Kathryn Smith was always interested in the arts, but she began as a performer – dance, acting, singing – and didn’t take her first real visual arts class until her senior year in high school. As she got into college, working toward a degree in elementary education, she realized that she preferred art even to music, which she had always loved.
Smith
“But when I was thinking career – I didn’t want to do anything music related. A new program developed [at my university] – Art Education,” Smith said. She was an art teacher for several years, working on art at home (commissions) and found ways to work in the art community – “I just kept painting. I just couldn’t stop.”
For many, it’s a natural progression for teachers to go back and get their master’s. Smith started that in 2018 and didn’t want to do anything but art. By December 2021, she had her master’s.
“I don’t think I would go back to public school to teach art – so I’m doing community teaching right now,” she said. Her choice would be to work as a freelance artist and get involved in the arts in the community in other ways, or maybe even pursue post-secondary ed, doing some adjunct teaching.
Smith’s exhibit is titled “Grand Souls” and was inspired by her interest in portraiture and people.
“I wanted to start with [the grandparents] as an exploration of myself, [by] getting to know them a bit more and how they’ve impacted my life in different ways,” she said. She worked from photographs, some very old, and some of people she had never met before. “I was trying to capture their personalities – I simplified what was in the photographs. I wanted to focus more on that person and not so much everything else.”
To create these works, Smith sketches an outline on canvas then applies a wash. She focuses on the face and hands, and finally what they are wearing. “Grand Souls” is the thesis for her last Master Class at the University of Indianapolis. She has worked on this series since Fall 2020 until August 2021, and it was display at U of I in January before being moved to Nickel Plate Arts.
Smith says her personal favorite from this series is “I Used to Pick Oranges Off my Grandma’s Trees” – it’s her (as a little girl) with her step-grandma sitting on the ground with her. It’s more abstract, with a form and pattern.
“I love the relationship between the two, showing that relationship between grandma/grandchild – and how innocent that is, having grandparents down on their level,” she said. “A lot of people can relate. It’s meant to tell a story, not tell something realistically.”
See Smith’s exhibit, “Grand Souls,” now through Feb. 26 at the Stephenson House during regular business hours. While her works are available for sale, she is open for commissions to create a truly unique portrait of someone you love. Come meet her at the reception to be held from 6 to 9 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 18 and learn what she can create for you.
About Nickel Plate Arts
Nickel Plate Arts, 107 S. 8th St., Noblesville, is an umbrella nonprofit organization that creates and coordinates arts and cultural experiences across communities in eastern Hamilton County and the surrounding areas to improve the quality of life for residents, strengthen local economies and enrich experiences for visitors. Nickel Plate Arts is a project of Hamilton County Tourism, Inc. For more information, go to nickelplatearts.org or call (317) 452-3690.