Alyssa Smith
Alyssa grew up in both France and the United States. She received a bachelor’s degree in art from Taylor University and also studied drawing and painting in France and Italy. After college, she taught high school drawing and painting in Germany for five years before going back to school and receiving an MFA in Painting from the New York Academy of Art. Life then took a rather unexpected detour. In 2015, because of a chemical sensitivity to paint, painting was put to the side while she pursued other interests. She worked on organic farms in South Carolina, New York and then Northern Michigan, traveling back and forth between France and Michigan during the off season. Experiencing the natural world, the seasons and weather in such a close way shifted her work significantly when she returned to painting. She now lives and works in Traverse City.
Wild Harvest, Oil on Masonite, 16x20”
Artist Statement
Alyssa’s most recent work has been a series of seemingly simple images depicting moments in time or memories, often of plants or flowers with healing properties. She sees aspects of mundane life as portals into deeper wisdom. Many aspects of the natural world have become anonymous despite deep histories. There is something to be gained in the act of noticing and naming the small things. Environment and our relationship to it then presents a springboard from which we learn of our own story and cycles of life. Imagery acts as a mirror, describing more a state of mind or emotion than the thing itself. Is it the idea of depicting the invisible energetic qualities of her subjects that she is most interested in.
At Tusen Takk
While at Tusen Takk, Alyssa continued her experimentation with monoprints, exploring color layering possibilities. The main subject during her residency is a flowering plant called "Everlasting" also known as Helichrysum. The plant gets its name from the bright yellow flowers that maintain their color, even when dried. The flowers are mentioned for their healing properties as far back as the 3rd century BCE and, more recently, studies have further outlined its properties, both as an anti-inflammatory aide and as having similar effects to cortisol when properly distilled, aiding in the effects of several autoimmune diseases. Many teachings in indigenous cultures outline how form follows function or rather, how similar characteristics are woven throughout the natural world - plants, animals, and humans sharing common ground. When we are aware, we are guided in some way toward the plant that has what we need. Similarly in homeopathy, the character of the plant will help ease the symptoms of the person of the same character. For Alyssa, she is interested in learning more about this way of thinking and what this means visually.
Helichrysum grows in abundance in her mom’s garden. In France, its common name is "Immortelle". It interests Alyssa on many levels: for its truly electric yellow color as well as its history. The time she spent at Tusen Takk, experimenting with color shape and form, was in effort to communicate some of the deep wisdom of the natural world and what it offers us.
Immortelle (everlasting), Oil on gessoed paper, 6x8”
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