Catherine Bell Smith

I collaborate with nature to make my work, collecting, saving, and preserving the stuff that is raked up, blown away, or crushed under foot. This simple act of gathering is where the work begins. There is an innocent and elemental pleasure in simply filling my pockets with these treasures. And it’s satisfying to see the rows of stacked boxes, labeled and categorized, taking a prominent place in the studio. But it’s what I learn about these materials that keeps me fascinated and inspired to harness their potential and use them as my tools.

Paying attention to detail on a microcosmic scale in nature brings into sharper focus the larger design. A stem stays connected to the branch while its flower helicopters away. Soft, feathery seeds are protected all winter in old shriveled pods. Sycamore trees shed their skin every summer making room for new growth. In this light, Nature becomes the means to provoke a conversation or tell a story, invoking connections that allow me to explore concepts of personal growth, environmental awareness, and cultural humility.

That exploration takes many forms, since it is the concept that drives the making. My installations require many months to develop and produce, layering reclaimed objects and commercial materials like fishhooks and glass beads with leaves, pods, and seeds so I work on smaller sculptures during that process to clarify and push further into the concepts that are important to me.

Always present is landscape as imagery on the surface of a form or as the form itself, circling back to where I began, picking up things and putting them in my pocket. 

Upcoming Events

Resolution, a solo exhibition at The Ohio State University Faculty Club, January 19 - February 24, 2018

Solo exhibition, Upper Arlington Concourse Gallery, November 2018