Audrey Z Smith
Artist Statement:
My work is inspired by nature, the interior landscape of emotions, and meditation. I am a lifelong artist and somatic psychotherapist and my work explores states of well-being in the way that I see and understand them through my art and through my studies of neurobiological processes of trauma and healing. I make art, be it painting, music or film because of how it makes me feel - alone but not lonely, not needing anything but that moment. I believe art has the potential to connect us all on a spiritual level. It can transcend language and inspire us to feel that we belong to something bigger.
My paintings may be about peace, the feeling of home, a specific person in my life, death, the space to be alone, a place of being loved and protected. I have recently been interested in “safety” and I am exploring what safety feels like in my body and painting these feelings.
Safety is the foundation of trauma treatment. In therapeutic processes, we teach clients tools to self-regulate and find safety when they feel scared or uncertain,. We have to know that we can find safety within ourselves in order to process traumas and painful memories, otherwise the memories can overpower us and retraumatize us.
I paint to be able to process my emotions. I use meditation as a tool to ground myself before I paint or do anything that's hard or that makes me nervous and a lot of my work is an exploration of things I see or imagine when I meditate.
I am also a musician and experimental filmmaker. My music and short films can be viewed and listened to under PROJECTS.
RECENT
Tantra Paintings, Ogden, UT, July 2022
Pollen Path, Lost Eden Gallery, Salt Lake City, UT February, 2022
Small Works Show, Jag Gallery, Key West, FL April 23-May 20, 2021
Political Discord, Las Lagunas Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA October 2020
Utah Artists & Adobe 9.0, Adobe Campus, Lehi, UT March 2020-August 2020
September 2019, Often I Am Permitted to Return to a Meadow, Two Person Exhibition, Georgia Art Space, Denver, CO
June 2019 Plein Air Show, Eccles Art Center, Ogden, UT
March 2019, Meditation Paintings, Solo Exhibition, The Range Art Gallery, Saguache,CO
November 2018, RITUAL, Littleton Art Museum, Littleton, CO
September 2018, SUSPEND, National Juried Show, Adams State University, Alamosa, CO
January 2017 BOB MOSS TRIBUTE PROJECT, God Hates Robots Gallery, Salt Lake City, UT
August 2016, Solitude, Group Show, POP Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
June 2015, Sound and Vision, Digital Art Show, Online
February 2014 Art in Residence, Group Show, Salt Lake City, UT
Spring 2011 Tyler School of Art Group Show, Philadelphia, PA
RESIDENCIES
November 2012 Filming the Landscape, Azores, Portugal
Publications:
Westword: Art Attack: Sept. 2019
Slug Mag: RESURRECTING DESERET’S SON: A CELEBRATION OF THE LIFE, MUSIC AND ART OF BOB MOSS, 2017
Private Collections:
Cogito Tech, Denver, CO
Randy Newman
B. Heinze
Brad Overton
Helen Elizabeth Davis
Jason Leiser, Esq.
B. Hartley
Nadia Awais