Featured Artist Patricia A. Smith

Our newest featured artist is American painter Patricia Smith. She presents her portfolio of work and answers some questions about what inspires her to create. See more of her work by visiting her website.

 

What are your goals?

My goals as an artist tend to evolve and change with circumstances and opportunities.  I have been in juried art shows, group shows and have had solo exhibitions.  Pieces of my work are owned by celebrities as well as serious art collectors (as in, the kind that preview Art Basel before the public does).  All of these accomplishments make me feel like my work is being understood and, for lack of a better word, validated.

 

 

A whole new set of opportunities have been presented to me over the past six months, including the possibility of offering prints through major retailer outlets and possibly manufacturing some of my clothing designs. Both of these are in various stages of negotiations.

I’d like to eventually see my work in a museum (or two or many!) and establish an auction history while I’m still alive.  These two goals have always been on my mind.

 

 

All the above said, I think the one constant about myself as a creative person and as an artist, is that I must stay true to myself, my experience and my voice.  I don’t believe in making “mistakes” as an artist – I see them as natural pathways that lead me to discovering another way of creating or doing things.  Therefore, I have a tendency to push myself to try new methods or experiment with materials or surfaces which are unfamiliar or challenging.  I’d like to (have the patience to) learn how to sculpt marble and granite.  I’m also fascinated by graffiti art and want to know the experience of going out and tagging in the middle of the night.

 

 

What are you working on now?

Currently, I’m exploring and experimenting with creating pieces that have a “buy one, get one free” component/sensibility in that two completely different pieces of art are created on a single surface.  I think it’s an exciting and unique approach to art that I have never seen elsewhere before.  I am also playing around a lot with plexiglass and forever coming up with ideas for installation art (which I have never actually attempted, but would love to do in the future) that marries my love of “statement art” with my word play.  I love the art of playing with words and combining it with art, which is reflected in many of my titles.

 

 

What inspires you?

I think it’s easier to ask me what doesn’t inspire me!  There isn’t a surface that I see that doesn’t have potential to be altered by my hands and converted into a piece of art.  Because I’m a writer as well as an artist, I read as much as I “see”, and I think the two work hand in hand to fuel my creative process.  I can be inspired by anything from fabrics that billow in the wind, well prepared food (or raw product at a Farmer’s Market), a shy smile to something in the news that pisses me off, intelligent conversation, witty banter, a childhood memory, great kiss or a dream.  I think I work in compete silence in part, because there is always a soundtrack of ideas going on in my head. I think I can call that soundtrack, “inspiration”.