Barb Smith

Couple (after L.B.), 2024
Red Oak plywood, muslin, cotton, bb’s, running out of ammunition, remnants of gifted eyes, blue marbles from a secret beach, silver leafed pie weights, gold leafed pie weights, stand alone pie weight, one white pebble, one head from a ceramic doll, broken at the neck, sewn in a sack, whittled spider leg, standing down, handmade lead tubing, handmade lead basket, pink ceramic wedge, crazing, rescued pencil eraser, feather from my comforter, half way out the door, a nipple, two bronze shims, two gold leafed rocks from Bard, two accidental tombstones, white milk paint, two “specchi”, someone else’s paint, someone else’s gesture, porcelain double coil pot, punched, torn, salt fired, etched away, brass, clock pendulum from the flea market, a memory, Hydrocal styrofoam, wrapping from my broken left foot, compression, not being needed anymore, spooning rocks, the other nipple, half his washcloth, steel, latex, print of a Limestone votive ear from The Met, crumpled, punctured, hysteric, a year’s worth of castings, surprise finger, the end.
Dimensions variable

Photo credit: Etienne Frossard

21 W. 39th St, unit 2A, NY, NY
2021

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘮𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘥𝘰𝘳𝘴 is a collaborative installation of sculpture, video, sound, and painting by H.A. Halpert, Michele Abramowitz, and Barb Smith.

The exhibition is about how we physically experience art: elemental interactions, intersections, interruptions, perspective. All things I felt when I attempted to walk the arc around Holbein’s 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘮𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘥𝘰𝘳𝘴 in The National Portrait Gallery in London - my desire to see the anamorphic skull come into focus interrupted by my shins running into a bench.
The envelope contains a formal written request to borrow both the painting and the bench-obstacle from The National Portrait Gallery in London, but so far, it has gone unanswered.

Photo Credit: Josh Loeser

The Windmill (Amorgos, Greece), digital video with sound, 2020

Various inclusions and aggregates, Aqua Resin, Hydrocal
2020

Photo credit: Josh Loeser

Site responsive performance, handmade rocks with various aggregates and small inclusions, poem on paper, 2021 - 2024
Linden Hill Cemetery, Queens NY

Images courtesy Miriam Gallery, Josh Loeser, and the artist.

Site responsive installation
Miriam Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

The whole thing is a result of what I didn’t know about edges. What I didn’t understand about punctured breath.

I cut myself in half and discover that each side is full of the same holes. It makes me wonder what this new embodiment can teach me about love.

I run my fingers over some misalignments. I like how it sounds. How my eyes work. What is activated by light makes me wonder what the sun knows about joy and pain and our trying. How they are like dancers, so moving/moving/moving.

Photo credit: Pete Mauney

SHE PLACES ISLANDS IN A DIM OCEAN
SHE ALTERS THE STORY
SHE WATCHES WORDS ABSORB THE NIGHT

Sculpture, collaboratively written score, and performance for Ander Mikalson’s Scores for a Black Hole. Images courtesy Ander Mikalson.

Fine Art Center Gallery
University of Arkansas, 2019

The force that holds

The force that causes

The force that causes

The force that causes

The force that keeps

The force that propels

The force that causes

The force that keeps

The force from the moon that causes

The force that causes

The force that causes

The force that keeps

The force that causes

The force that causes

The force that causes

The force that causes

The force that causes

The force that causes

The force, the motion, 2018

Fragments of the process and various debris, rocks from the driveway, wood, polyurethane rubber

Untitled (family), 2018

Ceramic, bronze, extracted pencil eraser, bubble wand, stolen pool chalk, air dry clay, Aqua Resin, terracotta, mask making latex, cooking twine, baby powder

Photo credit: Jean Jacques du Plessis and Pete Mauney

Appendix

No. 1

Objects:

i. Fragments of sloughed glass, blue (seventeen), green (five), clear (several)

ii. One inlaid dish (possible lid)

iii. Plastic cage (trap)

No. 2

Objects:

i. Model of a chess scene (thirty two pieces of ammunition)

ii. Skin of a vase (in poor condition)

iii. Pewter teeth (three)

iv. Half impression

v. Portion of an inscribed rock   

vi. Metal chain

vii. Memory Foam (remnant of a figure); several smaller but equally important

viii. Piece of cloth (red)

ix. Piece of glass (red)

x. Remnant of brick pinch

xi. Joined lead links (open and undisturbed)

xii. Large wooden implement

xiii. Pottery fragment

xiv. Sacrifice group, 7 items, including a steel ring, model of bullet shell casings, weighted bags, and pewter implement (model of escape).

xv. Small dish (?)

