Courtney Hart is a muralist currently based in Utah. A BYU alumna who received her bachelor’s in Art History, her story is as colorful as some of her paintings.
Hart has worked on numerous projects in civic centers, government buildings, homeless shelters and homes but most recently was commissioned to paint three murals for the Provo Municipal Airport.
The murals will cover three walls of the Provo airport, representing spring, summer and fall.
Hart said her art communicates the human experience and that she tries to emulate techniques of old masters.
“I also think it's given me like … a deep look into humanity and what it is to be human,” Hart said.
While Hart has found success in her career, her art has not come without sacrifice. For years, she battled mental health, financial struggles, homelessness, chronic pain and all the challenges of starting an art career, she said.
During a point in her career when her mental health was plummeting, Hart said she felt completely overwhelmed.
“I was just dealing with so much and going through so many things,” Hart said. “At that point I just felt like I was so broken and that like all of my potential that I felt like I had before was just like, gone.”
During this time, Hart was enrolled in a study abroad for her art program and toured different parts of Europe to study notable art pieces.
Things began to change for her when her group was in Florence and visited Michelangelo’s statue of David, Hart said. The statue was an inspiration and helped heal a small part of her.
“It was this just overwhelming feeling, that just because I’m cracked doesn't mean I can't be this masterpiece,” Hart said.
Mitchell Dyer, a close friend of Hart’s for many years, said Hart was passionate, bubbly and resilient.
“She just has a ‘stick-to-it-iveness,’ Dyer said. “Even when everything is not in her favor, she just still finds a way to keep going.”
One of his first conversations with Hart about her art occurred at an art museum in Bentonville, Arkansas, Dyer remembered.
Dyer went to visit Hart when she was living in Arkansas and said he remembered Hart studied art history in school. They decided to go visit an art museum nearby and said he was amazed by how much Hart knew about art, he said. She was able to pick out the smallest details of these art pieces he never would have noticed, Dyer added.
“I just remember telling her, ‘Hey, you should actually chase this dream because you have so much passion and there's not enough people in this world that have that kind of passion and actually go after a dream,’” Dyer said.
Dyer said despite the fact that Hart suffered injuries from car accidents, skepticism of her art career, dealing with financial concerns and struggling to find housing, she bounced back and continued to paint her own path.
“It's kind of nuts that Courtney is just still going where other people would have just thrown in the towel and just moved on,” Dyer said. “The things that she's having to deal with, I think it would’ve just been too much for me.”
Julee Richards, a friend of Hart’s when she was living in Oregon, said she was made to be an artist.
“Everything about her is artistic, the way she dresses, the way she speaks, the words she chooses,” Richards said. “She just is. She has blood that's made of artistry.”
Although she struggled for many years, Hart said her pain became a superpower.
“Those years of pain and suffering or challenges really have given me a whole breadth of possibilities of ideas to paint,” Hart said. “It's given me a lot of empathy for a lot of people and for a lot of circumstances.”
Hart said she is dedicated to creating art that resonates with people and the pain they feel.
“I've kind of come to the perspective that, like, there's power in pain, especially as an artist,” Hart said. “But I think that's what allows us to be like the poets of society. We can reach into like a deep level and create beauty from that pain that can speak to large numbers of people all around the world.”
Hart is still painting the final mural for the Provo Municipal Airport and has also decided to take up a job teaching at a local art academy.
“I don't even know if I've really made it yet, but like, I feel like I'm finally getting a footing,” Hart said. “It's taken a long time and it's been a very crooked road.”
For more information on Courtney Hart, visit her website here.
