Karen Williams Smith
Coloring Outside The Lines
Williams Smith has always thought of herself as an old soul. Even in early grammar school she questioned the meaning of life and how things worked. With limitless imagination, creative energy, and a strong drive to accomplish her goals she has explored a wide variety of artistic mediums and styles which includes fabrics, porcelain, polymer clay, acrylics, bronze, resin, mosaic, ceramics, and landscape design. The one common thread throughout her artistic career has been three-dimensionality.
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Age of Aquarius 2″ W x 20″ H |
Williams Smith was born in Chicago, Ill. When she was almost 5 her father and her uncle started an innovative engineering company and the family moved to Southern California. Being raised in a growing family owned business and in a place where there was continual building and change, greatly influenced her personal beliefs.
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The Enlightened Man 40″ W x 30″ H |
As a child, Williams Smith spent a lot of weekends camping with her family. “We had a Land Rover, not the pretty type you see today but one that looked like it came straight out of Africa. Dad would drive off the road and we camped where Dad decided to stop. We slept under the stars without tents. We had campfires at night and learned about the constellations and night sounds. I was also a Girl Scout from Brownies through high school. A love of nature is part of my being. It is what heals my soul.”
Art was always a voice for her imaginative nature. Her parents encouraged her special innovative creativity. They made an effort to expose her to quality art and classes for a wide variety of art experiences. She remembers excellent teachers that encouraged her developing talents from elementary through high school. After graduating she got her Associate of Arts Degree and became a dental technician specializing in crown and bridge work. “Sculpting gold and porcelain crowns and bridges was a practical art form that I enjoyed very much. I especially loved casting the metal and custom staining to make the new porcelain crowns exactly match the patient’s natural teeth .”
Her life had been all about raising her family and she realized as her first was about to leave the nest that life was going to change quickly when all the children left home. Before her nest emptied she decided to start a new career.
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Remembering Before 3″ W x 4″ H x 3 1/2″ D |
As a child she had always imagined the tiny paper dolls she drew to be three dimensional. She had dreamed of sculpting little mixed-media figures that looked like real little people. Williams Smith decided to become a realistic, one-of-a-kind, figurative sculptor before her nest emptied. She dedicated herself to learn how to sculpt the human body. She was warned in the process of her new career to pick a style and stick with it in order to become a recognized sculptor. However, Williams Smith chose to go against that advice and continued to sculpt each piece as her heart dictated. She explored something new each year like paper, wax and mosaic that became part of her collection. Collectors found her work fascinating and they looked forward to her explorations.
About the time she was starting to achieve her national goals she lost her oldest child in a freeway accident. The emotional depth of that trial changed her artwork. Her sculpting topics started to have deeper meaning and stronger story lines. That change helped to give her work even more recognition.
Within a few years she achieved worldwide success.
Five years after reaching her sculpting goal her life once again took another unexpected turn. Her husband got very ill and she needed to focus on his heath care full time. Art was put to the side as she strived to learn the ins and outs of medical care and insurance. She found she had a natural gift, and became an exceptional care giver. She was innovative with his care and doctors who started out thinking she was crazy told her she should go back to school to become a Physician’s Assistant. During this difficult time Williams Smith knew she needed to regenerate her energy. Artistic creativity had always balanced her life. In prayer one night she asked what she could do creatively in her limited spare time. She heard very clearly in her mind “ROCKS.”
Like her deep desire to sculpt the human form since childhood, Williams Smith had another childhood memory that lay hidden deep inside. At about the age of 7 she remembers sitting in the backyard cracking stones with a hammer. To her surprise she cracked open a geode. Inside was a crystal cave! She had never seen a geode before so it was truly a magical experience for her. She instantly fell in love with rocks and with anything that sparkled! For years she had been giving rocks to her national and international sculpting friends at art shows. She outlined faces she saw in the stones with a permanent marker until the rocks were totally covered
| Grief Meets Forgiveness 20 W x 20 H |
with images. Everyone loved her rocks but she had never thought of doing anything more with her stones. Once she set her mind to think more creatively about rocks she realized there was an unlimited opportunity to use stones artistically.
| The Light Within 36” W x 24” H |
Sometimes even with the greatest of care there is a “bigger plan’ for those we love. After several difficult years her husband passed away. With his passing Williams Smith took a couple years off from her art business to heal. In the process she found love again and remarried. She took time to ponder what she wanted to do artistically in this new phase of her life. Her realistic figurative sculpting had been extremely detailed. Her rock artwork had been a wide variety of different products. With her new marriage she felt a new freedom and a desire to loosen up with her future artwork and she had a strong desire to narrow her art focus in order to achieve wider success. Abstract art with rocks and twigs on canvas became her new passion. Each canvas also has crystal bits that sparkle as a thank you to the original geode that started her love for stones.
Once again she has set goals to reach with her canvas art. Her influences are as varied as her artwork. She loves contemporary mosaic artists like Susan Crocenzi, contemporary quilters like Lorraine Roy, and organic artist/architect James T. Hubbell. Master artists that have influenced her canvas work are Chagall, Van Gogh, and Klimt. That said, Williams Smith does not have any direct influences for her technique and style. She is navigating her own way with textures, twigs, and stones on canvas. Rocks gathered from around the world from friends or her own travels inspire a wide variety of subject matter in her work. “There are times I am inspired by the places or the history of where the rocks are found. At other times simply holding a rock will instantly inspire a painting. Sometimes it is the metaphysical meaning of a stone or a micro slide of a mineral that inspires my artwork”.
Williams Smith works these days in a special studio behind her home that is built into her flower filled garden in Oceanside, California. There are butterflies and song birds in the yard and vegetables growing in waist high boxes. There is also a spiritual connection that
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My studio |
General art wisdom still suggests that she stick with one medium and one style to be successful, however, she continues to go her own way. She has learned that some rules are important in the art world and these days she focuses mostly on her gallery wrapped canvas paintings that include rocks and twigs. Wisdom has taught her to be more consistent in her work and style so it can be easily recognized in a gallery.
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Rabbit Totem 13” W x8 1/2″ H x 8″ D |
Although her canvas art is her main focus she has not forsaken her sculpting talents. She sculpts in ceramic clay in a variety of techniques at an art class she takes on Wednesday mornings. Williams Smith allows herself total freedom with her sculpting.
The sessions are not really classes for her per se, but are an opportunity to gain energy by being around other creative people. It serves as a source of inspiration and the camaraderie and is a wonderful counter point to hours of solitude painting alone in her studio. Williams Smith is definitely a people person. She needs human contact as much as she needs nature and music in order for her to remain creatively innovative so she can continue to color outside the lines.
Karen Williams Smith