Biography:

The specifics of a place, the angles, the alleys, the tiny corners where patches of color flourish, bursting with energy, offer far more than a quick glimpse into a locale. Kathleen Smith is masterful at capturing the sense of a place, because the energy and color depicted in her plein air landscapes resonate far beyond their intimate boundaries. "Pastels became my chosen medium for their immediacy and the purity of colors which were part of my experience in the New Mexico light," Smith says.

A native of Delamar, New York, Smith freely admits that she has been under the influence of the New Mexico landscape since she moved to Taos in 1980. "It has shaped the very nature of my vision," Smith says. "Although it appears to be a very dry and arid place, I have learned to find the lush, private gardens the dramatic and treasured waters, and a particular spirit in wild and old places."

Like the Impressionists she so admires, Smith avoids generalizations when she paints, concentrating instead on specifics. "I don't work with a big brush. I break a pastel stick and I work with the side," Smith explains. "You are building up color, so I'll use a lot of color to build up one mass area. Rather than mixing a pallet and using one big brush stroke, I'll work an area and vary the color."

A graduate of Kirkland College (now part of Hamilton College), she studied at the Arts Student League in New York. In 1979 Smith won the Robert Brackman Scholarship Award at a Pastel Society of America exhibition. Smith has been a guest instructor at the Denver Arts Student League, has juried exhibitions nationally and has been invited to show her work at the Eiteljorg Museum in Indianapolis. Smith was awarded Best of Show at the Taos Impressionist exhibition at the Stables Art Gallery. Her paintings have been exhibited in galleries and shows nationally including, Washington D.C., Indianapolis, Chicago, Palo Alto, La Jolla, and New Mexico.