Paintings Travel to Los Angeles for Solo Exhibit

By TERESA WINCHESTER

It’s a long way from Carrie Mae Smith’s Italianate stone house in Gilbertsville to Los Angeles and Lowell Ryan Projects, a split-level art gallery with an art deco exterior. Nevertheless, Smith made the 2,764-mile trip with her husband, Greg Watson, on February 14 to open her first solo exhibit at the gallery, which welcomes artists whose work crosses disciplinary boundaries.

“It’s the most significant gallery show I’ve had to date,” Smith said.

Smith’s paintings largely feature vintage porcelain and flatware. Her work, both in its subject matter and in its soft, luminous technique, evokes a more genteel era, when tea was served formally in dainty cup and saucer sets and cream poured from a small pitcher instead of a wax carton.

Smith, in fact, lived in this more elegant world to some extent, working during summers on Martha’s Vineyard as a private chef for the same family from 1995 to 2010.

“This job was like a combination of being Mrs. Patmore and Mrs. Hughes,” Smith laughed, referring to the iconic Downton Abbey characters.

The installation’s title, “Four Plates and Four Forks,” is taken from one of the exhibit’s 30 paintings, which are small-scale, with dimensions ranging from 12 by 14 to 14 by 17 inches. Smith paints with oil on aluminum composite material, a substrate designed for architects and sign makers.

“I like a stable substance for painting, one that doesn’t change with humidity—a hard, smooth surface,” Smith said.

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