Wheaton Conversations: Gordon Smith & Amy Lemaire

Wheaton Conversations:
Gordon Smith & Amy Lemaire

Watch the Sept. 22, 2022 recording above

This event is part of “Wheaton Conversations,” a virtual series highlighting select artists with ties to WheatonArts!
To see the full schedule of conversations, Click Here. 
Thank you to our sponsors, PNC Arts Alive! and the Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass.

A headshot of glass artist "Gordon Smith" who is wearing a black zippered jacket and has dark curly hair and thick dark eyebrows.

Gordon Smith was born and raised in Southern New Jersey, an area with a rich tradition of glassworking and glass factories. In high school, he experimented with manipulating hot glass with a flameworking torch that his father bought for him. From 1977-1978 he received formal training in Scientific Glassblowing Technology at Salem County Community College.

While working as a Scientific Glassblower at Kontes Glass Company, he was exposed to paperweights made by the company’s owners, Jim and Nontas Kontes. Simultaneously, he volunteered at WheatonArts, where he learned about glassblowing traditional tools and techniques.

In 1982, Gordon began working as a full-time glass artist, creating fine crystal paperweights and sculptures. He primarily uses realism to execute his choice of subject, which includes floral motifs, desert scenes, and aquatic environments. His expertise in articulating these micro realms has won him distinction and prominence in the genre. His artwork is included in numerous public and private collections, including the Royal Ontario Museum, The Museum of American Glass, The Christchurch Museum, and The Courier Museum.

He continues to explore and experiment with new techniques and further attends workshops to educate himself within the glass medium.

A headshot of glass artist "Amy Lemaire" who has red pigtails resting on her blue shirt and red and blue multicolored earrings that appear to look like yo-yo's. She also has brown eyes and is smiling at the camera.

Amy Lemaire is a multi-disciplinary artist and educator based in Brooklyn, NY. Her current body of work suggests a post-anthropocenic view of nature through handmade distortion lenses and sculptural works that embrace a slippage of perception in search of spiritual balance in a synthetic landscape. Lemaire studied at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (BFA) and Pratt Institute (MFA). She has taught at institutions across the United States and currently teaches at Salem Community College (NJ). Recent residencies include Wheaton Arts, University of the Arts, Tyler School of Art, UrbanGlass, and the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Her work has been included in exhibitions at The Delaware Contemporary (DE), Heller Gallery (NY), and Traver Gallery (WA). Her work is also in the permanent collection of the Museum of Art and Design in NYC.