Balancing Act

Kathryn Markel Fine Arts is pleased to present Balancing Act, an exhibition of new works by Debra Smith. This will is her fourth solo exhibition with the gallery. Textile artist Debra Smith manipulates her materials with the instinct of an abstract painter. Her palette consists of carefully chosen fabrics that carry history and weight. Vintage kimono and obi textiles contrast with contemporary silks, one structured and rhythmic, the other translucent, soft, and luminous. Each fabric holds the presence of its original maker, and Smith approaches the material with a deep sense of respect for the hands and histories embedded in the cloth. The resulting works are cut, layered, and sewn through an intuitive process that subtly blends the patterns, weights, and opacities inherent in the fabrics. Idiosyncratic geometric forms shift playfully across the picture plane, balancing movement and structure. As Smith's compositions totter and skew, they possess a lightness and sense of improvisation that belie the painstaking labor behind them. In breaking from conventions of textile as craft or "women's work," Smith positions her practice firmly within the lineage of abstract painting while insisting on the irreplaceable presence of material, touch, and time. She says: "Within my work, I believe I am breaking all stereotypes associated with textiles, from ideas of craft to that of 'women's work,' before I even begin to cut, sew, and piece the material back together." Debra Smith studied at the Italian Academy of Fashion and Design, Lorenzo de Medici, in Florence, Italy, and received her BFA in Fibers from the Kansas City Art Institute, and an Associate in Applied Science from the Fashion Institute of Technology in 2002. Her work has been exhibited internationally in solo and group exhibitions over the past two decades and is held in museum and corporate collections. In 2012 she was named one of Women to Watch: Focus on Fiber and Textiles by the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC. Her work has been published in New American Paintings and Textiles Around the World. She lives and works in Kansas City, MO.