VANESSA L. SMITH

BIO:  Vanessa L. Smith is a Chicago artist working primarily in ceramics.  She received her MFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1993 and her BFA from The University of Akron, Ohio in 1987, with Honors. Her works are exhibited nationally and can be found in many private collections.  Perimeter Gallery, Chicago, represents her work.  She accepts commissions for both public and private collections.

ARTIST STATEMENT:  My sculpture is about the interconnection between people and ecosystems.  In them I explore beauty, fragility, destruction and regeneration, among other things.  I create individual works that come together in exhibition to form installations.  Recently, my works focus has been to overlay my personal experience with the exploration of water, reef systems, and weather patterns.

RESUME

EDUCATION

1993  School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL

         Master of Fine Arts, Degree Awarded May 1993.

1987  The University of Akron, Akron, OH

          Bachelor of Fine Arts, Degree Awarded

          with Honors, Magna Cum Laude 1987

          Major: Ceramics   Minor: Art History

 

ONE PERSON EXHIBITIONS 

2011 Perimeter Gallery, Chicago, IL

2009 Perimeter Gallery, Chicago, IL

2001 Fine Arts Building Gallery, Chicago, IL

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2010 Olympia Center Lobby Installation, Chicago, IL

2009 SOFA Chicago, Perimeter Gallery, Chicago, IL

2008 SOFA Chicago, Featured Artist, Perimeter Gallery

2007  All The Difference, Group Ceramic Exhibition,

         University of Akron, Akron, OH

2007  Packer Schopf Gallery, Chicago, IL

         Large Sculpture, Summer 2007

2006  Aron Packer Gallery, Chicago, IL 

2005  Living Artists, Group Invitational Exhibition,

         Fine Arts Gallery, Chicago, IL

2004  The More the Merrier, Group Invitational Exhibition,

          Viridian Artists @ Chelsea, New York, NY

2003  Objects of Desire, Group Ceramic Exhibition,

          Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago, IL

2002  SOFA Chicago, Aron Packer Gallery, Chicago, IL

2002  Natural History, Group Exhibition,

         Aron Packer Gallery, Chicago, IL

2001  Member & Guest Exhibition

         Fine Arts Building Gallery, Chicago, IL

1998  New Work, Barat College, Lake Forest, IL

1992  CAA/MFA: Juried Exhibition

          College Art Association,

          School of the Art Institute of Chicago,

          Gallery 2,  Chicago, IL

1989  Artspace

         Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art,

         Cleveland, OH

1988  Faces at SPACES

         SPACES Gallery, Cleveland, OH

1988  Off the Wall

         Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art,

         Cleveland, OH

1988  Three Emerging Artists

          Akron Woman's City Club, Akron, OH

1987  Northeast Ohio Ceramic Invitational

         Cuyahoga Valley Art Center, Cuyahoga Falls, OH

1987  Women at Work, Juried Exhibition,

          Third Place Award, Perkins Gallery,

          University of Akron, Akron, OH

1987  Artists of Studio 828, Studio 828, Akron, OH

1987  Explore and Discover

         Akron Art Museum, Akron, OH

1986  Drawing in Foundation Studies in Art: Goals

         and Strategies, National Juried Exhibition,

         Allen R. Hite Art Institute,

         The University of Louisville, Louisville, KY

 

COLLECTIONS

Ron and Anita Wornick, San Francisco, CA

Dalores Polyak, Miami, FL

Harold Ecker, Joseph and Barbara Epstein,Tom and Mary Graham, Marjorie Graham, Lucille Herman, Barbara Jaks, Karen Henni Keland, Peter and Kate McGovern, Jutta Peddinghaus, Marcia Winograd and Private Collections, Chicago, and Chicago area, IL

Denis Duer, NE

Pat Dahlman and Michael DalCerro, NJ

Sharon Mier, NY

Gloria and Sonny Kamm, Kamm Teapot Foundation, Sparta, NC

Donna Webb and Joseph BlueSky, and Private Collections, Akron, OH

Private Collections, Cleveland, OH

Kelly McNeill, TX

Ross and Nancy Stevenson, VT

Lindsay Michimoto, Sandler Architects, LLC, Mark and Carol Smith, and Private Collections, Seattle, WA

Karen Johnson Boyd, Racine, WI

 

PUBLICATIONS AND MEDIA

2009  The Chicago Collection, Fall 2009,

         The Power of Art, Audrey Michelle Mast, page 43.

2005  Living Artists, 3rd ed., Juried publication,

         Ivy Sundell, Crow Woods Publications

2005  Art Beat:  WTTW, Sculptural Art,

         aired 1/14 - 16/05, Exhibition review,

         Artists-In-Residence Exhibition

         Fine Arts Building, Chicago, IL.

2005  Hands in Clay, 5th ed., Charlotte F. Speight

         and John Toki, McGraw Hill.

2002  Sculptural work discussed by Victoria Lautman

          on WBEZ, Program 848, aired 5/28/02,

          Natural History Exhibition, Aron Packer Gallery.

1999  Hands in Clay, 4th ed., Speight and Toki,

         California College of Arts and Crafts,

         Mayfield Publishing Co.