Joan Skelton Smith

I think of myself as a humanist, an artist whose practice is fully engaged in the real world. I see my studio practice as a way of trying to come to terms with that reality and as a vehicle to share my response with others. I grew up in the Cold War world of the Cuban missile crisis, the Kennedy assassination, the Vietnam War and the Nixon impeachment. As a child I would climb up into the tree tops seeking a refuge and a sanctuary. Since the end of the Cold War, I have watched the world descend into political, economic and environmental chaos; I see the natural world which I always believed would persevere threatened by man's actions. Many wonder what the role of an artist is in such circumstances.
I believe that we cannot depend on 'those who are supposed to take care of us'. I believe that we each have to take some personal responsibility by doing whatever we can. I want to create strong, powerful images which will have an emotional and physical effect on the viewer. I hope that my work can in some way make viewers more aware of their place as part of the natural world.

University of Texas, BA in Art History
Bucks New University, High Wycombe, GB, Fine Art Hons First Class

2019 Tout un ArT'bre, Centre culturel de Glétins, France
2018 Les Arts Multiples,8ème Biennale Vaux-en-Beaujolais, France
2016 L'Art Insolite du Papier, 7ème Biennale Vaux-en-Beaujolais, France
2015 IV Biennal d'Art Drets Humans, Corbera d'Ebre, Spain
2014/15 365 drawings 365 dessins,The Keep, Reading, UK & Galerie d'Anieres, Anieres, Switzerland
2012 Remarkable Shed, City Road, London
Remarkable Place, The Keep, Reading
2010 Curator’s Egg, One Church Street Gallery, Great Missenden
Michael Landy’s Art Bin, South London Gallery
2009 FringeMK International Art Festival, one man exhibition, Milton Keynes
Fine Art Degree Show, Bucks New University, High Wycombe
2008-2009 Work on display at Autodata Limited, Maidenhead
2008-2009 Curator of Special Woods Art Competition, organising exhibitions at Henley River& Rowing Museum and Luton Hat Factory
Views of Buckinghamshire & the Chilterns, group show,Obsidian Art Gallery

2007 Perspectives: Special Trees of the Chilterns, two man show
Environment Centre,High Wycombe ChilternOpenAirMuseum, Chalfont St. Peter
NaturalHistoryMuseum at Tring
Norden Farm Arts Centre, Maidenhead
2007 Fanfare,BuckinghamshireCountyMuseum
2007 Buc...