Mary Claire Smith

Mary Claire Smith’s work is rooted in a sense of place within a land or seascape. She utilises abstracted forms and lines often reminiscent of botanical life; sometimes playful and jokey, and at other times a more serious take on the complexities inherent in the human’s place in the natural world.

She wants to engage with ideas that question the prioritising of economic growth at the expense of wild and untamed spaces. Her work considers ideas of seeing the world as a whole, and ourselves as part of a wider living planet. A return to something ancient and deeper, intangible and sacred.

Mary Claire employs inks, pens and paint on paper, often combined with woodcuts, woodgrain and collage.

Mary Claire Smith studied Fine Art at Portsmouth Polytechnic and later studied Printmaking and Illustration at Central St Martins.

She worked as an Editioning Printmaker and Studio Assistant at Paupers Press and Hope Sufferance studios in London.

She has run Frank Gallery in Whitstable for the past nineteen years, where her work is shown.

Mary Claire is represented by Columbia Road Gallery, London, showing at The Affordable Art Fair and The London Art Fair.

She has recently been selected for the Woolwich Contemporary Art Fair in 2022, 2023 and 2024; The Lido Open 2024; The Linden Hall Winter Show 2024–25 and If Heaven Falls, the alternative Valentine’s exhibition at The Lido Stores, Margate.

Website: maryclairesmith.com
Instagram: @mary.claire_smith