Raised in coastal Virginia, Danielle Smith-Llera grew up surrounded by her Mexican grandmother's oil paintings of bullfighters and rural people. Yet her grandmother's later works -- fiery abstract landscapes bordering on the non-objective -- influenced her the most. Despite years of living overseas in Canada, Hungary, Brazil, India and now Jamaica, Smith-Llera makes works that turn increasingly inward, toward a streamlined vocabulary and formalist concern with shadow, light and movement.
Years spent in libraries, classrooms and studios have informed her process and aesthetic, raising her interest in the relationship between drawing and writing. She wrote about poets and made animated films as a Visual Arts and Literature student at Harvard University, constructed books that unfolded like films while earning an MFA at Old Dominion University, and lectured on books and art as a high school and college teacher. She appreciates the exacting nature of the academic world, which demands analysis of an idea through reduction. However, she is most interested in the organic process of creation. She has exhibited works on paper and fiber sculptures throughout the United States and India, and her films have been shown internationally. Contact her at dsllera@post.harvard.edu.
Years spent in libraries, classrooms and studios have informed her process and aesthetic, raising her interest in the relationship between drawing and writing. She wrote about poets and made animated films as a Visual Arts and Literature student at Harvard University, constructed books that unfolded like films while earning an MFA at Old Dominion University, and lectured on books and art as a high school and college teacher. She appreciates the exacting nature of the academic world, which demands analysis of an idea through reduction. However, she is most interested in the organic process of creation. She has exhibited works on paper and fiber sculptures throughout the United States and India, and her films have been shown internationally. Contact her at dsllera@post.harvard.edu.
