Today we’d like to introduce you to Kirkland Smith.
Kirkland, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I am currently a resident artist at Stormwater Studios in Columbia, SC. When people ask me what I do, I usually say I am a painter; but for the last 14 years I have been working primarily with post-consumer plastic to create representational images that hang on the wall like paintings, but I use no paint. I am also working to create a sustainable place of permanence for visual artists in Columbia.
From the very beginning, I’ve always wanted to be an artist. I feel very lucky because I grew up in a home where my parents encouraged me to be who I am. It is one of the greatest gifts they’ve given me. They wanted me to have a college education but did not discourage me studying Visual Art. Although my interest was in painting realism, I came along during the height of abstract expressionism, and viewed my time in school as an opportunity to try many different classes, working with a variety of mediums. I fell in love with clay and majored in ceramics. I would learn how to paint after graduation. My father died while I was in college but let me know he was proud of me.
After college, I married my high school sweetheart, James Smith, and we had our first child while he was still in law school. Our family grew, and while he was building his law practice, I created a part-time career from home, painting commissioned portraits in oil, pastel, pencil, and charcoal. During this time, I joined the weekly sketch group, About Face, and it was the best thing I did to nurture my art and myself. I learned much from the other artists in the group, practiced my craft by working from life, and became part of a community of artists.
In 2007, James, an Infantry Captain in the Army National Guard, was deployed to Afghanistan. He would be away from the family for a total of 16 months. I decided to look at this absence as an opportunity to do something while he was away that I couldn’t do while he was home. Still wanting to study classical painting and drawing, I pursued a long-time dream of living abroad and packed up our 4 children and moved to a tiny village in southwest France, where I studied for 12 weeks at Studio Escalier. My mother came with us to help me with the children, who then ranged in age from 4-13 years old. While the children went to the local Catholic French school, I worked from live models in an atelier-style classroom. It was an incredible, life-changing experience for the family. James spent his 2-week R&R mid-deployment with us in France.
Back at home, I decided to enter an art competition in early 2008, mainly to challenge myself by having a problem to solve with painting. The theme was the environment, and the artists were to address an environmental problem in our work. With 4 children at home, I was aware of the amount of waste we disposed of on a regular basis, plastic in particular. Single use items, packaging materials, and toys that weren’t well made or were impossible to repair, all destined to the garbage. So many things that weren’t recyclable or reusable, made to be enjoyed for a short time and then sent to the dump. How to paint a picture of that? In the end, I came up with the idea for my first assemblage, Inheritance, using post-consumer waste as the medium for my painting. I chose to create a portrait of a child, an image both haunting and hopeful, to deliver the important message of environmental responsibility in an evocative and accessible way. By giving a face to the problem of litter and pollution, I hoped to make the point that we are the problem, but also the solution. As I continue this work, hope viewers will enjoy the work for its own artistic aesthetic, but also to see in them the impact consumerism is creating on our environment. “What we throw away says a lot about who we are, but what we choose to cherish and protect says even more in the end.”
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Like most people, my journey has had its ups and downs. When I graduated from college, I was excited to begin a career as an artist. I did not have skills in business or marketing, so I had a lot of trial and error, learning how to market my work and how to price it. I also had not studied painting, so I spent many hours working on my craft. It was important to me to stay home to raise my children, so my career didn’t really begin until my first child was born. And it started as a part-time career. Eventually, I would have 4 children and sometimes it was a struggle to get the time I needed in the studio. After studying in France in 2007, I came home with a new perspective and treated my career more seriously. By this time, my youngest children were in school all day and my work hours grew longer. I rented a studio in the Vista, and it increased my visibility in the community, as well as made it possible to work on assemblage projects without fear of little hands removing objects that had been carefully placed. It also kept bins of trash out of my home. I had also begun teaching when I returned from my classical study, partly to share what I had learned and partly to master it. I struggled with having enough time to finish work by deadlines and juggling the responsibilities of home life. But as I look back, I was pursuing what I love, and in doing so, could handle the parts that were difficult.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
For the last decade I have been known for my assemblage work. Although the work began as a statement about unsustainable overconsumption in our society, it has grown into a form of storytelling. The objects I use are everyday disposable objects which give a sense of nostalgia and societal connection. When creating commissioned portraits, I love incorporating the subject’s personal objects into their image, as if telling the story of their life through the things they loved. Portraits, in particular, can be very challenging but the most rewarding for me. I have always been fascinated by faces and figures.
How do you think about happiness?
I love spending time near the water. I enjoy the coast, especially the low country marsh. Because I live in the midlands, I take time to enjoy our rivers. I love taking my dogs to the river with my husband. While still creating assemblages, I am trying to get back into a regular painting practice and am happiest when I can get lost in the flow. I love making stuff, enjoy cooking, and spending time with friends.
Contact Info:
- Email: kirkland@kirklandsmith.com
- Website: www.KirklandSmith.com
- Instagram: @KirklandTSmith
- Facebook: @KirklandSmithArt
- Twitter: @KirklandTSmith
