Baker Artist Portfolios

Artist’s Statement  (Valerie A. Smith)
I live and work in Baltimore, Maryland.  I am an artist who loves to create colorful and meaningful surreal artwork.  My work is done primarily in oils on canvas, measuring not less than two feet in any direction.  I also enjoy working with colored inks, water colors, acrylics and color pencils.  In the past year, I created artwork on canvas shoes, cigar box purses, bottle art and artwork on vinyl LP record albums.
 
My life’s work evolves around colors and how colors have an emotional effect on the viewer. I work in the style of Surrealism because, I want each viewer to see something different or what they think they see in my work.  Often, I create stories or subtle messages within my work and other times these messages are screaming loudly that it could not be missed.  I don’t want the viewer to just see my work, I want my work to leave an impression on the viewer.
 
My personal preferences are to create my work from stretching the canvas to the finished product of framing my work.    It is my way of really getting into what I am doing with that piece of material.  Lately, I began creating artwork with found objects, such as repurposed vinyl LP record albums, canvas shoes, bottle art and cigar boxes. I print and mat my original artworks to be sold at a lesser price than my original works.
 
 I studied Architectural Design, fine arts at Maryland Institute (MICA), fine arts at the Towson University’s College of Fine Arts and Communications and earned my degree from the Professional Institute of Commercial Arts (PICA).  I learned to blend architectural design and fine art.   
My  work was featured at the LED Baltimore Art Billboard during the week of October 17, 2020
 
2014 – Interviewed with Oswald Copeland Journalist of the Examiner and posted on
You Tube as:  “Utopian Dreamer, Baltimore’s Val Smith”
2015 – Contributed a chapter to a book written by Jan Sinnott, PhD.
Chapter Entitled:  “Dual Identities as an Artist”
 
2015 – Mentioned in Gloria Garrett’s  - www.gloriasart.com/blog
 
2015 – Interviewed by a Towson University Sociology student for her studies in sociology classes