12):
20 more years.
Angee Montgomery (01:03:13):
Maybe we'll be
comfortable with this art. It's
gonna be that fast. We're gonnamake it happen. I'll hold you to
it. My second question is, whatis your what's your big vision
for the little yellow building,and everything you're creating
inside this space? So you'reteaching as well as the
(01:03:37):
opportunities you're making?
Well, first,
Derek Smith (01:03:41):
I'd want to say
that and I put out a statement
not long too long ago, we're nota gallery, the little yellow
buildings, not a gallery, youknow, the closest thing that I
can come to describing it wouldbe a production house, where I,
I take these calls for artscalls for art, I take these call
for art and find Mississippiartists and put them together
(01:04:04):
and get them talking aboutsomething. Whether it be like
our first show, we talked abouthope, all the different ways
that Mississippi artistsinterpret hope. And we put that
together. All of that's justpart of a bigger plan to again,
have continual documentation ofthe Mississippi artists that are
working together and workingforward. The new thing that
(01:04:26):
we're kind of playing aroundwith and I sent out several
invitations and we're slowlybuilding it is called the
collective and it's, it's justartists that we've worked with
in the past that want to supporteach other and want to talk and
want to know what each other aredoing and help push everyone
(01:04:48):
forward. And it's important forme that I get these people
talking because I need to, youknow, I need the community just
as much as anybody elsewhere. Sothat's why I'm trying to that's,
that's what I'm trying to buildis just everything that I need.
I want to provide to everybodyelse as well. Because it's
(01:05:09):
pointless if it's just me. Andwhat's the point of any of that?
No, it needs to be lots ofpersonalities, and it needs to
be lots of talent, and lots ofcreative ideas that are going to
push Mississippi forward. Andit's next evolution of art. I
don't know if,
Angee Montgomery (01:05:27):
yeah, no, it's
so exciting. I had a huge sigh,
I want to open that email fromyou, as an invitation, because I
think it's wonderful to, youknow, not only be exposed, like
your work and your voice beexposed, but you know, as me
little Mississippi artists here,trying to trying to speak and
(01:05:49):
trying to say things and onlyonly getting so far, you know,
just being able to make a biggerconnection. Plus, I think that
this collective should involve,at some point in the future face
to face, field trips. Everyonehas to,
Derek Smith (01:06:09):
it's exciting. It
really is, I don't know what
it's gonna do. I don't know whatit's going to be, I had to
describe it to somebody theother day, and I called it a for
artists, because it's just, weneed each other. And we need to
be accountable for each other.
And we need to be making surethat not only are our voices
being heard, but the artistsaround us their voices are being
(01:06:29):
heard. And the issues that Iwant dealt with in Mississippi,
Mississippi is not ready for. SoI'm going to take my time and
make sure I support all theother issues that can move us
forward, in order to get me towhat I need to have, you know,
and having a big arts communitythat speaks with each other and
(01:06:52):
communicates and holds eachother accountable. That's,
that's what I mean. So that'swhat we're playing with.
Angee Montgomery (01:07:02):
Well, I love
it, you know, as I was a very,
very brief director for anonprofit here in Hernando. And
I thought that that would get mecloser to the art community,
right. But, but it didn'treally, it just connected me
with a bunch of old basically,you know, older people who are
(01:07:24):
retired, and now they've decidedthey're going to make some art,
right? But nobody who's tryingto make it as an artist, and
even leaving that place. And,you know, saying, Well, I'm just
going to try to be an artist,everybody. It's like, Are you
crazy, you know. So, you know, Iget that, what you're doing here
(01:07:49):
with, with the little yellowbuilding, and the podcast, and
the collective is just sobeautiful. And something I know,
that I've been looking for forquite some time, and I haven't
been able to find it. So I knowpersonally, I'm excited to be
part of it. And I just want tosay that, you know, I think that
(01:08:11):
your art and your work is a I'llsay a cultural entrepreneur has
to get where you can add that toyour resume. It's bold. It's,
it's striking. It'sinspirational, and it's this
(01:08:32):
good. So I just want tocompliment you in that way.
Because I think that you'redoing amazing things. Thank you.
I really appreciate that. You'rewelcome. Well, shall I wrap it
up?
Derek Smith (01:08:46):
Yeah, go for it.
Angee Montgomery (01:08:48):
How does one
wrap up a podcast? Oh, guys,
Derek, thank thanks for comingon today. I really enjoyed
getting to know you better. And,you know, I just want to say
that I still have four morepages of questions that I didn't
get to here that I really wantedto learn about you. So there's
still time in the future. We'lldo this again. But for now, I
(01:09:13):
hope everyone enjoys thiscontext. We're talking on a
Friday, February the 11th. And Ithink it's midday, so it's
probably 70 degrees outside herein Mississippi, which is insane.
But I hope everyone enjoys theirweekend. And thank you. Thank
you for letting me do this.
Derek Smith (01:09:37):
Hey, everyone,
thank you for tuning in to our
50th episode. This has been awonderful ride and I cannot tell
you how much I appreciate allthe feedback and all the
comments and thecongratulations. It's really
meant the world to me to be ableto do something like this where
I get to reach out and talk toartists. We have a question on
(01:09:58):
Facebook from Bob Brozek Thephotos in the latest art mag are
great little glimpses of theplaces you visit, tell us about
the Polaroid vibe you're goingfor. So the first of all the
photos that were sent in Iunfortunately did not get to go
take them my car is just ridingit last legs and I haven't been
(01:10:19):
able to travel lately. Butchurchgoing mule who runs the
membership, who runs theprograms of their sent pictures,
these wonderful nostalgicpictures and they reminded me of
when I was a little one, I wouldgo to local lake Lincoln with my
parents and their friends andthey would bring the camper and
(01:10:41):
they would set up the lights onthe camper and, and I just
remember the pictures that weretaken, there were all Polaroids.
And it reminded me of someplaceI could go to get away. And to
kind of enjoy the moment withfiltering out the world. And
that's kind of what the Polaroidbought went for. I wanted
(01:11:02):
nostalgia and it reminded me ofwhen I was a kid. Thank you, Bob
for the question. And thank youto the Friends of the little
yellow building their membershipmake all of this possible. Beth
Breeland Mary Hardy Gwen furyMary Adams, Jenny Howard, Jenny
Moke, Evelyn Peavy, the EvansFamily, Janet Smith, Buffy
(01:11:23):
Jordan, Jennifer drink water,the Smith family, Bob Ruzek and
Hannah Hester. Your support isjust the world I appreciate
everything. All right. Until thenext episode. Bye