WONDER AND WHIMSY
Sally J. Smith
Whitcomb’s Gallery
May 1 through June 7
Opening Reception: Thursday, May 1 from 5-7pm
Gallery Hours: Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, 10am-3pm
Whitcomb’s Arts presents a show to welcome and celebrate spring! Sally J. Smith transforms our indoor and outdoor spaces into a whimsical world of fairy houses and environmental art.
Sally creates sculptures out in the environment and in her studio from natural materials. Her fairy houses and photos of her environmental sculptures have been exhibited around the world, included in several books, collectible calendars, and other print materials. These will be available for purchase during the exhibition. Sally’s creations have been celebrated in many print publications and in a Mountain Lakes PBS documentary.
Artist’s message: “I create my sculptures year-round in the richly textured landscape of the Adirondack Mountains of northern New York. Working primarily with materials I have collected from the forest myself, the finished pieces thus have a sense of unity and harmony, as if they belong to the land which formed them. And yet, there is a deep spiritual quality present in the works as well that hints of worlds beyond our own, perhaps lost in time.
After the materials are gathered and the sculptures are made they must then be photographed, which I also do myself. I do not use AI or photo-shopped tricks to create any of my images and never will. The images always represent actual sculptures digitally captured with minimal editing and correcting.
My hope is that the images can infuse the viewer with some of the timeless mystery and magic I often feel when I first view a completed sculpture out in the wilds… the sense that it is truly possible to live in respectful harmonious resonance WITH the living Earth.”
Sally J. Smith is an entirely self-taught artist, supporting herself through her work since 1976. She grew up in the northern forests and fields of Vermont and the Adirondacks, where she now makes her home in Westport, NY. In 2006 she relinquished a successful career as a watercolor illustrator and began her collaborative journey working directly with Nature.