Mill Valley’s First Tuesday ArtWalk and Artist Reception
5pm-7pm | Throckmorton Theatre Gallery
NOVEMBER Art Exhibit
kim smith: above the line
Artist Statement
I am a multidisciplinary artist working across a range of mediums, including painting, drawing, sculpture, and printmaking. Currently, my primary focus is painting on both paper and canvas, with an interest in eventually incorporating greater dimensionality into the work. Although I am trained in and enjoy making representational art, working abstractly presents the most meaningful challenge for me.
On paper, I work with watercolor, gouache, and ink. One ongoing series combines these mediums, with collage becoming an increasingly important part of my practice. Rather than cutting up magazines or newspapers, I prefer to use printed reproductions of my own artwork. I manipulate these images digitally in Photoshop, inverting or rebalancing colors before incorporating them into new compositions. In this sense, my version of “found” paper comes from finding fragments of my own work or creating the papers myself. Reusing and rediscovering these materials allows me to develop a visual language that is distinctly my own.
Coming from a family of artists, I was expected—and encouraged—to look hard. The process of seeing is deeply individual. Embedded within it are the experiences and associations we carry with us, which can be excavated and transformed, giving depth and singularity to the work. If I had to name one thing that motivates me, it would be magic. Often, that means the memory of magical moments from childhood, but it also encompasses a more abstract understanding of architecture: form, volume, movement, and the interplay of line and color.
Ultimately, I hope the viewer will either see something of what I see, or find the work compelling enough to pause, study, and consider. There is a great deal to discover within these images, and I want them to reward close looking.
Recent Work 2021-2025
Media: Oil on Canvas Works, Mixed Media on Paper Works, Bronze Sculpture
Website: kimsmithstudio.net
Instagram: kimsmith5363