Meet Alayne (Lee) Reid | Art Therapy Major

We had the good fortune of connecting with Alayne (Lee) Reid and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Alayne (Lee), can you tell us more about your background and the role it’s played in shaping who you are today?
I think my upbringing made me an incredibly independent person, maybe even to a toxic extent. I was born in Jamaica, however mostly raised in Florida. My immediate family has always been fairly small, and the distaste my family members had for each other was apparent from a young age. Not many people in my family are that close, and my parents had a messy divorce as soon as I was able to have conscious thoughts for myself and retain memories. I stayed with my mother and moved around Florida often, against my own wishes for stability. I reflect on my upbringing and family often when analyzing my own thought patterns, emotions, and actions, as it then becomes blatantly apparent “where I learned it all from”. Growing up I think my family environment taught me a lot of hard truths that I continue to unpack everyday, such as the fact that anyone can walk out of your life at any moment. From as young as I can remember my mother instilled in me to not trust people, and my father followed suit by being uninvolved in my life. If anything, I think the majority of my family showed me who I did not want to be as I aged.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Creating art, for me, started in middle school. My mother was a model and fashion designer in Jamaica, so she was excited that I was interested in the arts. I ended up going to an Arts Highschool that centered around Acting, Film, and Animation. Although none of those were my main interest I dabbled in all 3 class types, giving my intro skills within all fields. My father was never too excited about my interest in the arts, especially when it became something I wanted to do for the rest of my life. He would call me time and time again asking if I was positive about my decisions, and even if I was that I was WRONG because I would be “without money and a home” if I took that route. I spent many nights crying over the lack of support I got from my father growing up. It was not easy overcoming the negativity from my own parent, however I am an advocate for the fact that this is our personal lives, and our relatives pretend to live through us for their own pleasure. Growing up moving between houses that never felt like a home, it became incredibly important to me that my house is a sacred space for my energy. The art I create is meant to adorn the homes of people who too have pride in their personal space, allowing the art to not only be aesthetically pleasing to the eye but also to talk for itself, a reminder of our struggle and perserverance. A reminder that we continue to carve our path everyday. A reminder to be authentic to ourselves, and a-like energies will be attracted to our truth.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If my best friend was visiting the area Id HAVE to bring them to one of the music events that happen every weekend and is never too far from my house, do some major shopping, and absolutely visit the mountains. A few nights downtown wouldn’t hurt either! Id drag them into a couple art galleries and surprise them with my work being in one of them hahaha! I started going to the local farmers market at the beginning of the summer and it’s become a lifestyle! Id bring us to the farmers market and cook us some delicious meals with the local produce.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I don’t really have any role models or people I look up to and want to be like. However, as I continue my life journey I’ve crossed paths with people who truly believed in my success and believed that my life mattered, so I would like to dedicate this to the Marcus Garvey Cultural Center at the University of Northern Colorado and I would like to thank all my peers, teachers, and fellow black humans who feel lost and unappreciated in this world. We share one heart.

Website: linker.ee/itsleereid/

Instagram: instagram.com/itsleereid

Image Credits
All the pieces were made digitally, which is a skill I just learned this past year.