MIRIAM SMITH is a Laguna Beach artist who has shown both regionally and with nationally recognized galleries, including being featured in the Selections 36 Exhibition at the Drawing Center in New York, Forum 1 at the Laguna Beach Museum of Art, Three California Artists at the King Gallery in Philadelphia, and the Eaton/Shoen Gallery in San Francisco, to name a few. Smith studied studio arts and art history at the Art Center College of Design as well as the Otis Parsons in Los Angeles.

Travels in Africa and Papua New Guinea profoundly influenced Smith's abstract paintings. Employing bold brush strokes and hovering organic shapes full of ideas of grown and unseen energy, she fills her large canvases with a sweeping view of nature, swathed with moving trees and densely layered foliage. Her black and white palette combines an interplay of collage elements, washes, and adventurous brush strokes. In her smaller pastel drawings, Smith is adept at conveying a different perception of nature with strong lines and soft colors.

Smith’s art challenges viewers to give themselves permission to feel without apology, to delve deeper into their own vulnerabilities and come out stronger for the journey. The strong presence of blacks and greys represent not anger or sadness, but rather a deeper look into the unknown, inviting the viewer to appreciate the lighted moments when they come. In Smith’s paintings a series of purposeful flourishes pave their way through darkly shadowed terrain, giving the viewer a sense of an unseen energy of growth and movement throughout the work that elicits a response from viewers, enticing them to experience something more profound within themselves and in others.