Wellard: Smith Galleries offers a feast for the eyes
Wally and Jean Smith were deep in conversation with a lady from New York City, who was visiting their gallery on the second level at Wexford.
The lady was a long time art appreciator and a lover of the fine arts and crafts found at the Smith Galleries.
"Honestly, I always find the most original and beautiful pieces, right here," she said.
The Smiths regard each visitor as though he or she were a guest in their home. Now approaching their 30th year at Wexford, they maintain a roster of over 300 contributing fine craftsmen and artists.
"You know, there is a complexity in the understanding of the difference between art crafts and fine arts" said Wally Smith. "The line is blurred here at Smith Galleries ... especially when we look at the outcomes of the work of our contributing artists."
"Artisan is a word we often use to describe our creative family of gallery participants," added Jean Smith. "It applies so practically as, for example, we describe the quality of the glass work of Daniel Read, who worked for the famous Chihuly, or the very fine art jewelry of Elizabeth Garvin Fine, right along with the important paintings, photographs and sculptures of our many fine artists."
Wally Smith is a potter and Jean Smith, a weaver, and it wasn't long after they met and married that they developed a studio gallery, Potter's Mark, in Gatlinburg Tenn.
The Smiths arrived on Hilton Head Island almost 30 years ago, and in a short time, established the fine arts and crafts gallery, ultimately housed at Wexford.
Here's what I found on the day I visited.
The newest work of Heather Smith Jones, a studio artist and the Smith's daughter who lives paints, photographs, teaches, writes and blogs, in Laurens, Kan., is of two abstract paintings in a kind of color field format .
The new paintings -- 24"x24" -- are filled with brightly colored, vibrant abstract blocks of color and periodic references to geometric shapes.
Jones earned her MFA from the University of Kansas, and her BFA from East Carolina University and is represented by galleries nationally. She has completed residencies at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts and Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Her work is in the public collections of the Sprint Corporation and Emprise Financial Corporation and in many private collections.
The gallery also includes work by Beaufort artist Linda Kirsten Cole. Her exaggerated color choices and resulting contrasts drew me in. Look forward to "Fresh Seafood -- " acrylic and 30" x 30" -- and "River Inlet," acrylic on canvas and 16 " x 20." You'll enjoy the brilliant red of the sailboat in "Coastal Creek," acrylic on canvas and 12" x 12."
The work of Jack Pine, of Circleville Ohio, is also being shown. He has been blowing art glass for more than 20 years. He uses rich colors to which he has layered a variety of precious metals and enamels.
Artist, musician, teacher and writer Nancy K. Wellard focuses on portraying and promoting the cultural arts, first in Los Angeles and, for close to 30 years, in the Lowcountry. Email her at nancykwellard@gmail.com.
This story was originally published January 8, 2016 at 4:50 PM with the headline "Wellard: Smith Galleries offers a feast for the eyes."