Miss Casey Arthur

Rochester, New York

My name is Miss Casey and I am a local Rochester artist, community advocate and Creativeprenure. I am most known for my paintings and performance art around our city and beyond.

My art is a simple expression of the love I have for the life in front of me. As an artist, I try to create moments for people to pause and rest in the gentle imagery that my paintings offer. I try to carve out moments of silence and stillness to allow a creative opening for the viewer. My job as an artist is to provoke your sense of mystery, open-mindedness and inner-silence.

I have a background in international humanitarian aid. I have worked with refugees in Washington D.C and Bangkok, Thailand. I have witnessed a lot of human suffering, and it has taught me everything I need to know about the nature of life. I was often powerless to change the situations I found people in. Trafficked people, and people running from state inflicted violence, countless stories of children and parents being separated- not knowing who was dead and who was alive. It all made my life problems seem so small. I was a part of a global crisis I alone could not solve. Children, orphaned babies and elders wandering tirelessly to reach some semblance of safety but too afraid to rest. I was so temporary and fleeting, so seemingly unimportant to the problem or solutions. It is in the moments when I sit in absolute loss and desolation with another person, that I come in contact with a profound love for humanity. I know for certain no one is better than anyone else.

Everyone is making life up as they go along. Each person, everywhere, is connected to all others. My aim as an artist is to reach people and connect them back to their own humanity.

When people are connected to themselves and their core, they can connect with others in a far deeper way- and that will change the world.

When we all learned we would be living in lockdown for COVID-19 I quickly moved home to Rochester and my international work transitioned to remote work. I was living out of a backpack, and did not have permanent housing- a total free fall. I moved into an art studio and quickly became immersed in my art work. I spent hours daydreaming and dreaming up a better worldwith major change comes great possibilities for reimagining life as we know it. It was in August 2020 that I decided to dedicate my time, efforts and energy into Rochester. The same concerns we were facing overseas, were issues in my own backyard. I knew I needed to come home and tend to our social garden.

My background in non-profit work has propelled me into working within a community where I speak the language, and use my home territory to my advantage. My aim is to create a model of healthy, strong, interconnected community where we support one another on community promoting initiatives. That is why I run a developing non-profit; Muck Duck Studio. Muck Duck is an inter-artist space where artists can create work, offer classes, and experiences. Classes range from facilitated discussion, skill labs, somatic practices and live performances. It is designed to cradle the creative while they are on their very own inner journey. Come meet me, and us and see what we have to share. We grew from 1 to 11 (and many more) and expanded twice between 2020 and 2023.

For the creative, adversity is not competition, criticism, critique or negative feedback or rejection- it’s any and all harsh words we speak over ourselves and others. To condemn ourselves or others would be the greatest loss and failure. In fact, it’s the only adversity that will kill the dream, and thus the journey. We learn to share and embrace ourselves through one another. We cultivate security between us all when immersed in an atmosphere of trust, love, honesty, openness and a willingness to “fail”.

Creativity is a super power to be harnessed through experimentation and personal expression. Be bold in your expression because your personal story, when told, will reach the very person who needs to hear it. It doesn’t matter what medium you choose or who will hear it. Allow your creative self to be seen, heard and celebrated! Creativity is how we, as a community, will navigate change and growth. Allow change to naturally occur and resist your urge to control change and the process will take care of itself. Luckily, inspiration is contagious and it impacts all who are really open to being inspired. My hope for you, is you allow yourself to be inspired and see how it changes your whole world.