Hey yall! I wanted to switch things up for this piece because I have a friend that deserves a shout out. My previous pieces are centered around music, but this piece presents a unique opportunity. Caitlin Cassidy aka C|Cass is a PNW based visual/audio artist. I was first introduced to her through some of my music friends in the Seattle music community but what inspired me to write this piece was seeing her perform live art at Q nightclub recently. The intersection between visual and audio art has always fascinated me and thus, an article was born.
Caitlin is originally from the Chicago area but she reps the northwest now. Her first inclination that she should get into visual arts came from her mother. At a very young age, Caitlin discovered the bridge between audio and visual arts when she started to doodle and draw cartoons based on the emotion of the music she was listening to. I wanted to get more info on C|Cass the artist, so let’s get straight to the point with this one! I chatted with Caitlin for Real Respects Real to shed some light on her and what she does!
Real Respects Real with Seattle Based Visual Artist Caitlyn Cassidy
Q: Describe yourself as an artist.
A: I see art in everything around me. As an artist, I just try to show everyone the world through my eyes in the most colorful and personally unique way that I can. Life is such a balance of light and darkness and I really try to bring that out in my art to really embody the idea that everyone is balancing the good/bad or light/darkness in themselves as well as what they see in the world. My identity as an artist is capturing the energy and vibes surrounding me and bringing that unique perspective to other people.
Why She Does it
Q: What is your goal for your art?
A: Main goal with my art is to make people think. I bring a lot of different elements into my pieces making them one cohesive piece. Again, it’s a play on the balance of light and dark, good and evil, etc. even though it’s opposite energy, you balance both to stay whole as a person. My art becomes one cohesive piece after combining all these techniques and symbolism. But mostly I just wanna make people feel something.
Q: Describe the intersection between your art and music. What sort of vibe do you typically go for?
A: Music and art are honestly the biggest influences in my life. Ever since I was a kid if I wasn’t drawing, I was learning and playing an instrument. I’ve always been inspired by both artists and musicians and feeling their emotion through their medium. One of my favorite things is to draw in the studio with TezaTalks and hear my best friend bring such unique feeling and energy to amazing music. I feel like music and art are always intertwined. I like lyrics that make you think and beats that make me move. Like I loveeee a heavy bass hahah. It just helps me think in different ways and come up with new concepts to bring that vibe to my art.
Creativity and Energy
Q: What sort of energy do you want your audience to embody when they see your work?
A: That also sort of touches on the type of energy I want my audience to embody when seeing my work. I layer so much into my artwork whether it be intricate geometric designs, multiple layers of paint blending, overlapping designs because I want my audience to take a beat and just really lose themselves into art for a minute. The more people stare at my work, the more detail they start to notice. And when they return to it they see more than they did the first time. I went for a few months with a broken phone and honestly it reopened my eyes to the world. I realized I wasn’t taking time to fully take in my surroundings and appreciate what I was seeing. Any way I can promote my audience to take a break from technology or distraction to just take a minute and appreciate something in the moment is what I want to accomplish.
C|Cass – ‘Rogue’
Q: What helps you unleash creativity?
A: I listen to a lot of hip hop. throwing on some Kendrick Lamar, Vince Staples, Childish Gambino, or a solid Spotify radio station with a Tumblr or Pinterest inspiration binge unleashes my creativity into grind mode for sure. I’m never painting or drawing without some sort of music playing somewhere. Getting lost in beats and lyrics just breaks down any creative block and allows my thoughts and ideas to just flow effortlessly. There’s definitely an influence of the vibe of music I’m listening in what I’m working on. Also, I’m a night owl. Like heavy night owl. So I’m usually drawing/painting until 4am cause my ideas just flow when I’m vibin to music at night.
Now for the serious questions…….
Q: Wanna collab doe?
A: I LOVE COLLABORATING!! I want all the collabs. All of em. I absolutely love integrating fresh ideas and perceptions from other artists into my art. Bringing another artist onto a project just brings it to a whole new level since no creative thinks exactly alike. It’s so fun blending different styles and techniques. Some of my favorite pieces have actually been from me and my crew just putting canvas up and all of us adding to it.
Q: Do you like orange tic tacs? Pizza bagels?
A: I mean, if I’m offered an orange tic tac i probably won’t say no, but it’s definitely not the box I’m running to grab off the shelf at 7/11. Pizza anything is a yay. Even in bagel form – if it’s got some bomb sauce, cheese and toppings on it, count me in.
C|Cass
