Serena Smith was born in London in 1960. She studied at Central Saint Martins (MA) and the Institute of Education, London (PGDip). She also trained as a fine art lithographer at the Curwen Studio, where she spent 12 years as Stanley Jones’ assistant and printer.
Serena Smith was born in London in 1960. She studied at Central Saint Martins (MA) and the Institute of Education, London (PGDip). She also trained as a fine art lithographer at the Curwen Studio, where she spent 12 years as Stanley Jones’ assistant and printer.
Having worked for many years with lithography, Serena continues to work with drawing and printmaking as her primary field of practice. In recent projects she has brought together digital imaging with hand drawn stone lithography to create both a methodology, and a graphic syntax, for the development of her ideas. The objects that emerge from this visual language, shaped as they are by serendipity and systematic limitations, knowingly play with the potential for lyrical ambiguity inherent within the structures of pictorial communication.
Serena’s work has been selected for numerous exhibitions both in the UK and internationally. Recent group exhibitions include: Sketch Open, Rabley Drawing Centre; The John Ruskin Prize, Sheffield; Xiaoxang portfolio and exhibition of international printmaking, Changsha, China; The London Group Open, London; Akram Khan: One side to the Other, Lowry, Salford; Print International, Wrexham and touring; Litho-Kielce, Poland; Fresh Prints, UAL Showroom, London; Bite: Artists Making Prints, London; BIMPE, Canada, and the RE Open, London. She has been the recipient of several exhibition prizes and awards including the, Wirksworth Festival Prize and the Oppenheim-John Downes Memorial Trust Award. In 2016 she was invited to take up a residency at the Guanlan Original Printmaking Base in China.
Alongside her studio practice, Serena supports the work and development of other artists as technician, tutor and collaborator.
Awards and residencies
2016 Leicester Print Workshop prize
2016 Guanlan Original Printmaking Base, China - residency
2016 Reside Residency
2015 Print Symposium, Regional Print Centre, Wrexham, invited speaker
2015 Studio Eleven Prize
2014 Oppenheim-John Downes Memorial Trust Award
2012 Wirksworth Festival Prize
2011 St Barnabus Prize
2011 John E Wright Prize
2010 Spike Island Prize
2009 Leicester Print Workshop Prize
2006 Long Road Sixth Form College - residency
One person exhibitions
2013 Hodegetria: work in progress, Wirksworth Festival, Derbyshire
2013 Pastoral, West Yorkshire Print Workshop.
2009 ‘And weave but nets ...’ Printroom, LCB Depot, Leicester
Selected group exhibitions
2017 Ruskin Prize, Sheffield, UK
2017 3rd Global Print, Portugal
2017 Sketch Open, Rabley Drawing Centre and touring UK
2016/17 P2P, Leicester Print Workshop, UK
2016/17 Small Print International, Leicester and touring UK
2016 Litho-Kielce, Poland
2015 Xiaoxiang Exhibition, China
2015 Inprint, Hull, UK
2014/15 Akram Khan: One side to the Other, The Lowry, Salford, UK
2014 The Walking Encyclopaedia, Airspace Gallery, Stoke on Trent, UK
2014 Print International, Mansers, Shrewsbury; Oriel Myrdnn, Carmarthen, UK
2013/14 Practical Dialogue, Studio Eleven, Hull; Embrace, Leicester; Milton Keynes Project Space; Alfred East Gallery, Kettering, UK
2013 Fresh Prints, UAL Showroom, London, UK
2013 The London Group Centenary Open, UK
2013 Print International, Wrexham, UK
2013 Harley Gallery Open, Welbeck, UK
2012 Derby City Open, UK
2012/13 BIMPE V11; Vancouver and touring, Canada
2012 Midlands Open,Tarpey Gallery, UK
2012 RE Open, Bankside Gallery, London, UK
2012 BITE: Artists Making Prints, Mall Galleries, London
2012 Passion 2 Print, Yarrow Gallery, Oundle, and touring
2011 Midlands Open, Tarpey Gallery, Castle Donington
2011 Nottingham Castle Annual Open
2011 Bite: Artists Making Prints, Mall Galleries, London
2011 Small Print, New Walk Museum, Leicester and touring
2010 Surface, Clare Hall, Cambridge
2009 Passion to Print, City Gallery, Leicester and touring
2008 scissorspaperstone, London Print Studio
2006 Multiple Choice, Fermynwoods Contemporary Art, Northampton
2006 North House Gallery, Manningtree
2006 New Hall College, Cambridge
2005 Art East, Bury St. Edmunds Art Gallery
2004 Land and Light, Wingfield Arts, Suffolk
2003 Eastern Open, Kings Lynn,
2002 Eastern Open, Kings Lynn
Publications and press
K. Jinks, 'Meet: Serena Smith' in UK Handmade. ISSUU 2015
E. Hawley (EMVAN), 'Meet the Artist', 2014
S. Baker et al, ‘Conversation Starter’ in Printmaking Today. Vol. 22.No. 3. 2013
S. Smith, ‘Redundant Technology?’ in Small Print: Big Impression, exh. cat., Leicester Print Workshop, 2011
S. Smith, S.Smithson, ‘The Apprentice’ in Printmaking Today. Vol.20. No.1. 2011
S. Smith, ‘Ten Years Young’ in Printmaking Today. Vol.19. No.2, 2010
S. Jones, 'Stanley Jones and the Curwen Story', pp 133-136. Herbert Press 2010
A. Powers, 'Art and Print: The Curwen Story', pp 152-6. Tate Publishing 2008
S. Castle, ‘The Artist and Colour Lithography’ in Aspects of the Royal Academy: An Exhibition of the Art and Craft of Lithography, exh. cat., Sheeran Lock Fine Art Consultants, 1995.
Teaching / professional practice
Leicester Print Workshop, tutor and technician, 2009 -
Goldmark Atelier, Uppingham, consultant lithographer, 2008 -
Curwen Print Study Centre, Cambridge, tutor and consultant lithographer, 2002-11
Curwen Studio, London and Cambridge, studio lithographer, 1985–97
Education
2006-08 Institute of Education, London (P.G.Dip)
2002-04 Central Saint Martins School of Art, London (M.A.)
1981-83 University of London (B.A.Hons.)
