About Smith & Co.
We specialize in original, vintage, and reproduction vintage artwork including: photographs, postcards, book plates, photogravures, maps, collage, and other works on paper evoking simpler times.
Why we do what we do: Because we believe, with a passion, that there is lasting beauty in what came before us. We believe that artisans from prior centuries, who crafted their work without the aid of today’s technology, deserve an audience.
About Karl Blossfeldt Photogravures
Karl Blossfeldt spent much of his career photographing plants in his studio with the goal of educating and inspiring students about the brilliance of nature. Lucky for us, these beautiful works of art were born.
Photographed between about 1880 and 1920, these photogravures were printed in 1942. Please read more about Blossfeldt and his process on the Blossfeldt page.
About Studio Kim Smith
Kim’s collages are crafted with antique papers and archival materials. They are meant to be intimate and thought provoking, evoking a peaceful, quiet and simultaneously compelling response from viewers. One can often find a humorous or unexpected element within the frame.
As a result of living in and traveling extensively throughout Europe during her childhood, Smith is greatly influenced by the Dada, Bauhaus, and Wiener Werkstätte movements, as well as Russian Constructivism.
Follow Smith & Co. and Kim on Instagram. KimSmithVintageSmith
About Kim Smith
Born in America, Kim Smith spent 10 formative childhood years living in Germany. Her work is meant to be intimate and thought provoking, though one sometimes finds a humorous element within the frame. She is strongly influenced by the European museums and flea markets that her parents exposed her to. As a result of living in and traveling extensively throughout Europe, she is greatly influenced by German and Austrian art of the late 19th and early 20th centuries: the Dada, Bauhaus, and Wiener Werkstätte movements, as well as Russian Constructivism. Her Mecca is the Neue Galerie in New York City because of its focus on the art of this period. Smith feels that working with vintage and antique materials brings the authenticity of old Europe to her work and allows her to share the beauty of her early experiences with the viewer.
Smith painstakingly cuts and arranges the elements in her collages before gluing them down. Her studio is a sea of little pieces of paper spread out on tables. Sometimes a collage will be reworked for weeks before any glue is applied. Her meticulously composed and edited work is as much about what is not there, as what is. Although it may look spontaneous, everything present in her compositions is deliberate.
She uses antique and vintage materials for her images, but the glues and backing that support the image are archival, so as not to add to the natural aging process.
Smith has earned degrees in Design, Economics and an MBA. After an extensive business career in the garment industry and then investment banking, her desire to balance the duality of her left and right brain inspired her to start her own art process. A business owner since 1998, she splits her time between her art studio at Hunters Point Shipyard and her home office where she is a dealer and manufacturer of vintage and vintage-inspired wall décor. In fact, it was remnants from the business that became her original collage materials.
She loves to spend days exploring galleries and museums and those experiences can have an overwhelming impact that makes her want to produce her own work.
Kim Smith
American, b. 1961
Exhibitions – Solo
- 2014 Inclusions Gallery, San Francisco, CA
- 2014 UCSF Alumni House, San Francisco, CA
- 2012 Inclusions Gallery, San Francisco, CA
- 2010 Inclusions Gallery, San Francisco, CA
- 2009 George Lawson Gallery, San Francisco, CA
- 2008 Venus Gallery, San Francisco, CA
- 2007 Bean There Café, San Francisco, CA
- 2003 Room & Company, Sacramento, CA
- 2002 Architects & Heroes, San Francisco, CA
Exhibitions – Group
- 2021 Village Theatre Art Gallery, Danville, CA.
- 2020 The de Young Open, San Francisco, CA
- 2020 “Pieced Together” Think Round Fine Art, San Francisco, CA
- 2020 George Lawson Gallery, Mill Valley, CA (canceled)
- 2019 Six juried ArtSpan hub exhibitions for Fall Open Studios, San Francisco, CA
- 2019 “Retrospective 12” Inclusions Gallery, San Francisco, CA
- 2019 “Sum of the Parts” Inclusions Gallery, San Francisco, CA
- 2018 50/50 Show, Sanchez Art Center, Pacifica, CA
- 2018 “SNAP” Arc Gallery, San Francisco, CA
- 2018 “The Cutting Edge” Richmond Art Center, Richmond, CA
- 2016 Carter-Fulton Gallery, San Francisco, CA
- 2016 “Retrospective 9” Inclusions Gallery, San Francisco, CA
- 2016 “Cutting Through: new works with old paper” Inclusions Gallery, San Francisco, CA
- 2015 “Wild Women & Weapons!” Arc Gallery, San Francisco, CA
- 2015 Art of Gastronomy, Healdsburg, CA
- 2013 21Ten Gallery, Sacramento, CA
- 2012 Inclusions Gallery, San Francisco, CA
- 2011 Robert Tat Gallery, San Francisco, CA
- 2010 Inclusions Gallery, San Francisco, CA
- 2010 Mina Dresden Gallery, San Francisco, CA
- 2010 Arc Gallery, San Francisco, CA
- 2009 San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau, San Francisco, CA
- 2009 "B&Wx5" George Lawson Gallery, San Francisco, CA
- 2009 “Artists of RFPRFP” Shasta College Art Gallery, Redding, CA
- (Curated by George Lawson)
- 2008 Off the Point, Shipyard Artists Holiday Show, San Francisco, CA
- 2007 Off the Point, Shipyard Artists Holiday Show, San Francisco, CA
- 2003 Gallery TwoXL, San Francisco, CA
- 2003 Gensler Associates, San Francisco, CA
Open Studio & New York International Gift Fair
- October 2004-present Spring and Fall Open Studio at Hunters Point Shipyard
- 2003-2014, twice each year New York International Gift Fair, New York
Awards
- Fall 2017 Open Studio Guide - Divider Page Awardee
- October 2015 Artspan Open Studio show – Juror’s Choice Award
- March 2010 Artspan Auction – Juror’s Award
- March 2009 Artspan Auction – Juror’s Award
- February 2004 Friends of the Academy and Visual Aid (juried auction)
- November 2003 Visual Aid
- February 2003 Friends of the Academy and Visual Aid (juried auction)
- November 2002 Visual Aid, sold within first ten pieces of over 500 pieces
- (The Visual Aid auction is on a first-come first-buy basis, not on a dollar amount bid, like traditional auctions.) November 2001 Visual Aid, first sold of over 500 pieces
Education
- 1996 University of San Francisco, McLaren School of Business
MBA
- 1991 San Francisco State University
- BS - Economics
- Minors - Finance and Business Administration
- 1981 Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising