As an advocate of exposure for independent and non-traditional art activity in the Philadelphia region, Smith has been an organizer and/or curator of numerous group exhibitions and events. In 1989 – 90, she was one of the founding organizers of “Art at the Armory 1990″, a 3-day group exhibition which exposed an audience of over 30,000 to the works of 460-plus artists rejected for the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s “ART NOW” exhibition of regional art; from 1987 through 1997 she co-organized a number of installations or exhibitions in various vacant or temporary spaces throughout Old City, In 1998, she was the director and organizer of the first annual “Visual Fringe”, a companion event to the Philadelphia Fringe Festival which presented non-traditional and interactive visual art throughout the Old City area. From 1985 to 1993 Smith regularly wrote art criticism, most notably for the New Art Examiner, and in 1990 was one of five critics to receive a grant funded by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts for essays published in The Photo Review as part of the Photography Sesquicentennial Project. Since 1993 she has continued to write on a freelance basis for various publications, and is currently a blogger on culture and technology for the Huffington Post and Director of Marketing for Artspan.com. Moore College of Art, Philadelphia, PA Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Minneapolis, MN College of St. Catherine, St. Paul, MN 2008 2006 Snap to Grid, Los Angeles Center for Digital Art, Los Angeles, CA 2003 2001 2000 Construction, InLiquid at The Bride, Painted Bride Art Center, Philadelphia, PA 1990 – 1999 1998 1990 – 1991 1990 1988 1988 Philadelphia Photographers, Tianjin Arts College, Tianjin, People’s Republic of China 1987 Faces of the City, Art in City Hall, Philadelphia, PA Selected Photographs, The Print Club, Philadelphia, PA Photography 7, Perkins Center for the Arts, Moorestown, NJ Photography ’87, Abington Art Center, Abington, PA 1986 Photography 6, Perkins Center for the Arts, Moorestown, NJ Photography ’86, Abington Art Center, Abington, PA 1985 Photography 5, Perkins Center for the Arts, Moorestown, NJ Photography ’85, Abington Art Center, Abington, PA 1984 Photography ’84, Abington Art Center, Abington, PA 1983Biography
Joan Kathleen Smith, a native of St. Paul, Minnesota, has lived in Philadelphia for over 30 years. She holds a BFA degree from Moore College of Art, with previous studies in fine art, design, and art history at the Minneapolis College of Art and the College of St. Catherine. Since 1983 her work — primarily hand-built photography and text based assemblages which are exhibited as either projections, light-box installations, or print constructions — has been shown throughout the region, including independent outdoor light projections in Old City and Kensington.
Education
BFA, Photography, minor in Art History
Art History, Product Design, Fine Arts
Humanities, Fine Arts, Theatre DesignSelected Exhibitions
Killing Time, Art Institute of Philadelphia, PA
Light, Moore College of Art and Design Galleries, Philadelphia, PA
One Bank Street, 5 Spot, Philadelphia, PA
Curator: Gabe Martinez
Steal This Show, Vox Populi Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Dissentia Curatorial Services
Counter Productive Industries, 1926 Exhibition Space, Chicago, IL
Curator: Nato Thompson
Untitled slide projections to facade of 139 North Third Street, on the First Friday of every month, dusk until midnight (visible from west side of Third Street), Philadelphia, PA
Biennial ’98, Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, DE
Juror: Roberta Smith, New York Times
Art at the Armory, ’90 and ’91, 33rd Engineers’ Armory, Philadelphia, PA
Founding organizer and steering committee member
Five Philadelphia Photographers, Muse Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
Invitational
1616, 3-dimensional window installation, 35 N. Third Street, Philadelphia, PA
Pennsylvania Photographers, Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, PA
Challenging Concepts, Union Art Gallery, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI
61st Annual International Competition, The Print Club, Philadelphia, PA
Photography 4, Perkins Center for the Arts, Moorestown, NJ
About Time, Third Street Gallery, Philadelphia, PA
5-person invitational exhibition, Curator: Thomas Gartside