xvi. Glass kiln fragment

xvii. Wonder wedges (four, traces of pigment)

xviii. Bronze sprue, sliced

xix. Conjoined glass links

xx. Large number of red pigment fragments

xxi. Notebook paper trays (two)

xxii. Balloon weight (new skin)

xxiii. Left arm of a female figurine

xxiv. 2-way mirror (sample size)

xxv. Portion of pewter and BB’s (two)

xxvi. Pebble, small

xxvii. One pinch pot, traces of aluminum powder

xxviii. Two pieces of wood, wedging

xxix. Circular plate, removed from No. 1

xxx. Granite core

xxxi. Fragment of red clay extrusion, traces of pencil marks

xxxii. Loup

xxxiii. Portion of sterling silver S-hook chain (poor condition)

xxxiv. Circle of an excavation

xxxv. The tip of a dowel

xxxvi. Collection of found holes (seven)

xxxvii. Hourglass

xxxviii. Bruise

xxxix. Inert screw

xl. Iron binding wire, used

xli. Remains of bronze sprues (seven expansions), same material as xviii.

xlii. Pressured lead basket

xliii. Model of felled column

xliv. Lower portion of bird shaped object, same material as above

xlv. Aqua Resin (extra remnant of a moment)

xlvi. Memory Foam

xlvii. Portion of a fabric flower, having escaped its arrangement

xlviii. Dried rose, real

xlix. Fragment of an implement

l. Self-adhesive compression

No. 3

Objects:

i. Kissing angel

ii. A wall, or, the bottom of somewhere (?)

iii. Plaster spoons (two)

iv. Paraffin wax with summer heat

v. Pieces of fluted expansion cement, nesting stuck

vi. Red clay structure with water damage

vii. Nesting pinch pots, empty (numerous listening)

viii. Chest section cut from a bronze bird

ix. Nylon disposable socks (two)

x. Steel rings, stacked (twenty one), resting (eleven)

xi. Silver cat’s eye

xii. Red clay pinch pots, skinned and filled

xiii. Two unusual forms

xiv. Canon ball mortar

xv. Graphite crucible, broken (preserved)

xvi. Cut blue square

xvii. Bruise

xviii. Aftershock

xix. Unfired porcelain ball

xx. Attempted holding (related to i.)

xxi. Bite marks

xxii. Three-legged cow

xxiii. Plastic wing fragment (Dear child:)

xxiv. Cut collection

xxv. Large number of blue pigment fragments

xxvi. Notebook paper trays (three)

xxvii. Glass wing accident

xxviii. Levitating armature

xxix. Two unusual forms, additional

xxx. Pewter bag with BB’s

xxxi. Overflow

xxxii. Burning

xxxiii. Cast baby powder

xxxiv. Pendant of metal approaching oval (see also: No. 5 object vii)

xxxv. Single cut mark (red)

xxxvi. Pewter, glass, cement fragment grouping (each the size of a pea)

xxxvii. Copper cone demonstration

xxxviii. Bobby pin

xxxix. Metal jump rings (loose potential)

xl. Pellets making place (three)

xli. Latex rings (several unfortunate)

xlii. Piece of string

xliii. Soft dish

xliv. Marble scene (twenty-one balls)

xlv. Pinch pots

xlvi. A piece of their own skin

xlvii. Plate rims, broken (eclipse simulation)

xlviii. BB’s

xlix. Open frame

l. Waiting rock

No. 4

Objects:

i. Trace of a red clay block action

ii. Blindness

No. 5

Objects:

i. Tug of war

ii. Large unfired porcelain bowl containing thread, holes, skins, and one link

iii. Portion of an invented implement

iv. Memory Foam

v. Serrated edge of a tissue (nickel silver)

vi. Bound indigo

vii. Small tile with black oval (same idea as No. 6)

viii. Latex sleeve, bottomless container

ix. Aqua Resin (remnants of a forgotten figure); several smaller

x. Several glass fragments (red)

xi. Bruise

xii. Large number of green pigment fragments

xiii. Notebook paper tray (one)

xiv. Embossed lead sheets

xv. Fourteen casts in the form of a block

xvi. Time passing (months)

xvii. Cooking twine

xviii. Buried at sea

xix. Five false toes

xx. A partial record of dust (printed)

xxi. Expansion cement

xxii. Metal spring, resting

No. 6

Objects:

i. Votive offering (small mirror)

No. 7

Objects:

i. Queen Anne’s Lace

Untitled, 2017

Memory Foam, Aqua Resin, impressions from 2 bodies

Photo credit: Kyle Knodell

Three units expanding places, bronze wedge, spine stack, chunk glass, a red state

Quick copper, quick plastic, instant concrete, quick wood, quick steel, quick aluminum balls, unfired porcelain slip, compressed gold leaf square, language ball, bb’s, gold leafed rock, cabochons, cedar, slingshot ammo, blue marking paint, 2 parts of 3, cavity of a woven pitcher, the positive of a wound

