Today we’d like to introduce you to Sutton Crank.
Hi Sutton, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
For me, painting is representative of my self-growth journey. It has been the catalyst for getting to know myself post-formal education. I’ve always enjoyed creation painting – and I had a talent for it in grade school. But I also have always had a knack for self-introspection. Noticing the deepness and profoundness of life. It was after graduating college when I had a moment of “this is it, huh”. I had successfully found a job, moved to a new city, was receiving income… and it felt overwhelmingly dull. I didn’t glow with anticipation going into my new job in the ER. In fact, I developed a pit in my stomach before each shift. Because I was an empath, and you have to numb yourself to the trauma you see in order to survive. And so I would come home to this house I lived in by myself, in a city mostly foreign to me, and try to process. There was one moment in particular that foretold my career in the field of creation and it was when my phone was stolen by one of my patients. I was new to my job, someone I didn’t know had all of my information, knew where I lived, I didn’t have any means to reach anyone, I had yet to make friends in the city, and I couldn’t numb the anxiety of my mind. It was a moment of complete isolation for me. And so I painted. I took the experience of being an alien in a new city, completely lost and down on my luck, and I channeled it into colors and textures. It became an obsession. I ended up creating a body of work that received lots of love from people on social media, and it was a solidifying experience for me. I decided to go at this creative thing with my whole gut. I created a website, started promoting myself, and sought out any opportunity to show it. Nailing down my creative voice and style has been a longer process (and is always still evolving), but I jumped in and went for it, anyways.
Fast forward a few years and I got the opportunity to create a series of work out in the Chihuahuan desert, my first solo-travel trip. It was cathartic and ended up becoming an artistic revolution for me. I focused on channeling my experience in the neurosciences (and obsession with synesthesia) into an artistic expression and spectral meditation (a true combination of my formal education along with my passion for the arts). The work is largely inspired by the Earth and my attempt to capture the synesthetic qualities of a moment in time. That’s where you can find me today- presenting the series where I can and working on a new body of work that feels more intuitive, without a theme… I can’t wait to show them to you.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It’s difficult to put into words how I feel about my journey simply because I still feel very much in the thick of it. That is, however, the beauty and interest in creation: there are always ideas swirling around our brain that are yet to be expressed, and if it’s a smooth road, it’s likely not worth going down. Interesting art requires gut. And exposing yourself to the elements for the sake of your art is the artist’s plight. A particular struggle that plagues me is imposter syndrome- I’m not a classically trained artist and that has required a huge learning curve. When I look around me, it feels like I took the last bus and showed up late. It’s proving to others that even though I don’t have the experience or education you do, my work is still valuable. There is an additional layer to the artists’ journey when you don’t come from the “correct” places, but I am trying to lean into that– lean into what makes my art unique and authentically me.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I like to generalize myself as a “creative”, because I have a lot of interests within the arts, but I am primarily known as a painter. I create colorful, watery, abstract pieces based off of the neurological phenomenon of synesthesia — a sensory experience crossover. For me, that looks like music as a texture, feelings as a color, words as an abrupt line across the page, taste as an unexplainable mark. Some pieces represent an emotion felt, like the pit in your stomach when you’re alone in a strange place. Some are metaphysical representations of the natural Earth, like the flower I picked on a walk. Each piece is a form of spectral meditation for me as I aim to blend mental health and neuroscience with layers of colors and textures.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
I would definitely view myself as a risk-taker. I mean, I have chosen to pursue a life that requires me to journey into the depths of my mind and put it on canvas for others to admire and relate or gawk at. I think that requires a good bit of risk. Because for me, art isn’t just pretty color combinations, the pieces are personal experiences, a diary of sorts. And the bravest thing we can do is to crack open ourselves to allow others in for a look. It’s also required quite a bit of risk to believe in myself/my abilities. I scaled back my hours as a nurse in order to pursue my creative pursuits, I moved to a new city, I traveled by myself to isolation, I’ve put my heart on my sleeve: and to believe in yourself in that way certainly requires risk.
Contact Info:
- Email: Suttoncrank@gmail.com
- Website: www.suttoncrank.com
- Instagram: @suttonfcrank
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100075841175827
