Re-Published--Lost Blog: Treye Jenkins Smith: posthumous: His early love of art and history.

This was a lost blog first published May 24th, 2022. I discovered by going back to update some post that this one had been corrupted. To keep a digital legacy for Treye's children, I have republished it.

As a mother, you recognize the gifts and talents of your kids from an early age. I was no different from many moms. My son began showing a gift for art at around four years old, at least that is what I documented in a journal in the early 1990s. From that point, I began encouraging and developing his talent by buying him various types of inexpensive art supplies, as I was always on a strict budget. Art supplies then and now are not inexpensive, but with my love of art, this was one thing I wanted to nurture in him as my mother did for me only Treye was much further along in his artistic skills. I was around nine when my mother began her art nurturing and Treye was four.

You can see by his first still life drawing in sixth grade he was pretty skilled.

Treye also had a passion for African American history, culture, and reading. In his artwork, you can see references to historical icons and moments, and people in history. This second picture, Man on the Street is a drawing he did also in 6th grade and it is a study the class did of William H. Johnson, a major African American artist. If you look closely at the still life picture you can see a very large canvas painting behind Treye, which is also a black cultural art throwback to William H Johnson.

Through tragedy, we can never fully understand the why and when, but when you can leave a legacy of a loving family, friends and something that will live beyond you, you have lived a rich life even when it has been cut short.