Kathleen Curran Smits

How could I possibly exist if I didn't see this planet as beautiful? With all life's brokenness, shattered dreams, tangled lives, the earth beneath my feet has to be my rock, the skies above me have to hold the promise of new horizons. The beauty of the landscape thus holds everything and creates a solidarity with the heavens and energies beyond this life. It is my truth, speaking to perhaps a universal need for a depth only found in beauty and a need to seek what is divine.

Kathleen's landscapes are atypical in composition and use of color. Her work has been described as “never boring”, and “you walk into a room with her paintings and go ahhhhh…” Painting brings her a sense of peace and serenity and those qualities emanate from the work for the viewer to experience. Kathleen started her art career as a landscape painter, entering into oil painting as a way to recreate the New England landscapes that she loves. Her first inspiration to paint was at the Amherst College gallery where she fell in love with a Thomas Cole painting. She was taking an art history class there. Her work also reflects her knowledge of plants and trees in the landscape as she has a degree in horticulture. While living in Texas she studied painting with...

B.S. - University of Massachusetts
Studied painting under James Stegall of Fort Worth Texas for 4 years.
Graduate Certificate - Women's Leadership Institute, Hartford Seminary
M.A. - Hartford Seminary
Digital Arts Certificate - Sessions School of Design, NYC, and Asnuntuck Community College

National and Regional Juried Show Acceptances:
• American Artists Professional League - Grand National Exhibition, Salmagundi Club, NYC 2001, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2023
New Haven Paint and Clay Club Regional Juried Annual Art Exhibition, 2021
Connecticut Women Artists Annual Juried Member's Show, 2021
• New Britain Museum of American Art Annual Juried Members’ Show 2004, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2015
• Connecticut Women Artists National Exhibition 2017, 2018
• Faber Birren National Color Award Show 2010, 2011
• “An Arts Affair for Copley Square”, Boston, MA 2003,
• CT+6 Regional exhibition 2014 – West Hartford Art League
• “Exposures” Regional photography show 2014, 2013 – West Hartford Art League
• Audubon Artists 56th Annual National Exhibition, Salmagundi Club, NYC - 1999
• “Realism ‘98” National Juried Exhibition, The Stage Gallery, Merrick, NY
• Academic Artists Association 48th Annual National Exhibition 1998
• Hudson Valley Art Association Annual National Juried Show 1997,
• Yosemite Renaissance National Juried Show semi-finalist 1999, 2000
• Art on the Mountain, 2001,’03, 04, 05, 06 Wilmington, VT ,
• “Landscapes”, Munroe Center for the Arts, Lexington, MA 2003
• The Greater Hart...