Rhonda Smith
Rhonda Smith
Battle, detail installation, clay, wire, branches, fabric & found materials, 96 x 168 x 30 inches, 2019.
Rhonda Smith
Sulphur The Element, clay, wire, netting & thread, 36 x 58 x 18 inches, 2019.
Rhonda Smith
Building 7 Interior Interior with Annex, clay, wire & found materials, 9 x 6 x 6 inches, 2018.
Rhonda Smith
Building 6 Ghost, clay & wire, 8 x 12 x 3 inches, 2018.
Rhonda Smith
Building With No Number Ready to Walk, wire & found materials, 16 x 12 x 10 inches, 2018.
Rhonda Smith
Battle, detail installation, clay, wire, branches, fabric & found materials, 96 x 168 x 30 inches, 2019.
Rhonda Smith
Kelpish, clay and pencil on paper on panel, 30 x 26 x 2 inches, 2018.
Rhonda Smith
Aerial, clay & oil on panel, 48 x 72 inches, 2017.
Artist Statement:
OH THAT BEAUTIFUL PLANET
WHAT HAVE WE DONE?
Sometime in my childhood I was told to stop eating snow; fallout from nuclear testing had contaminated it, the purported fault of Iron Curtain countries.
Children's thinking is pretty clear if not fully expressible. Didn't those nuclear tests happen in the west of the US? I had seen the photos. Why could I breathe the air but not eat snow? What was the iron curtain made of really and why was it so depressing? So this picture of adults, unable to get along and inventing destructive things that couldn't be undone, on top of making up reality, was a major adjustment to my viewpoint.
I am by nature an optimist but have lived with an undercurrent of the dystopian at best, apocolyptic at worst. And now, in addition to humans mutual disregard for one another, we have the ineffable sadness of near irreversible destruction of the place where we live.
We can hear earth saying early on to its humans, "Here you are, plenty of breathable air and potable water. Just take care of me." There was no other ask, no other payment due. The other planets, too hot, too cold or not having the right mixture of elements, once looked upon us with longing and wonder, "Oh, that beautiful planet! We are so far away from having all that." Now they sing a lament.
Nature, adaptive, reactive, intelligent cannot retain its former composition. Taking this all into account, I have made pieces that are homage to the beauty and intricacies of natural phenomenon and, in an installation, created a battle sight that visualizes my distraught view of man versus nature. Buildings, constructed of clay, wire and found materials, represent humankind. They are under assault. The nature component in this installation is intent on being yet also besieged.
Artist Bio
Rhonda Smith's work reflects the great aberration of humans destroying nature, the very thing that sustains their bodies and souls. In 2016 she switched mediums from painting to sculpture in order to more widely explore the world of forms. Rhonda Smith's exhibitions include: Oh That Beautiful Planet, What Have We Done? coming in June 2019 to Boston's Kingston Gallery; Walking on Rock and Water, a solo show at U. Mass Amherst's Hampden Gallery, 2017; Schemata, a two person show at the Chandler Gallery Maud Morgan Arts, Cambridge, MA 2016; And There Was Matter, a solo show at Kingston Gallery, Boston MA 2014; Fragile Navigation, a four person exhibit at Danforth Art Museum, Framingham, MA 2012; and Particles and Waves a group exhibit at Iliad Contemporary, NY, NY 2012. She is part of the Boston, MA community of artists and works as well in southern Maine. Her work is in many corporate and private collections. Her education includes a BA from St Lawrence University, Canton, NY and further education at the School of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA, and the Cooperativa Mosaicisti, Ravenna, Italy. She has also been a fellow at the Vermont Studio Center.
Exhibitions
Solastalgia, January 20-February 28, 2021
Layers of Memory, group show on Artsy, January 20-February 28, 2021
Pangaea and Panthalassa, group show on Artsy, September 30-October 31, 2020
Transformations, group show on Artsy, May 28-June 18, 2020
Oh That Beautiful Planet, What Have We Done? June 5-30, 2019
And There Was Matter, December 3-28, 2014
Press + Media
"Solastalgia" Press Release, November 20, 2020.
"An Interview with Artist Rhonda Smith." Kingston Blog, June 13, 2019.
Landi, Ann. "And now here's what members have been up to lately…" Vasari21, June 10, 2019.
Gale, Natalie. "Six Must-See Summer Art Exhibitions in and Around Boston." Boston Magazine, May 16, 2019.
Rhonda Smith, Oh That Beautiful Planet, What Have We Done?, in the Kingston Main and Center Galleries, April 16, 2019.
Contact
www.rhondasmithartist.com
rhondsmi@comcast.net
www.instagram.com/rhondsmi
www.facebook.com/rhondasmithartist
