David Scott Smith : drink me

David Scott Smith, "Carny," stoneware and deer antler, 2018

 
 

'FIRST WEDNESDAY' OPENING: 5/2, 7 - 9 P.M.
ARTICULATE ARTIST TALK: SUNDAY, 5/6 AT 4 P.M.

David Scott Smith, "Clean Swamp," cone 6 stoneware, 2018 


David Scott Smith's newest exhibition at BRG, Drink Me, sees the artist continue to find inspiration in the objects and textures typically found in nature or combined with natural elements. Using these he explores concepts ranging from consumption to beauty, which as he puts it, "can be found in abundance, even in the tragedy of our national and global predicament." 

Smith is known for employing humor in his work, playing with absurdity and toying with contradictions. He credits his time as a child working in his family's taxidermy shop, where they would often pose animals on pieces of driftwood, with inspiring this. "Quail turkeys, bobcat, rattlesnakes - even though you don't usually see these animals on an ocean beach, for some reason it was very acceptable to perch them on driftwood," Smith explains. "In many ways I'm still fastening death to driftwood."

David Scott Smith, "Excellent Craftsmanship is My First Priority," cone 6 stoneware, 2018

Smith has been a BRG artist member since 2014. He received his BA in English from Whitman College (Walla Walla, WA) and his MFA in Ceramics from Louisiana State University. He has exhibited nationally and has received many grants for both his work and collaborative interdisciplinary projects. His work can be found in the permanent collections of the Sonny Kamm Teapot Foundation and Southeastern Louisiana State University. Smith is currently completing a mold-making book (Voodoo Mold-Making); his work has also been featured in Pottery Making Illustrated and Ceramics Monthly

This exhibition is presented alongside the latest works from Leslie Friedman, Kelli Scott Kelley, and Michaelene Walsh. All works from these four artists are on view, free of charge, during normal gallery hours (12 - 6 p.m., Tue - Sun) through May 31, 2018.