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April Issue 2006
The Sylvan Gallery in Charleston, SC, Features Works by Linda Kyser Smith
The Sylvan Gallery in
Charleston, SC, proudly presents Feminine Mystique, featuring
paintings by Linda Kyser Smith, on view from Apr. 7 - 28, 2006.
Kyser Smith has studied with many of the country's most prestigious
portrait artists, including Everett Raymond Kinstler, Burt Silverman,
Aaron Shikler, Harley Brown, Bettina Steinke and Milt Kobayashi
who taught her many of the techniques so evident in her style
today. Kyser Smith's figurative works are bold yet incorporate
the soft vulnerability of her subjects and exhibit a strong sense
of color and composition. "I have always painted, but something
happened in 1980 when I saw the John Singer Sargent show at the
Whitney Museum. I experienced 'aesthetic arrest'.. It changed
my life and my art."
Kyser Smith's oil and
pastel work is reminiscent of Edgar Degas's 1875 Absinthe
Drinker but without the pathos mystery, yes - burden
of life, no. Her figures are joyous and upbeat. Kyser Smith speaks
of them in the following manner: "Women can be so glamorous;
so dramatic, poetic and exotic. They are so unbelievably lovely.
I paint ladies in relaxed settings, quietly enjoying a cup of
coffee or tea, or a glass of wine and being charming. I try to
create a mood on the canvas - a softness, flirtatiousness and
delight. The cast of an eye or expression on a face communicates
an attitude, a moment in time." She captures the feminine
mystique in her portraits.
Kyser Smith is a member of the National Arts Club, the Salmagundi Club, the Allied Artists of America and the Pastel Society of America. Her work has been featured in US Art Magazine and Focus Santa Fe. Her paintings are found in private, public and corporate collections in North America, Canada, Ireland, France, England, Italy, Spain, Australia, Mexico, Bali, Japan, Saudi Arabia, and Indonesia including the Montgomery Museum of Fine Art in Alabama and the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame in Fort Worth, TX.
Kyser Smith awards include
the Gold Medal for Oil Painting in the Knickerbocker Artists
45th Grand International Classic, the prestigious West Coast
Award from the American Pastel Society, and a Special Recognition
Award from the Portrait Society of America in the 2002 International
Portrait Competition. Her work is included in the 1988 book
Best of Portrait Painting. In 1999, Kyser Smith earned
a coveted painting fellowship in Dinan, France followed by the
Musée de la Grande Vigne choosing one of her paintings
for their museum. Her work is included in the collections of Sir
Anthony Hopkins, Whoopee Goldberg, and Carole Burnett.
For further information check our SC Commercial Gallery listings,
call the gallery at 843/722-2172 or at (www.thesylvangallery.com).
Carolina Arts is published monthly by Shoestring Publishing
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Copyright© 2006 by PSMG, Inc., which published Charleston
Arts from July 1987 - Dec. 1994 and South Carolina Arts
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