Elaine Smith

I'm a collage, mixed media paper and encaustic artist

I am a Collage and Mixed Media Artist currently living in Pennsylvania with my husband and 14 year old daughter. I started my art career at The Art Institute of Pittsburgh graduating with a degree in Graphic Arts in 1979. After working in that field for two years, I spent the next 17 years working in the family restaurant business as a general manager. I did fulfill my creative needs during those "restaurant" years however by attending many classes and producing a great deal of free lance art work throughout those years.

I studied Fraktur, a form of Pennsylvania Dutch Calligraphy with a local artist in the late 1970’s and created many pieces for clients such as: The Lancaster County Human Relations Committee, Hershey Museum, Borough of Middletown, and Leader Nursing Homes throughout the 1980’s.

Continuing my education in Decorative Painting brought a whole new art form for me when I studied at Steph’s Folkart Studio in Smoketown, PA in 1994. I studied Decorative Painting with Ros Stallcup of Virginia, Beginner and Advanced Faux Finishing with Karl-Heinz Meschbach of Pennsylvania and Acrylic and Oil Painting Techniques with Brenda McPeek of Kansas to name a few. Subsequent to years of study with local and national artists, I have painted many original pieces and sold them at local art and craft shows and at Market Square Cash and Carry Wholesale market near Philadelphia.

An adorable three room cottage near my home, that I called The Painted Cottage is where my working studio was set up in 1999. One room was used for the studio and the other two for selling antiques and collectibles and hand painted furniture. I was also commissioned to do many original designs for clients’ furniture as well as wall murals in their homes. I began teaching Decorative Painting at the cottage studio for beginner and intermediate students and also taught children’s classes at the studio and at other local craft shops, the Township Recreation Programs and Penn State’s Kids College summer camp program for about 6 years. I closed the cottage studio in 2001 to be able to pursue other artistic endeavors and devote more time to family.

In 2002 I discovered a whole world of like-minded creative people through some artist sites on the internet. I became more involved in working with collage and mixed media art through working on collaborative projects with artists from all over the world. Altered books and ATCs(Artist Trading Cards) quickly became a new obsession. Learning new techniques was most exciting when they came from far away people and places such as Australia, England and Japan. And many very good friends were made along the way. These projects lead me to taking more of an interest in this new "alternative" art form and I started taking classes in collage and mixed media locally. I began to create more pieces on canvas and board with handmade papers, found objects, ephemera and experimental paint techniques. I have been a antique junk collector for years so I already had a good stash of old papers, photos and ephemera items to use in the collages and it gave me an excuse to go out and find even more...as if I ever needed and excuse!!! Combining paint and mixed papers in my art work has been the greatest discovery for me!!!

This past July, 2006, I had my first one woman show at The Gmeiner Art and Cultural Center in Wellsboro, PA and in March of 2007 I had my second gallery show at Katy's Gallery in Lancaster PA with two other very talented local artists. Both were very sucessful shows and they opened a whole new world for me. I currently have several professional showings booked for the next few years which will keep me very busy. I am an active member of The Art Association of Harrisburg, The York Art Association, and The Middletown Area Arts Collective and show my work in their member shows often. “I feel as though everything I have learned up to this point in my creative life has shown me the way to collage and mixed media. I put it all together and it works very well for me. It is a process that I thoroughly enjoy!” And now for the icing on the cake, I have been studying encaustic art(painting with beeswax) and combining it with my beloved collage and mixed media. I just don't think life can get much better!!!