Sue Smith is a studio painter living in Central Oregon. Raised in California, she moved to Oregon in 1972. After a career in small business she returned to Oregon State University - Cascades, where she earned a degree in art and the Distinguished Student – Department of Art Award in 2005. She is represented in Central Oregon by High Desert Gallery.
“I’ve always been drawn to the idea that a good landscape painting is an invitation to explore. Where I live there is immense solitude, wild skies and secluded places. My work is about stepping in to this vast unknown and discovering what you might find there, of being alone without being lonely. My focus is to find a simple beauty in nature, without sentimentality.
My painting process is always evolving, as I seek better solutions to describe what I see. I paint directly, slowly allowing the forms to emerge from either the darkness or the light. I will use whatever tool gives me the surface quality I want, be that brush, or palette knife or rag. I believe the painting surface can communicate as much to the sense of light as the imagery – the overlaying of compliments, drawing back into wet paint, resolving the edges, thick and thin paint application. Everything you do affects what you’ve done and will do next. I am always learning, trying to capture with freshness and spontaneity this thing we call beauty.”
Born: 1948
2005 B.S./Fine Art, Oregon State University, summa cum laude
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS
National Association of Women Artists
Oil Painters of America
Women Artists of the West, Associate
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2010 National Association of Women Artists 120th Exhibition, New York, NY
2010 “WAOWing the Golden State” – 40th National Juried Show, Women Artists of the West, El Cajon, CA
2009 25th National Juried Show of the National Society of Artists, Clute, TX
2009 Edmonds Art Festival, Edmonds, WA
2009 National Association of Women Artists 120th Exhibition, New York, NY
2008 “Bounty” Group Show, High Desert Gallery, Sisters, Oregon
2008 “The Artful Beauty of Science”, Regional Juried Show, OSU Rotunda Gallery, Bend, Oregon
2008 City of Gresham 11th Annual Art Exhibit, Gresham, Oregon
2007 “Spirit of our Northwest Forests”, OSU Rotunda Gallery, Bend, Oregon
2007 23rd National Juried Show, National Society of Artists, TX
2006 Small Works Exhibition, Shelley Hall Gallery, Bend, OR
2006 Architectural Landscapes, Shelley Hall Gallery, Bend, OR
2006 National Juried Show, “All Our Children”, Bella Perla Gallery, Portland, OR
2004 39th Annual Aqueous Media Exhibition, Watercolor Society of Oregon Sweepstakes Award
2004 38th Annual Transparent Watercolor Exhibition, Watercolor Society of Oregon
2003 39th Annual Transparent Watercolor Exhibition, Watercolor Society of Oregon
2002 37th Annual Transparent Watercolor Exhibition, Watercolor Society of Oregon
AWARDS AND DISTINCTIONS
2006 People’s Choice Award, Redmond
2005 Oregon State University Distinguished Student-Department of Art
2004 Sweepstakes Award, Watercolor Society of Oregon
2004 People’s Choice Award, Redmond
2002 Merit Award: Figure
2002 Merit Award: Painting
GALLERIES
High Desert Gallery, Bend, Oregon, and Sisters, Oregon
Furnish, Bend, Oregon
