I was always intrigued by the idea of mixing construction or industrial materials with the fine arts to achieve a dream-like beauty and that combination is exactly what my new artwork encapsulates.

In my series of metal meshwork, I use industrial materials such as stainless steel mesh as my main material. With a blow-torch, I employ visual language to express organic-based themes with botanic, arborist, and even oceanic influences.

When it is finished, my artwork seems to be made of soft silk. But when it is touched, it is surprisingly cold and sharply metallic. I believe these kinds of illusions reflect life. And when I burn the metal screen with a flame from the blow-torch, it is all free-hand without any back drawing. This technique is similar to what my Asian ancestors did with Sumi ink over the last thousands of years, and when I work on my pieces, I feel the spirit of the ancient art coming through to me from long ago.

I would use various organic themes to accentuate this industrial element in the work: maritime elements as sea kelps, sea anemones and often abstract giant botanical forms and simplified tree lines—tangled and overlapped as if there was a permanent breeze in the air. I add colors by letting the background seep through the mesh as if you were to see the world through a magic veil.

With harsh industrial materials and tools, I am to recapture this unusual beauty, inscribing the ephemeral existence of sublime nature onto shimmering metal mesh.

Kim Smith has shown at George Lawson Gallery and Inclusions Gallery in SF.  She is the recepient of several Jurors Awards for ArtSpan auctions and shows.  She was once first sold at the Visual Aid auction and also sold within the top 10.  She published a book (real printing, not on-line) of her work in 2008.  The book, Where Quirky Meets Menacing: an autobiography in collage, won several nationwide awards.  She sells her work through galleries, open studios and her business, Smith & Co. (www.VintageSmith.com)

My collages are meant to be intimate and should evoke a peaceful, quiet and simultaneously compelling response from viewers. Many of the collages are of a serious nature, specifically my recent series "Series For a Better World."  But, one can often find a humorous or unexpected element within the frame as well. I use art to voice opinions and ideas that I often don't have the courage to say aloud.  It is also a form of relaxation and I often spend days exploring galleries and museums. Artwork can have an overwhelming impact on me and strike me with a breath-stopping raw energy that makes me want to produce my own work. Having the time and space to feed this desire is enriching. I was born in Seattle, Washington in 1961 and spent 10 years of my childhood in Germany. I now call San Francisco home. I have degrees in Design, Economics, and an MBA.

I use vintage and antique materials in my collages, rather than modern copies.  I believe using the vintage materials maintains the integrity of the work.  To the greatest degree possible, I treat them in an archival manner.  My work is professionally framed with acid free matting and ready to hang. I usually use museum glass.

When I paint, it is essential for me to experiment in subject matter, media, and style. My work may be representational or otherwise, although it usually presents itself as suggestive of the natural or organic world.

Because of its tactile and viscous quality, oil paint has tended to remain my favorite medium, although I also work in acrylic, collage, mixed media, and watercolor. I work in any or all of these media simultaneously and become involved in whichever medium and style I am currently using.