Verdie Vaughan is a limestone sculpture by Dana Smith.
Smith has a BA from University of Texas; MFA from North Texas State University and at the time of the Symposium was teaching at El Centro College, Dallas. Smith has had many exhibitions in the U.S.
Smith by Catchi
Dana Smith’s Verdie Vaughan in progress 1976
Thursday, October 7, 2021
Dana Smith
by Vickie Belt
In the hill country near Austin, a child sat watching the workmen carving raw stone which would someday be the state capitol building. This same stone now lures her granddaughter, Dana Smith, to Liberty Hill where she hopes to create a new formula and process for painting on sculpture by combining ancient recipes, using bees wax, from the Romans and Egyptians. A Neighboring bee farmer is supplying the bees wax and she is supplying the ingenuity.
The same basic theme is used in all of her creations but communicated in different forms and materials. She avoids influencing viewers by not stating this theme, leaving the interpretations entirely up to the individual. To know how people see it, she wants to convince visually without explaining in words. Her works have been in museum shows throughout the southwest.
Dana always works on the philosophy of utilizing whatever materials are available.
Her Flags and Rags on Sticks collection was made from packing crates and braces from the bottoms of old couches. She collects and values many common objects, discarded by others as trash, to create the uncommon. These objects are often on display in her mailbox at El Centre Community College in Dallas where she teaches art.
She worked for her masters by graduate teaching at North Texas University in order to teach a college level because she likes to watch people grow.
Married for 27 years to Cecil Smith, she describes him as her “resource person” for finding available materials and researching their properties. He also teaches and is a civil engineer which gives him access to discarded materials from local industries. She believes that, where marriage material is concerned, he was her best choice.
When her three sons were small, she spent much of her time doing free lance cartooning and interior design. She has always enjoyed making things at home. Much of her work is influenced by the great West Texas sky.