VERGENNES — Pamela Smith’s Posters for Peace were painted in the spring of 2009 while she was living in Kathmandu, Nepal, during a time of revolution as the last king of Nepal abdicated his throne. Kathmandu was in a state of turmoil and Smith was trapped in her home for 19 days listening to helicopters, gunshots and rioting outside. It was during those 19 days that Smith created this body of work.
“I wanted to make them like posters, posters for peace, that could be an inspiration for peace within and without,” Smith said. “They are about what we have to cultivate internally ? compassion, yes, look listen, learn, love everybody.”
Smith is currently reflecting on the idea that the antidote to anxiety is engagement. “I think when you are creating anything you are engaged with the process, that activity,” she said, thinking back to when she was painting these posters. “I didn’t feel anxious when I was painting even though it was insane outside.”
The posters are bright, exuberant and hopeful ? an invitation for the viewer to engage and do the work within themselves to create peace.
Smith has been spending about half of each year in Asia since 1996.
“There is a reverence for the spiritual there,” Smith explained “There is an honoring of that part of life… it’s part of the culture. We don’t have that history of contemplation here, well, except maybe in pockets; there it’s everywhere, it’s pervasive.”
Smith’s art is inspired by the colors of her travels. “Particularly the women’s clothes,” she said. “They dress really colorfully and that’s inspiring.”
Northern Daughters is proud to exhibit select works from Smith’s Posters for Peace as part of their small works show, more light. The exhibit is on view at the gallery’s 221 Main Street location in Vergennes through the end of January and features small works from seven artists who work in a range of media, including watercolor, monoprint, oil painting and collage. The show includes new works from Anne Cady, Bonnie Baird, Cameron Schmitz, Katie Loesel, Pamela Smith, Rebecca Kinkead and Sobelman Cortapega.
Smith is a self taught artist who lives in Bristol. She is one of 34 artists included in YUMMM! The History, Fantasy, and Future of Food on view through Sept. 3 at the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, MD. Her work was also recently included in the two-person exhibit Madonnas Make You Brave at Northern Daughters and is part of the permanent collection at the American Visionary Art Museum.
For more info contact [email protected],  (802) 877-2173 or visit www.northerndaughters.com.