Jordan A. Smith
Bio

Maine born and raised, Jordan Smith has been making art since he could grasp a pencil. He began showing his drawings, prints and paintings in galleries while still a teenager; then turned his attention to stone, in awe of the possibilities of the medium and the technical challenges it presents. His distinctive stone sculptures explore the essence of the material, of a particular stone. Some of his earlier work includes water as an element, and later, exploration of the positive and negative forms cut from one large stone. Most of his work borrows forms from nature, the human body and abstractions thereof. Smith’s work can be seen in several public settings, as well as in private collections.

In 2021, Smith began circling back to two-dimensional work, in which he continues to explore his relationship with the forms and concepts that inspire him.

Education
• Maine College of Art (drawing, painting and printmaking)
• Bates College (drawing, painting, printmaking )
• University of Southern Maine (drawing, sculpture)
• Haystack Mountain School of Crafts (blacksmithing, sculpture)
• Southern Maine Community College- (botany and horticulture)
• 6 month Internship with landscape architect.

Exhibitions
• Danforth Gallery, Portland, ME. 1998 (paintings)
• Radiant Light Gallery, Portland, ME. 1998 (pen and ink drawings, prints)

Curated by June Lacombe, 2006-
• Hawk Ridge Farm, Pownal, ME. 2006- 2021, annual show curated by June Lacombe)
• Maine Audobon, Gilsland Farm, Falmouth, ME.
• Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, Boothbay, ME.
• Laudholme Farm, Wells, ME.
• College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, ME.

• Thomas Moser Gallery, Freeport, ME. 2006-present.
• Freeport Historical Society, Freeport, ME. 2018
• Leighton Gallery, Blue Hill, ME. 2008-closing
• The Gallery on Chase Hill, Kennebunkport, ME. 2006-2009
• Viles Arboretum, Augusta, ME. 2015-present
• University of New England Sculpture Gallery Invitational, Portland ME. 2017 and 2018

Collections
• June Lacombe, Pownal ME.
• Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, Boothbay ME.
• Cliff House, Ogunquit ME.
• Gorham Savings Bank, Falmouth ME.
• Burlington Harbor Hotel, Burlington VT.
• University of New England, Portland ME.
• Viles Arboretum, Augusta ME.

Smith’s work is also included in several private collections nationally and internationally.


Artist’s Statement

I am inspired mostly by natural forms; their relationship to one another and the emotions they evoke. My work explores these forms and the space between them both, physically and metaphysically. I grew up in a small Maine town, spending a lot of time wandering in the woods along babbling brooks and stone ledges. Whether it is a stone sculpture or two dimensional piece it is the imprint of these primal experiences in nature that inform my work as an artist.

Jordan Smith