Rachel Suzanne Smith

• Audio description of a wearable sculpture by Rachel Suzanne Smith.

  
  

  Audio description of a wearable sculpture by Rachel Suzanne Smith, an artist-in-residence at Acadia in 2021.
  Audio Transcript

  This installation is presented inside a large display case with a maple base and a clear acrylic cover.

  Centered on the base pedestal is a human bust figure to hold the finished artwork. The bust consists of two intersecting profiles cut from sheets of laminated structural material. Viewed from the front, the outline of the shapes suggests a neck, shoulders and waist. Viewed from the side, the intersecting shapes suggest the contours of a person’s neck, chest and back. The surface of this structure, which seems to have a pale, watery green finish, has been laser-etched with images of moss, lichen, barnacles, and seaweed.

  The artwork itself is an intricate and expansive wearable metal sculpture. It is intended to balance on a person’s shoulders and chest and surround them within an embrace of plant branches and leaves growing up and outward from a large central opening for the head. There are no visible welds or fasteners for the dozens of delicately cut and bent sections of polished and painted sheet metal. Darker portions closest to the neck appear to have a brown mat finish. Then blended greens transition to almost fluorescent glossy green, orange and yellow traces representing fresh growth along the very tips of many outermost leaves.

Photo courtesy of Rachel Suzanne Smith

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Photos courtesy of Rachel Suzanne Smith

When tasked with creating a piece to donate back to the park after an amazing two-week residency, I wanted to create a piece that would reflect May at Acadia. During the two weeks of the residency, I noticed early signs of spring erupting and developing as buds formed and leaves grew. The vibrant cut of fresh spring green against the greys of the surrounding landscape left an impression of intense life and peace existing in duality. Each day, I hiked the Schoodic loop at least once, often multiple times. The May landscape changed, and with each change, I was drawn to look closer.

The wearable sculpture attempts to describe the landscape bursting with new life. The abstracted bust that supports the wearable sculpture is created using CNC cut, 3d printed, and laser etched imagery taken from my photographs of Acadia: moss, lichen, stone, shoreline, barnacles, and seaweed. Each image is a highlight of the park and an invitation to look down and look closer while visiting. As you explore the park, notice the softness of the earth and the fragile life forms supported here, feel your soul’s yearning to connect with nature, and be supported by the landscape of this place.

– Rachel Suzanne Smith

Rachel Suzanne Smith

Rachel Suzanne Smith is an artist, metalsmith, and educator. She received her undergraduate degree at Miami University in Art Education with minors in 3D Media Studies (jewelry/metals) and Spanish. She received her MFA in Crafts (Jewelry Metals Enameling) at Kent State University in 2015. Smith taught Jewelry/Metals, CAD for Jewelry, and Makerspace Exploration/Digital Fabrication courses at Kent State between 2015 and 2020. Smith now dedicates her career to growing, supporting, and managing academic makerspaces. Currently, as the Fabrication Manager at Sears think[box], Smith works to uphold a safe and accessible shop environment that is free and open to everyone.

Rachel Suzanne Smith’s work reflects themes of identity and ornament, focusing specifically on the desire to connect with the outdoors and nature. Facilitating that need occurs through adornment, allowing the wearer to surround themselves with arrangements and clusters of plants. The wearable sculptures Smith creates serve as a form of self-expression rooted in the biophilia hypothesis, that all humans yearn to connect with nature and other life forms. Utilizing CAD/CAM and digital fabrication tools and techniques, Smith replicates, reviews, revisits, and reworks designs to dig deeper into ideas and themes from different angles.

Visit her website at rachelsuzannesmith.com

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