Artist’s Statement

We are always looking at horizons. Every time we gaze out of a window or look down a road, our eye fastens on a place where land and sky meet—the horizon.

Often our view is obstructed. Telephone wires, buildings, signs along the road rise up and interfere. But the horizon continues. If we move away from the city, if we walk in the woods, at some point we reach an opening, a place where we look out, and the land meets the sky, at the horizon.

For me this is a restful place. It speaks of calm. And yet, at dusk, when the sky is colored with light, the wind creates a breeze, the clouds shift, the trees turn, and the landscape, for an instant, is alive and moving. The horizontal band becomes universal and speaks loudly of the power of nature and the forces behind it.

This is what my paintings are about. The force of nature. Its beauty. Its power. And its ability to change, to provide new views, over and over again.

Guinever Smith, 2001

Biography

Guinever Smith received a bachelor’s degree in painting from the University of Louisville and a master’s of fine arts in painting from the University of Cincinnati. From 1988 to 1993, she taught painting, drawing, and two-dimensional design at U of L. She also founded the Studio School in Louisville, where she is now the head instructor in drawing and painting.

Guinever’s own work has been featured in a variety of exhibitions. Some of the more recent ones include Language of the Land: Contemporary Landscape Paintings of Kentucky and Ecuador in Lexington, KY and Quito, Ecuador; the Cambridge Art Association National Prize Show in Boston; and a solo exhibit called Small Horizons at the Heike Pickett Gallery in Versailles, KY. Collections where her work can be found include those of Bellarmine College, the University of Kentucky Art Museum, Brown-Forman, Commonwealth Bank, and the University Club at U of L.