Christina is our December 2019 Artist of the Month! She is a chainstitcher at Fort Lonesome and the artist behind our much-adored Keanu Candle and the candle in our Gun Culture + Control Kit. Check out our full interview with her below!

Jenny Kearney: What experiences inspired you to get involved in art as a way of communicating?

Christina Hurt Smith: I am a designer and Chainstitcher for Fort Lonesome, so my main medium is actually embroidery. We work directly with clients to create custom pieces inspired by the narrative they would like represented in hopes of creating pieces that will be cherished forever. My mother worked a stint with my grandmother who owned a sewing shop, so inevitably I ended up spending a lot of time there. Seeing them use this skill was what sparked my interest in working with clothing. It wasn't until I was in college that I found my love for heavily embroidered western suits and the narratives that they represent.

JK: What projects have you been working on recently?

CHS: We have a show coming up in February so I have been spending a lot of my time getting ready for that.

JK: What accomplishment are you most proud of?

CHS: I think I am most proud of working my way out of a long stint in the service industry with the determination that I was going to make a full-time creative living, and here I am! I had dropped out of college and worked in coffee shops for 11 years, thinking that making a creative living was nearly impossible. I finally decided to take a chance on myself, and with a lot of encouragement and some fortunate events it finally happened.