Returning echo

Mask making latex, corsage pin, ultimate fastener, memory of Easter, chunk glass, escaped flowers, attempt at complete capture, the making of a spoon, desires to be soft, The Myth of Closure, a shocked woman, expansion cement, accidental stairs, soft brick, broken seal, sky blue, Memory of a cake, a difficult extrusion, glass beads, lab grown rubies, desiccant, friendly plastic, sterling silver casting grain, evidence of absorption, pearls on the edge, red and blue, something dropped, a shocked woman, Memory Foam and Aqua Resin, pushing, letting someone in, steel splitting wedge, pouring the cavity, skinned pewter, intimate ammunition, object reenactments, muslin, evidence of unique burning, soft prop, impatience, sharpened pencil leads, the little ghosts of silent letters, a shocked woman, seal bottles by dipping tops, chunk glass with paraffin skin, attempts at self preservation, plastic pull, all about timing, wax bite, split sprue, the absence of a lid, thinking about the expression, text tile, potluck stone, a shocked woman, remnants of everything, the point, balloon weights, glass kiln fragment, pewter thorn on stainless steel scrubber,  half a snap, brain ball, lady parts, hole protector sheets, mask making latex, holding upward motion, ceramic shell mold fragment, bronze wedge, three legged cow, essence of the cemetery, a most absolute hole, hide and seek, a shocked woman, unfired porcelain on Memory Foam, the positive, crucible fragment, blue marking chalk on tack cloth, a shocked woman, a statement concerning lacerations, steel sprue, pressed basket, desires to be lifted, unexpected component, a shocked woman. 

Chunk glass, falling monoliths

Image credit: María Rincón

All of the seams of my clothing, Aqua Resin on copy paper, expansion cement, birch, middle gray, 2016

Memory of some pressure over fruit, unfired porcelain slip, gold leaf rock trap, BB's with exposed spine, sliced wedge, 2016

Memory Foam, Aqua Resin, and impressions from 2 bodies, 2016

Memory of a tiptoe, an excavation, expansion cement, stolen doorstop, reproduction glass, graphite crucible, paraffin wax, accidental steps, shared machine part, tree pruning sealer, memory of an unfair necessary, corning wax bite, Maple, tack cloths, the positive of language, packing foam, binder clips, unfired porcelain, handmade lead tubing, a paperweight, granite dust from a monument making shop in Queens, fine bone china rims, when all the color goes away, rubber cast of how to move in 1939, lined paper tray, gift wrap tape, an earring back, dinner plate fragment, silver approximating thread, compressed pewter, the insides of jingle bells, unfired porcelain with dye transfer, Plexiglas, a small city on quick wood, fragment of a glass crucible from Kokomo, IN, fragment of a glass kiln from Kokomo, IN, sinking pewter, Friendly Plastic, Quick Copper, all about timing, bb’s, muslin, half a bouncy ball, a pin back standing in for “seeing the future,” Memory Foam, Aqua Resin, marble dust, red cleaning camouflage, chunk glass, potluck stone, Birch plywood, brads, Super Paint, traction tape, my middle gray, 2016

Memory of a bellybutton, Rockite expansion cement (interior view), the positive of language, kitchen countertop fragment points, Memory Foam, specific blue, point of orientation, chunk glass from Kokomo, IN, all of the seams of my clothing, How to Be Alone, household paraffin wax with a friction scar, Quick Aluminum, tongue depressor wall, unfired porcelain slip, remnants of a subletter, pierced collectible plate, landmark erasure, pierced dinner plate, memory of a pattern, pressed lead basket, conductive thread, Maple, granite dust from a monument making shop in Queens, tack cloth twice, unfired porcelain run through, limited fist depression, accidental aperture, photo corner sound, fragment from a glass kiln wall, double wax bite, muslin, bb’s, handmade lead tubing, red marking chalk hint, learning Spanish, Memory Foam, gently used corsage pin from a book on meditation, memory of Easter, language ball, paper clay, graphite, and iron powder pinch pot, localized swelling, paper clay and unfired porcelain pinch pot, localized sinking, favorite sculpture never seen, the unique ballerina, Birch, proximity to middle gray. 

Memory of wrestling breath, handmade lead tubing, Memory Foam and granite dust from a monument making shop in Queens, a broken headstone, the positive of language pinned, kitchen countertop fragment, rescued aluminum, slowest collapses, eyes that can’t see, chunk glass from Kokomo, IN, a warm mistake, Memory Foam and Aqua Resin, paraffin wax, labor of an unknown woman, Yule Log cake pan, steel practice wedge, floor paint, 2015

Swollen shelf, a fault line, a light switch, pierced tongue depressor, dye transfer on unfired porcelain, unfired porcelain and a rubber band from the deceased, Silly Putty, compressed end grain of a 2 by 4, 2015

10” by 4” by 16’

Expanding wedge, handmade lead tubing, blue marking chalk, impression of a pointer finger, wall paint, 2015

Dimensions variable

Photo credit: Taryn Haydostian

TimeMist classic metered aerosol fragrance dispenser, batteries, Home Sweet Home scent, permanently sealed plexiglass box, 2015

Bronze, pine, aluminum powder, Birch, audio track of assembly, audio track of disassembly, X-rays, 2014-2015

Memory Foam and Aqua Resin, aluminum, steel

Photo credit: Taryn Haydostian

Memory Foam, granite dust from a monument making shop in Queens, steel, 2014

Self portraits shot through the wear marks in my family’s old washcloths

Dig, digital video with sound, 2012

Dryer lint from my sweater was collected and pressed into a costume jewelry mold. The resulting object is placed back onto the site of loss as adornment. The object and the sweater cling to each other by their fibers only, until one inevitably falls away.