The cure for anything is salt water — sweat, tears, or the sea. — Isak Dinesen
Pull of the Moon Water. Horizon. Energy. Beauty. Exploration. The recent work of Barbara Lee Smith invites the viewer to step inside her world — one that has been a lifetime in the making. While at first glance these works reveal layer upon layer of material that forms a collage, the complexity gives way as the viewer steps back and looks at the work from a distance. While looking at it, two questions emerge. Why? How? Smith’s thought process is as layered as her art and in each piece there are glimpses into her life. She is a constant observer, a voracious reader, a generous friend and artist, and one who fluctuates between being a social butterfly and a hermit. This is why she can do what she does. Many of Smith’s early years were spent in Cape May, New Jersey. The vista offered her views of the beach and ocean and an amazing array of birds. Sunsets and sunrises taught her to look for color. One artist who caught her eye at an early age was Jackson Pollock. Her first exposure to his work was through Life magazine in 1949. She was 10 and captivated by what she saw. She also frequented the needlework shop in Cape May with her sister and bought stamped linens to embroider. Music was her early talent and she started taking piano lessons at the age of three. Although her musical abilities continued to develop, her parents discouraged studying music in college. Faced with a choice of nursing or home economics, she went to Douglass College (then the women’s college of Rutgers University) in New Jersey and majored in home economics. Here she studied science, cooking and sewing, but
detail: Sunrise/Kokkino Chorio, 2010, overall dimensions 49.5 x 78”
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