"This portfolio includes functional ceramic pieces, sculpture, public art, my home and my studio. Each object is handcrafted with attention to detail and a focus on unique design. Nature is always an inspiration for my work. Leaves, flowers, and animals are some of the motifs that are part of my whimsical wares. Folk art, historical ceramics, archetypal female and simple house forms are central themes in my sculptures. My creative life extends far beyond my studio. I love to bake, entertain, and decorate. Travel helps me explore new ideas and always helps me to continue my education beyond the classroom." - Paula
BIOGRAPHY
Paula Smith was born in Kansas City, Missouri. She attended the Kansas City Art Institute and received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1982. She attended University of Illinois and received her MFA in 1986. She moved to Rock Hill, South Carolina, in 1987.
Throughout her career as an artist, Paula has had a strong focus on sculptural, narrative work – telling stories through the use of female imagery, including the torso, the archetypal house form, and the vessel. She is interested in the use of Milagros, or miracles in Spanish, and their symbolism. These ideas are incorporated into her public art, sculpture, and functional pottery, along with more organic references such as wood, leaves, flowers, and animals. Her interpretation of these elements is full of whimsy, often playful in a Dr. Seuss kind of way.
Paula taught at Winthrop University for 13 years and in that time owned and operated the Oakland Art Supply store for 9 years. She went on to teach full time at Gaston College for 9 years and now resides as the head of the ceramics department at Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte, North Carolina. Paula exhibits nationally and her work is on view full time in North Carolina at these retail venues: Lark and Key Gallery, Charlotte, Pottery 101, Salisbury, and Pottery Road Studio and Gallery, Seagrove.
Paula’s public art commissions include large scaled pieces for the Arts and Science Council of Charlotte, North Carolina, Sedgefield Totem, Darla Moore’s Botanical Garden, Lake City, South Carolina, Mosaic Sea Turtle, and several pieces for Central Piedmont Community College, Charlotte, North Carolina. She has been an 18-month affiliate artist at McColl Center for Art and Innovation, in Charlotte, North Carolina. She has received numerous Artist Grants from both North and South Carolina Arts Councils including a South Carolina Fellowship Grant and was a resident artist for a month in China at the Potters Workshop in Shanghai and at San Boa, in Jingdezhen. She travels as much as she can, visiting museums, galleries, historical houses, and gardens.
Paula is currently Professor of Art, Head of the Ceramics Department at Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte NC.
Education
1986 - MFA in Ceramics, University of Illinois, Champaign/Urbana
1982- BFA in Ceramics, Kansas City Art Institute