Meet Lucas Smith | Electrical Engineer and Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Lucas Smith and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Lucas, we’d love to hear more about your end-goal, professionally.
When I first started creating art, my main goal was to continuously get better and eventually begin to sell my work, however during my 5 years pursuing art, my goals drastically changed.

Continuous improvement has always been a consistent goal for me, but art became so much more than just a hobby, it became a passion, it became something that I think about every day. The meaning of it started to morph, but I didn’t really have words for it until I learned a really interesting fact about Michelangelo who is one of my favorite artists.

He lived to be 88 years old and he kept creating until the day he died. He left behind marble statues that were unfinished, so even when he was deteriorating, he kept creating until the end.

That is when I could put words to my true goal as an artist, I want to die in the pursuit of creating art.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am an Electrical Engineer for a utility company. I graduated from ASU with a bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering with a focus in power and energy systems, as well as a studio art minor, in May 2023. What sets me apart from most engineers is my artistic ability, which gives me a little more variety in how I approach solving problems.

My journey to get to where I am was definitely hard fought. I struggled a lot in college, engineering and I seemed to mix together as good as oil and water. I failed a lot, I had to retake classes, and completely fill up my summer’s with classes just to graduate on time. There were a lot of times when I wanted to quite, but the way I framed my goal to graduate with my engineering degree kept me in the game, even when I was really struggling. The way I looked at graduating was not to get lots of money, or to land a steady job, it was to commit to something difficult and see it through to the end.

Throughout the process I learned how important it is to never give up on something even if you think failure is inevitable, I found I surprised myself when I held my ground and kept pushing.

I want it to be known, that a core part of my character is that I am unrelenting when I set my mind to a task, I am not afraid of failing, and I will continuously try until I succeed.

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?
I would definitely start by going on day trips to both Sedona and Payson, go hiking around and enjoying all of the nature. Break that up with a visit to Old Town Scottsdale to go hop around for good food and drinks. Then round out the time by checking out the art museums on the ASU campus, as well as go to the desert botanical garden.

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 want to give a shoutout to my closest friends: Jarrell, Lexie, Steve, Kenny, Steph, Daisy, Sierra, Jacob, Connor, Summer, and Dillon. I also want to give a shoutout to my family, whom have always supported my in all of my endeavors.

They all bring such light to my life, and when I think about the relationships that I have with them, I feel as though I’m the wealthiest person in the world

Instagram: luc_smith_00

Image Credits
Personal Photo taken by Mindy Tanimoto