MARY SMITH WATERCOLOR
Plein Air and Studio Images
“The artist sees what others only catch a glimpse of”
Leonardo da Vinci
ARTIST PROFILE
•Boston University, Boston, MA – College of Liberal Arts – 1966 BA in English Literature
•Boston University, Boston, MA - School of Fine and Applied Arts - studies in fine arts – 1967-1968.
•Harvard University Graduate School of Design - Masters in Landscape Architecture - 1982
Principal, Mary Smith Associates, Landscape Architects, Quincy, MA 1982-2004
Principal Planner for the City of Quincy, Planning Department, 2006-2013
•Studied watercolor with Murray and Elaine Wentworth, 1973-1978
and with Mary Lizotte, 1989-1991
•Memberships
•Copley Society Artist Member 1975
•South Shore Art Center Gallery Artist since 1975
•Signature Member New England Watercolor Society - 2021
•South Street Gallery Artist since 2010
•Cape Cod Art Association Gallery Artist since 2018
•Awards
First Place Watercolor, Quincy ArtFest 2000.
Second Place Mixed Media, Quincy ArtsFest 2004
Second Place in Watercolor, Quincy ArtFest 2014
Nantucket Plein Air Frank Swift Chase Award, 2015
Honorable Mention, Plein Air Key West, 2016
Cape Cod Art Center Awards for Watercolor in Multiple Shows 2019-2020
2 First Place, 1 Best in Show, 1 Second Place, 5 Honorable Mention
Rhode Island Watercolor Society National Show, Fugi Wright Memorial Award, 2020
I’m looking for ordinary things that often go unnoticed and I try to find some meaning beyond the image— the empty house, the boats tied up for the winter, a blue chair on a deserted dock, a bunch of toy sailboats in a window. I try my best to avoid cliche’. On the other hand, sometimes I just paint what I see.
•Influential artists:
John Singer Sargent, Wolf Kahn, Edward Hopper, David Dewey and Lois Dodd