Kim Smith has shown at George Lawson Gallery and Inclusions Gallery in SF.  She is the recepient of several Jurors Awards for ArtSpan auctions and shows.  She was once first sold at the Visual Aid auction and also sold within the top 10.  She published a book (real printing, not on-line) of her work in 2008.  The book, Where Quirky Meets Menacing: an autobiography in collage, won several nationwide awards.  She sells her work through galleries, open studios and her business, Smith & Co. (www.VintageSmith.com)

My collages are meant to be intimate and should evoke a peaceful, quiet and simultaneously compelling response from viewers. Many of the collages are of a serious nature, specifically my recent series "Series For a Better World."  But, one can often find a humorous or unexpected element within the frame as well. I use art to voice opinions and ideas that I often don't have the courage to say aloud.  It is also a form of relaxation and I often spend days exploring galleries and museums. Artwork can have an overwhelming impact on me and strike me with a breath-stopping raw energy that makes me want to produce my own work. Having the time and space to feed this desire is enriching. I was born in Seattle, Washington in 1961 and spent 10 years of my childhood in Germany. I now call San Francisco home. I have degrees in Design, Economics, and an MBA.

I use vintage and antique materials in my collages, rather than modern copies.  I believe using the vintage materials maintains the integrity of the work.  To the greatest degree possible, I treat them in an archival manner.  My work is professionally framed with acid free matting and ready to hang. I usually use museum glass.

Narrative storytelling and mythology inform my work. I am so grateful to my teachers who gave me the skills to communicate in this way. Making art is the birthright of all humans.

I got hooked on fine art photography, the first night I spent in the darkroom printing my first black and white image.  It was like falling down a rabbit hole. There I was in Wonderland.

Photography is a medium that allows an artist nearly unlimited ways to express herself. I treasure the fact that I can make all kinds of images, many taken right from my imagination. The list includes blurry out-of-focus “street” images, staged doll scenarios, mysterious night shots, quiet observations of everyday life, digital composites and most recently, dreamy encaustic images. My work has evolved from the darkroom, to the computer and recently back to hands on play with alternative processes. Photography, for me, almost always involves an exploration, a journey on which I continue to explore my imagination and ideas. My most recent work is inspired by the magic and lore of fairy tales, the timeless stories that continue to fascinate.

For several years I considered myself primarily a printmaker, but my interest in pushing the boundaries of printmaking has led me more and more into collage and mixed media. I began my life in art as a painter and graphic designer, and that background still informs all that I do. My work is filled with layers of information and of meaning, and often contains odd juxtapositions with their own resonance, open to endless interpretations.

The works shown here are part of a current series inspired by fairytales and legends. Although several pieces, such as "Girl in a Box", have strong political elements, the series is primarily an exploration of visual art as an aspect of storytelling. All story-telling is participatory--you must have a teller and a
listener. Art is participatory--you must have a maker of art and a
viewer. In the moment of interaction between the artist’s act of making art and the viewer's act of responding to the art, a new piece of art is produced, something unique that may only last for that moment of looking. According
to Maya Angelou “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold
story inside you.” That is very true but, I would add, speaking of my
own art-making, that there is no greater joy than to have told a good
story.

"What the eye beholds
the tongue need not explain."