On Monday afternoon, September 23, the Center for Writing and the Arts hosted a Soul in the City Artist Talk with Mark Lesly Smith, several of whose works are now on display in the Learning Commons of the Harrison Library.
Dr. Smith, who co-founded Austin’s Flatbed Press in 1989 and authored a book about that influential workshop, Flatbed Press at 25, in 2016, is a visual artist and educator who has served on the faculties and administrations of the University of Texas, Southwestern University, and the Herron School of Art & Design.
The eleven pieces on display in the Harrison Library are high-quality prints of original works in the larger collection titled The Hope Suite a series of 44 mixed-media collages created between 2008 and 2014 that together take as their theme the unifying message of hope across global cultures. Each of the 44 collages expresses the word hope in a different language — some of which, like Braille, are non-linguistic — and consists of a background monoprint or a digital photoprint overlaid with mixed media. The eleven on display in the library are English, Navajo, Arabic, Ukranian, Braille, Zulu, Spanish, French, Kurdish, Thai, and Chinese.
“The elements that make up each collage were not chosen specifically for that culture,” Smith said. “I wanted to suggest that everyday objects and elements are shared by all cultures.” Smith also emphasizes the importance of the viewer as the “completer” of a work of art. “An artwork is made up of a triad,” he said: “the artist, the artwork itself, and the viewer, who finishes a piece and gives it meaning.”
Smith shared with the community his desire, through The Hope Suite, to remind us that hope remains present even when times feel hopeless — and that, like good art, it is always waiting for us to access it and carry it back into the world.
“Just as hope thrums along the bassline of the Christian life, Smith’s works have quietly and consistently enriched our environment since their installation last fall,” said Dr. Claire Colombo, director of the Center for Writing and the Arts. “We are so fortunate to have these vibrant witnesses to the power and persistence of hope, and the creative spirit, in our midst.”
The Hope Suite selections will remain on display through this academic year. Selections from the suite are also featured in last year’s 10th-anniversary edition of Soul by Southwest.
