'Coast Walk' 2021
Egg Tempera, Pigment and Binder on Board, 1200 x 1200 cm
Paintings
Drawings
Lighthouse Exhibition, Poole, Dorset, May, 2022
Black Swan Open Arts Exhibition, Frome, Somerset, 2022
Roper Gallery, Bath Artists Studios, Bath, Somerset, April 2023
Final Degree Show 2023, Bath Spa University, Bath, Somerset
Aquae Sulis, Oxo Tower Wharf, Barge House St, London, June, 2023
Nothe Fort Residency, Weymouth, Dorset, August 2022
I was invited by Nothe Fort to respond to the surrounding space from their signal room. This room has been the lookout space for the fort and now boasts an almost 240 degree view of the sea, cliffs and fort. I spent two weeks here researching and responding producing serveral works including a three metre charcoal drawing. The work was then exhibited for the public to come and view.
Kim Smurthwaite
b. 1971, East London, South Africa
Exhibitions:
The Lighthouse, Poole, Dorset, 2022
Works in Progress, Roper gallery, Bath Artist's Studios, Bath, Somerset, 2023
Bath Artists Degree Show, Bath Spa University, Bath, Somerset, 2023
Aqua Sulis, OXO Tower Wharf, Barge House St, London, 2023
Residency:
Nothe Fort, Weymouth, Dorset, August, 2022
Education:
BA (Hons) Fine Art, Bath Spa University, Bath, Somerset, 2023
Foundation, Weymouth College, Weymouth, Dorset, 2021 - 2022
My paintings are, above all, energetic recordings of interaction and correspondence. A dialogue commences after the initial layering down and the ensuing exchange takes the form of an intuitive back and forth. A painting moves between awkward truce with many subtle resolutions until the moment synergy is reached and intent is fulfilled. These moments manifest as emotional landmarks, comprehended at once in a fleeting moment as a felt dynamic.
Other times, much more radical forms of attack are employed, a sander helps to soften areas or large areas are worked over with thin washes of colour.
Canvases are large and embrace the full reach of my arm so creating an equal energetic playing field. Layers build and newly reached visual conclusions often then becomes the instigators to new dialogues, the canvas always in a state of becoming. Working mostly in oil paint and drawing medium, I am always looking for new interactions and outcomes. I have recently begun exploring working in 3D with malleable materials such as mud, straw, wax and fibre.
Now based in Dorset, UK, my life living in South Africa has afforded me the benefit of experience and perspective. Visually rich and diverse cultural exposure continues to inform my canvases and making, as well as inspiring vigilance to my own complacency and predisposition.